FW Filtration Help

[butters88]

Hi guys
I've been having problems w/ clean water in my dad's tank. It's a 90G stocked w/ a 18" silver aro, 2 5" blood parrots, 2 3" pink convict cichlids & 3 3" common plecos. Its filtered by an aquaclear 300, fluval 2+ submersible, and 404 cannister. Problem is the water never really seems clean and clear, even after I clean the filters. Seems like the water is full of small particles all the time Should I add more filtration? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Dale D]

I would reduce the fish load in the tank.

How does the water test? How often do you do water changes and how much? How often do you clean the filters?

[martym]

Maybe you are cleaning your filters too much? Give it time to mature, then only clean one media at a time. Like rinse the or change 1/2 the floss this week, half the carbon next ect... Sounds like you have lots of filtration, cichlids are messy eaters. Cut back on how much you feed them. Do you vaccum the gravel? How often?

[trilinearmipmap]

First of all the arowanna needs to go, he has already outgrown the tank and IMO needs a tank in the thousand gallon range.

Regarding filtration, there are two issues, biological and mechanical. Biological filtration is what matters, test this with an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate test kit. If you have positive ammonia or nitrites your biofilter is inadequate and please follow up here. If nitrates are over 20 you need to do more water changes.

The problem of particles in the water is a problem of mechanical filtration and it is really not relevant to the fishes' health, they couldn't care less if there are particles in the water. You could deal with this in a couple of ways, if your substrate is dirty siphoning it out regularly would help. Or you can go for diatom filtration with a diatom filter or a H.O.T. Magnum filter with micron filtration to get out the particles.

[butters88]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! I've been checking water parameters weekly and they've always been fine. I use to rotate cleaning the 404 and other two filters monthly, but for the past while its been every 3 weeks and I clean the substrate each time. Around 30% water changes are done when filters are cleaned. The question should have been, is there enough mechanical filtration, which I suspected may have been insufficient. I'm going to gradually replace all the mechanical filtration media, add more filter floss and get rid of the plecoes and probably pink convicts.

First of all the arowanna needs to go, he has already outgrown the tank and IMO needs a tank in the thousand gallon range.

I do understand your concerns, but I don't think many aro owners have a tank that big

[BCOrchidGuy]

A 90 isn't a big tank for that many fish. In my opinion it's over stocked. Have you checked your water with a LFS? Alot of the test kits seem to be doing a bad job of giving us accurate indications of where things are at in our tanks.
I've never kept an arrowana before, but almost everyone I have spoken to who keeps them has had a large tank, IE 180 gallons or larger.

If you want a big tank King Ed just got in an acrylic 300 gallon with stand they're selling for $1700.

Doug

[butters88]

No I haven't, I've been using the Hagen Test kits So even w/ the aro and 2 parrots, would it be overstocked? I got the aro when he was 2-3" and the aro is around 10 months old and I upgraded from a 55 to the 90 last December already. He seems happy with no problems swimming and turning due to space constraints right now. Unfortunately buying another tank in the near future is impossible for me.....My student loan on fish can only run so far

[BCOrchidGuy]

It's just my opinion, but I think that tank is to short for the arrowana now. The blood parrots are a hybrid and my opinion of hybrid fish is one that would more than likey spark controversy, I don't believe hobbiests should buy them , if the demand wasn't there people wouldn't be hybridizing beautiful fish. Again it's just my opinion. The arrowana is 18 inches, it should have a tank at the very least 6 feet long, 4 times it's length is what you should provide, all your fish can do is swim it's body length before it has to turn around again.



Doug

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by butters88

No I haven't, I've been using the Hagen Test kits So even w/ the aro and 2 parrots, would it be overstocked?

even with just the aro that 90 is over stocked.. you are waisting your time getting rid of the pleco as it is not a messy fish and doesent need much room for its size. parots are messy fish and them in a 90 would be enuf. this is why the water apears dirty all the time.

the Aro is a very beautiful fish but very very messy and needs a tank much larger than 90 gal, 300 gal range would be more aproperate. I think you would be much farther ahead selling the aro. if it is a nice one at 18" it could get you a fair bit of money. after this get a couple 350 magnum pump and run it on the tank with carbon and the particle mesh this will clean up your water and make it more visualy apealing. keep the plecos as there controbution to the load on the tank is insignificant.

Steve

[whaase]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

even with just the aro that 90 is over stocked.. you are waisting your time getting rid of the pleco as it is not a messy fish and doesent need much room for its size. parots are messy fish and them in a 90 would be enuf. this is why the water apears dirty all the time.

Pleco not a messy fish!?!? I have to disagree. The crap more than they eat. Mine left mounds upon mounds of crap every week. VERY dirty and messy. I'm not saying that will solve it, but it's a good start. Also try running carbon. It made a huge difference for me. Also vacume the hell out of the tank

Walter

Walter