I have been running a emperor 400 and a powerhead on my 65 gallon since I bought the tank a few months ago. I was told by all my fish buddies that I should upgrade to a fluval,so I just purchased a Fluval 305 yesterday and hooked it up.I watched the installation DVD and read the book carefully so I wouldn't make a mistake in the install. When I awoke today 2 of my fish had died and the rest looked bad,they were all at the top of the tank gasping for air. I didn't know what the problem was but I assumed it meant they didn't have proper oxygen. I put my powerhead back in and turned it on within 2 hours the fish looked better and no others died. I called the Fluval Customer service to ask what went wrong and i was told to remove the powerhead and not use it again with the fluval,but when I do the fish start acting funny again. I was told by CS that the Fluval should provide plenty of oxygen for the fish and to move the exaust to right at or just above the water level to create a better current,so I did. Now it is so loud I can even hear my TV and there is no change with my fish.I thought the whole idea of the fluval was to reduce the water noise ? So now i don't know what to do,I don't want to lose my whole cichlid tank just because of this filter. Please help !!!!
Help with Fluval problem
- Thread starter bhonicker
- Start date
Hey did you take off the old filter and then put the new one on?? If that is what you did you might have gotten rid of most of your bacteria in the old filter. Then when you put the fluval on, the levels of bacteria were not anywhere close to what you had before. Since you had less bacteria, it might have causes the toxins to increased. Your fish MIGHT have died from the high leavels of ammonia.
I don't know much about Fluvals but maybe I can help some.
1st I don't see why you can't use a powerhead, I have a Filstar XP3 and use a powerhead while I'm treating ich, because of the high temps. I see no change in filtration.
2nd...Did you remove the Emperor 400? There is no need to, I use a Penguin 200 in conjunction with my XP3. The 400 will help cause surface agitation which will in turn add/ release O2 to the tank.
I keep, as I've been told by others on the forum, to put my spraybar a couple of inches below the waterline and aim it slightly down.
Also if you added the fluval and removed the Emperor then you took away all the bacteria and are forcing your tank into a cycle. What are your water parameters? I'm betting you have high ammonia, which would cause the fish to gasp at the surface.
1st I don't see why you can't use a powerhead, I have a Filstar XP3 and use a powerhead while I'm treating ich, because of the high temps. I see no change in filtration.
2nd...Did you remove the Emperor 400? There is no need to, I use a Penguin 200 in conjunction with my XP3. The 400 will help cause surface agitation which will in turn add/ release O2 to the tank.
I keep, as I've been told by others on the forum, to put my spraybar a couple of inches below the waterline and aim it slightly down.
Also if you added the fluval and removed the Emperor then you took away all the bacteria and are forcing your tank into a cycle. What are your water parameters? I'm betting you have high ammonia, which would cause the fish to gasp at the surface.
[/QUOTE]Also if you added the fluval and removed the Emperor then you took away all the bacteria and are forcing your tank into a cycle. What are your water parameters? I'm betting you have high ammonia, which would cause the fish to gasp at the surface.[/QUOTE]
I agree
I agree
Yep I bet amonia or Nitrite, your fish can not metabolize the O2, Keep the powerhead running, the more O2 you can get in the water the better while your cycling.
Do Water changes! 50% Daily if safe to do so, untill you amonia and Nitrite levels are safe or 0.
I'm no expert but I heard salt can help the fish if they have Nitrite poisoning, I don't know if it helps with amonia poisoning as well, and I don't know how much you should add.
You could also buy some Bio Spira, and put that in there to cycle your tank faster.
Do Water changes! 50% Daily if safe to do so, untill you amonia and Nitrite levels are safe or 0.
I'm no expert but I heard salt can help the fish if they have Nitrite poisoning, I don't know if it helps with amonia poisoning as well, and I don't know how much you should add.
You could also buy some Bio Spira, and put that in there to cycle your tank faster.
Thanks for the help
I'm back to running my powerhead and my emperor 400 for now. Found out my problem was a bad fluval so it's being replaced.I was also told to upgrage to the Fluval 405 so that's what I ordered.I have deceided to just run the em. 400 and the Fluval 405 and hope that does the trick.Again thanks for the help...
I'm back to running my powerhead and my emperor 400 for now. Found out my problem was a bad fluval so it's being replaced.I was also told to upgrage to the Fluval 405 so that's what I ordered.I have deceided to just run the em. 400 and the Fluval 405 and hope that does the trick.Again thanks for the help...