Constant Dirty Tank
I have a real problem with what I consider to be Dirt or sludge in the tank.
The substance is brown, forms in globules often very very small ones, and builds up on all my plants. The plants are normally caked in the stuff (normally at the top and sides where the flow is directed - but is does form everywhere). I have resorted to hitting the plants with a net or other tool which puts it all back in the water and hopefully the mini Eheim-filter that I have in the tank will take it all out. The main Eheim filter is next to useless as its not removing the dirt at all - this is just acting as a biological filter. Last week I made a 150L water change of a 250L tank, most of what was left was gravel with just enough water for the fish. I made sure the debris was distributed in the water - and then sucked it all out - replacing with new conditioned tap water. I then cleaned the whole filter unit. In one day only, the plants were caked in the brown stuff again. I then changed just 50L using the syphon directed onto the plants to remove it directly. The next day, the plants were caked again. And so on......Has anyone else had this problem and can tell me what is causing it? I am really ****ed off! It's causing an otherwise nice'ish tank to look grubby and unclean. The mini-Eheim filter that is inside the tank (as I suspect this is the only filter taking out this stuff) is caked and requires cleaning daily. It's just a sponge and floss filter with lots of holes for debris to go through, which I clean in tap water - its not the main biological filter. I have a large piece of newish bogwood in the tank but this has been happening before I put that in. My chemistry is all OK. I have a flourite substrate which does get disturbed quite a bit by the Bristlenose Plec, and when I plant. In the filter I have normal blue foam and a white floss at the top, I have a mechanical filter at the base and a bag of volcanic rock for the dear little microbes. I also have a small bag of PhosZorb in there as well. Sometime ago I removed the carbon filter but cannot equate this problem to that time. I doubt whether it is the filter itself breaking down as my ammonia and nitrite would be high and instead they are zero. Some time ago, however, I did add some chemical called sludge buster because of this very problem - it says it puts enzymes and microbes into the soil to help break down (anaerobically) debris such as rotting plants and food etc. However, if this is causing it then I would have assumed that the virtually 100% water change would have got rid of that. Sorry this is long.......Please help - I'm exhausted and going to chuck it all in soon......The big "**** it!" is well past its sell by date. Martin |
Constant Dirty Tank
"Martin" wrote in message
... I have a real problem with what I consider to be Dirt or sludge in the tank. The substance is brown, forms in globules often very very small ones, and builds up on all my plants. The plants are normally caked in the stuff (normally at the top and sides where the flow is directed - but is does form everywhere). I have resorted to hitting the plants with a net or other tool which puts it all back in the water and hopefully the mini Eheim-filter that I have in the tank will take it all out. The main Eheim filter is next to useless as its not removing the dirt at all - this is just acting as a biological filter. I've never had such a severe problem myself, but I have a couple of ideas on what might be going on. First, there might not be enough circulation in the tank. There should be enough circulation so that this stuff remains in the water column and gets picked up by the filter. Maybe the outlet from your Eheim is not positioned in a way that provides circulation throughout the entire tank. I used to have stuff settle on all surfaces in my tank a long time ago when I was only using a UGF. Second, are you vacuuming the substrate with each water change and are you doing water changes at least every week? If your substrate gets saturated by this material, then any minor disturbances will stir it up into the water column and cause it to settle on the plants. It also sounds like you might have black beard algae on your plants. The algae makes the plant surface less smooth, which makes this organic material stick more easily to the plants. In my tank, the leaves that are covered with BBA always have more of this stuff on them then healthy leaves. __ Alex pcalex (at) hotpop.com |
Constant Dirty Tank
Yes Alex, you are right about the algae - there is a lot of it on the plants
and its bright green (hair like) but again the PO4 is low and the nitrate is also very low. I suspect that my maximum lighting is not good enough.....perhaps I should stop CO2 injection as I doubt it is doing any good at the moment. I do vacuum the gravel when I perform the water change and I also vacuum the debris off the plants as well. The next morning its all back. I have stopped everything now......Gravel cleaning, disturbing the gravel and I am going to leave it for the weekend and see how bad it gets......Then perhaps another 150L water change on Monday when I will leave the pumps off for a few days to see what happens. If it is back with no pumping then it must be something other than just dirt! The circulation is twice that recommended for my tank volume - but again the part of the filter that's taking the water into the canister is small in comparison and I have noticed (when the tank was not so full of plants) that the detritus was never sucked into the filter with any force at all - often it just sailed past it. Though the return jet is quite powerful. This is all leading me to the conclusion that Eheim filters are crap! and useless. My tank is a an Effect Line and there is only one place for in/out tubes and that's at the top left. So the inlet is at the top about 1/3 way across and pointing horizontal (under the surface with minimal surface agitation). The outlet is towards the bottom (at the back and midway in the tank), it is only about 3" long 1" diameter. Water is moved to hit the far side (right side) around the side and then back along the front - it moves down in doing this as well. Well that's the explanation Martin |
Constant Dirty Tank
"Martin" wrote in message
... Yes Alex, you are right about the algae - there is a lot of it on the plants and its bright green (hair like) but again the PO4 is low and the nitrate is also very low. I suspect that my maximum lighting is not good enough.....perhaps I should stop CO2 injection as I doubt it is doing any good at the moment. Well, now it's obvious why you have algae. What you're suggesting, increasing lighting and stopping CO2, will certainly make it worse. I think the aglae contributes to the sludge on the plants by acting as a hook for floating debris. At the very least, you need to increase the PO4 and NO3 in your tank and probably the micronutrients and CO2. Get the phosphate filter out of there. They are useless in planted tanks. That will make the plants grow faster and outcompete the algae. But that's a whole another topic. I do vacuum the gravel when I perform the water change and I also vacuum the debris off the plants as well. The next morning its all back. I have stopped everything now......Gravel cleaning, disturbing the gravel and I am going to leave it for the weekend and see how bad it gets......Then perhaps another 150L water change on Monday when I will leave the pumps off for a few days to see what happens. If it is back with no pumping then it must be something other than just dirt! I don't know about stopping the pumps. I don't see how that will solve the problem. My guess is that for some reason there is not enough flow in the tank. If you can dislodge the dirt from the plants by nudging them a little, then it seems that the flow from your Eheim should be enough to knock it off and keep it floating. Maybe the filter or the intake pipe is clogged. This is all leading me to the conclusion that Eheim filters are crap! and useless. I really doubt it. I don't use one, but I have heard only good things about them. My tank is a an Effect Line and there is only one place for in/out tubes and that's at the top left. So the inlet is at the top about 1/3 way across and pointing horizontal (under the surface with minimal surface agitation). The outlet is towards the bottom (at the back and midway in the tank), it is only about 3" long 1" diameter. Water is moved to hit the far side (right side) around the side and then back along the front - it moves down in doing this as well. I don't know how canister filters are supposed to be set up, but hang-on power filters are arranged in the opposite way: the intake is at the bottom of the tank and the outlet is at the top, releasing the water horizontally so that it flows in a cycle. Both are on the same wall. Maybe you could use a powerhead for extra water movement. That's all I can think of now. __ Alex pcalex (at) hotpop.com |
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