Are my filters OK?

[peter-johnson]

I have a 240g Long Tank

Fish:
1 Oscar
1 Green Terror
1 Green Severum
1 Channel Cat

Filters:
2 Aquaclear 500 Power Filters
(Media - 2 Foam Blocks each, Carbon)
1 Via Aqua 750 Canister Filter
(Media - Matrix Biological Media)

I am having some difficulty maintaining my tank. My Nitrate levels are very high (80+). I have brown algae growth in all three of my filters, and the water has taken an unpleasant odor.

I am worried that this will have a negative impact on my fish. I am currently doing daily water changes until I can figure out what to do.

Please give any available advise on whether my filters are OK or if other filters should replace them. Also please advise as to what media I should use.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Holly9937]

What is your normal maintanence schedule? How often/how much water do you change? How long has the tank been set up? Are you getting any ammonia/nitrite readings? The tank should smell like fresh dirt, what would you describe the smell as? If anything, you might just need more filtration, but I am a bad judge at that, hopefully someone else will chime in there!

 

[liv2padl]

my 'guess' is that your water change schedule is insufficient though your filtration is fine. i change 50 percent of the water in all my cichlid tanks on a weekly basis in order to maintain my nitrate levels at 10 ppm or less.

on my 250 i'm running two AC500's and a large Filstar cannister.

 

[Halo]

Might be a little light on places where friendly bacteria can thrive? Could try tacking on something small with a biowheel, or some prefilter sponges on the aquaclears and cannister?

But yeah... it's already been said.. Up your water changes in either size, or number per week, or both. You have some high waste fish.