Well, in the process of preparing for the first science competition of the year I procrastinated working on my tanks. Somehow the 5g still looks clean, just some alge on the decor and sides of the tank. The 10g however was just terrible. So I added a little extra work. I took out the decor, and gravel. The tank turned into a brown mess of waste. Let the filter get some of the stuff, the rest settled to the bottom. Did a water change, and was able to suck up all of the waste and stuff. I am going to do another wc tomorrow to get the stuff I see on the bottom up. Should I put in new gravel, rinse the old gravel and put it back in, switch to a different substrate, or attempt a ugf (probably reverse ugf)? I think this will be my main tank for quite some time. It is not in a place where I can just make a mess while cleaning it. I think part of my problem was my gravel may have been too thick. There was always stuff that I was missing (so the testing for ammo, nitrites, and nitrates kept reading a bit high indicating that the tank wasnt cycled) I think the tank is probably cycled by now and it is just my fault for it getting so dirty. But this leads me to wondering if I need more filtration.I feed the fish in this tank every other day the same as what I feed my 5g every day. In the same amount of time the tank gets about twice as dirty as my 5g. Right now I have a tetra pf10 filter. Any ideas on upgrading for say $25 or less? (unless it involves ugf which would cost more)
what to do?
- Thread starter nerdyrcdriver
- Start date
i would say take the old gravel and put it in a net and dip and shake it in a bucket of dechlorinated water. And get some snails or shrimp
http://www.amazon.com/AquaClear-20-...0FVG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323299807&sr=8-1
this isnt a hobby you can procrastinate in, you have to take care of your fish. they cant take care of themselves and theyre your responsibility.
this isnt a hobby you can procrastinate in, you have to take care of your fish. they cant take care of themselves and theyre your responsibility.
I know, and it was my fault. Not that I think that they are worthless and should suffer from my lazyness, but they are "starter fish". When I bring them back to the lfs they probably just get killed anyway. (actually quite a shame. They match the look of my tank with the gravel and all perfectly. My neon tetras and guppies are going to look terrible with different shades of brown gravel) I will try my best to not let the situation happen again, but I had obligations to something that looks good on a college application, and if I fail at my job for the team, the whole team suffers because of it. I wanted to clean it, but never had enough time at once to do it properly until a couple days ago.
Thanks for the link to the filter aaf! I have looked at it before, but it was always much more expensive than that.
CerenaDaft
I do plan to get shrimp or some sort of bottom feeder for the tank eventually, just not quite yet.
yea amazon has pretty good prices and aquaclears are pretty much the best HOB filters
Ok, so my filter is supposed to be rated at 90gph but I seriously doubt that it is. (probably 10gph of back flow coming out before being filtered). After looking online it looks like petco and petsmart both have the ac20 for $26. By the time I pay for shipping (it says free for over $25, it cost $18. I have tried getting the free shipping on a cheaper item before and it didnt work out) and by the time it arrives bc shipping seems to be slower around the holidays. I could go out and buy it at the store and have it on the tank tomorrow getting seeded.
