Filter Questions

[Palue]

With the fluval filters where should I have set at, open full, halfway or what??

How many inches below the water line should the outflow be??

I have it pointing towards tha back of the tank.

:angel:

[rickztahone]

With the fluval filters where should I have set at, open full, halfway or what??

How many inches below the water line should the outflow be??

I have it pointing towards tha back of the tank.

:angel:

i do not have a fluval but a couple of xp3's. i keep them at full blast below the water line and pointing up at a 45 degree angle so as to create surface movement

HTH

[Chad Hughes]

There is really no reason to limit the flow on a fluval unless you have a large filter on a small tank. If the filter is rated for your tank (GPH) then open the valve all the way. You'll get better filtration this way. The more times the water turns over in the tank per hour, the better. Try to point the return towards the intake at the opposit side of the tank in a manner that best distributes water throughout the tank. I sort of point mine towards the front of the tank yet still aimed towards the intake. Make sense?

Best wishes!

[Palue]

Yes I have mine pointing towards the intake, the flow is open all the way and water is moving very well. The tank is a 46 gal bow front and the canister is the Fluval 305 rated for up to 70 gal, so I think the size is okay for this tank??

The fish are still breathing heavy, their color is good they are in the middle of the tank. Not interested in food at all. They are not at the top of the tank at all.

Yesterday when the old filter died I did a large water change on the tank and then put on the new filter. Probably something I will regret for a very long time if any of them die.

One of the bristlnose plecs just died and a second one is not looking good. I added some Aqua Plus to the tank.

I phone my lfs lady whom herself has discus and she said that I should have not done that water change. This tank is only 3 wks old to me and even though I kept all the water from the old tank and added new water to top it up she thinks I have sent this whole system into a cycle now.

I am so mad at myself for this, one tries to do the best you can for the sake of the fish and if I loose any of them I will just die.

The 2 plecs came from the lady I bought the fish from, I have had a bristlenose in my tank for a long time and its fine. So maybe these fish of the past owner are not use to clean water and now going through a real shock.

My lfs said to turn off the lights, keep an eye on them and let the tank be.

Any suggestions from anyone??

I know that I will not be doing anymore water changes at this moment that is for sure.

:(

[adamsite]

Sorry for the headache. Thanks for the response to my canister problem as well. It's nice to know someone else has a 46g bow front. How is the Fluval treating you so far...how was the setup? how is the noise? My Magnum is so loud and at times cumbersome, I now want the complete opposite.
I would agree that you should turn the lights off and leave them in peace, in order to reduce the stress level in the fish. Stress can be the leading cause of illness then death.

[rickztahone]

Yes I have mine pointing towards the intake, the flow is open all the way and water is moving very well. The tank is a 46 gal bow front and the canister is the Fluval 305 rated for up to 70 gal, so I think the size is okay for this tank??

The fish are still breathing heavy, their color is good they are in the middle of the tank. Not interested in food at all. They are not at the top of the tank at all.

Yesterday when the old filter died I did a large water change on the tank and then put on the new filter. Probably something I will regret for a very long time if any of them die.

One of the bristlnose plecs just died and a second one is not looking good. I added some Aqua Plus to the tank.

I phone my lfs lady whom herself has discus and she said that I should have not done that water change. This tank is only 3 wks old to me and even though I kept all the water from the old tank and added new water to top it up she thinks I have sent this whole system into a cycle now.

I am so mad at myself for this, one tries to do the best you can for the sake of the fish and if I loose any of them I will just die.

The 2 plecs came from the lady I bought the fish from, I have had a bristlenose in my tank for a long time and its fine. So maybe these fish of the past owner are not use to clean water and now going through a real shock.

My lfs said to turn off the lights, keep an eye on them and let the tank be.

Any suggestions from anyone??

I know that I will not be doing anymore water changes at this moment that is for sure.

:(

if your tank did indeed go into a re-cycle then daily WC's would help with the cycle

[Eddie]

Ricardo is correct, with a re-cycle, the ammonia and nitrite levels will climb. You cannot let these numbers get too high because it will affect/possibly kill your fish. Discus are the last fish you want to use to cycle your tank without doing water changes as the low levels of ammonia/nitrite are lethal for them.

Now your old filter, did you use the media from your old filter? It should have still had a bacteria colony. I know you went a day without a filter. What did you do with the media?

My suggestion is to have Seachem Prime on hand and balance out the ammonia/nitrite levels with WCs.

Something may also be wrong with your water source. I wouldn't say that doing a large water change made things worse, in fact I am glad you changed the water. You must watch your water parameters and test them several times a day.

I am sorry to hear about your pleco. Best of luck with your tank,

Eddie

[waters10]

I phone my lfs lady whom herself has discus and she said that I should have not done that water change. This tank is only 3 wks old to me and even though I kept all the water from the old tank and added new water to top it up she thinks I have sent this whole system into a cycle now.
As long as you used prime or other product to remove chlorine/chloramine, new water will not trigger a new cycle. What will trigger a new cycle is the removal of your bio filter, which bring us to:


Now your old filter, did you use the media from your old filter? It should have still had a bacteria colony. I know you went a day without a filter. What did you do with the media?

That's what I suggested on the other thread. Saving the bacteria from the old filter should've been his priority number one. A brand new filter won't do any good if it has no bacteria in it ...

You'll go through another cycle now. Keep checking ammonia/nitrite before and after water change, so you can get a feeling of how your water change is affecting your parameters. This way you can adjust how often and how much water to change.


I know that I will not be doing anymore water changes at this moment that is for sure.
That might be a big mistake! Check your parameters (ammonia/nitrite). If you're getting any readings on this, you will need more water changes.

I went through some of this when I was setting up my tank. In my case, I thought my cycle was completed, but I was mistaken. I kept getting 0 ammonia, but med/high nitrite. I ended up going 1 full week doing 3 40% water changes per day, to keep nitrite at low levels. Then I finally started seeing nitrite levels dropping and I slowly reduced my water change schedule. You may need to read a bit more about cycling a tank.

Good luck!

[rickztahone]

...Discus are the last fish you want to use to cycle your tank without doing water changes as the low levels of ammonia/nitrite are lethal for them....

Eddie

i believe this is a typo by Eddie, you want the low level ammonia as well as nitrIte. they should be at 0, nitrAte is usually always present but it should not be over 40ppm i would say. correct me if i'm wrong here fellaz/ladies

[Palue]

Hello, I am ready to just die. Yes I lost a pleco I can handle that as I don't know for sure if it was because of what was going on or what. I had 3 of them in this tank so now 2 is better but I just hate to see fish die.

Now for the tank, I had the old media on the counter and the boys thought they were doing mom a real big deed and took it out to the garbage which was collected today. If I could have dove into that garbage truck I would have. So now yes all the media is brand new....:( I cannot blame them as they did not know that I wanted it.

So very interesting tonight, I still have that oily scum on the surface, fish were still breathing heavy. About 2 hours ago I went and brought up my Aqua Clear Mini filter put that on with the Fluval still going. The AQ has media in it and the surface is so much better and the fish are now active and looking for food.

What in the world is happening. I know that the tank is going to go through a cycle now, my bad very bad.

The outflow is 1" below the water line and open full all the way. The water is swirling around the top but with the AC on there it is so much better. Will this get better in days to come, I bought this Fluval to get rid of the HOB filters not have both.

The fish are vibrant in color and are not looking really stressed except for the breathing which like I said is alot better now.

The joys of fish keeping hey.

:angel:

[waters10]

Now for the tank, I had the old media on the counter and the boys thought they were doing mom a real big deed and took it out to the garbage which was collected today. If I could have dove into that garbage truck I would have. So now yes all the media is brand new....:( I cannot blame them as they did not know that I wanted it.

So very interesting tonight, I still have that oily scum on the surface, fish were still breathing heavy. About 2 hours ago I went and brought up my Aqua Clear Mini filter put that on with the Fluval still going. The AQ has media in it and the surface is so much better and the fish are now active and looking for food.

What in the world is happening. I know that the tank is going to go through a cycle now, my bad very bad.

The outflow is 1" below the water line and open full all the way. The water is swirling around the top but with the AC on there it is so much better. Will this get better in days to come, I bought this Fluval to get rid of the HOB filters not have both.

The fish are vibrant in color and are not looking really stressed except for the breathing which like I said is alot better now.

The joys of fish keeping hey.

:angel:
You didn't say your ammonia/nitrite levels. Can you measure them? That's the most important thing now. Like I said in my case, I had to do 3 40% water changes per day to keep nitrite lows. And that was with an almost complete cycle!

No one can really help you without knowing ammonia/nitrite levels. If you don't have a kit, get them asap and post the results here.

Another thing that you could do, is get one of those products that jumpstart a cycle. While most don't work, bio-spira was well known to be a good product, but it's not produced anymore. The replacement is called Tetra Safestart. I've never used, but I'd give it a shot. If it doesn't work, at least it shouldn't cause any problems.

Good Luck!

[rickztahone]

Hello, I am ready to just die. Yes I lost a pleco I can handle that as I don't know for sure if it was because of what was going on or what. I had 3 of them in this tank so now 2 is better but I just hate to see fish die.

Now for the tank, I had the old media on the counter and the boys thought they were doing mom a real big deed and took it out to the garbage which was collected today. If I could have dove into that garbage truck I would have. So now yes all the media is brand new....:( I cannot blame them as they did not know that I wanted it.

So very interesting tonight, I still have that oily scum on the surface, fish were still breathing heavy. About 2 hours ago I went and brought up my Aqua Clear Mini filter put that on with the Fluval still going. The AQ has media in it and the surface is so much better and the fish are now active and looking for food.

What in the world is happening. I know that the tank is going to go through a cycle now, my bad very bad.

The outflow is 1" below the water line and open full all the way. The water is swirling around the top but with the AC on there it is so much better. Will this get better in days to come, I bought this Fluval to get rid of the HOB filters not have both.

The fish are vibrant in color and are not looking really stressed except for the breathing which like I said is alot better now.

The joys of fish keeping hey.

:angel:

very unfortunate about the media, but things happen sometimes.

You didn't say your ammonia/nitrite levels. Can you measure them? That's the most important thing now. Like I said in my case, I had to do 3 40% water changes per day to keep nitrite lows. And that was with an almost complete cycle!

No one can really help you without knowing ammonia/nitrite levels. If you don't have a kit, get them asap and post the results here.

Another thing that you could do, is get one of those products that jumpstart a cycle. While most don't work, bio-spira was well known to be a good product, but it's not produced anymore. The replacement is called Tetra Safestart. I've never used, but I'd give it a shot. If it doesn't work, at least it shouldn't cause any problems.

Good Luck!

i completely agree on both aspects here, we need some parameter readings and you need to test quite often from now on. get an API liquid test kit or something similar. the jumpstart is also a good suggestion which i was also going to make. biospira seems to have changed according to a few members but there is a new one that Angel i believe mentioned. i know it's pretty vague but i have never used jumpstart products.

[waters10]

biospira seems to have changed according to a few members but there is a new one that Angel i believe mentioned. i know it's pretty vague but i have never used jumpstart products.
Bio-spira is gone. I believe Marineland bought it, and split the product in two, bio-spira for saltwater and tetra safestart for freshwater. Then the creator of bio-spira launched a new product called the one and only (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=18986). I tried this product and it didn't work so much. Well, let's say I didn't get a cycle done in a week, like people used to get with bio-spira, but I don't want to say it didn't help one bit, because maybe it did. If you search around here, I posted my experience with that product.

Either way, Palue, try to get tetra safestart. I haven't tried that, but it's worth a shot imo.

[Palue]

I am going to take my water in for some readings today, my test kit is kind of old as I have never had this happen. Unlike others I don't test often in my tank as it was very established and old. Another thing I don't like doing is adding things to make those readings perfect. Sounds not right I know but time and patience is my motto.

Tank just came on, fish are fine, hungry not breathing rapidly like yesterday. One thing I did do over night was to run that Mini Aqua clear filter all night with the Fluval. The water surface is so much better and the tank is very clear.

One thing I did not mention is that the sand in the bottom came with the fish, I did not clean it and placed it right into my tank when I set it up along with the water from my previous tank went in there too. I have been doing weekly water changes from that point on.

I am beginning to wonder with that old AC filter that died on me if it would have leached any oil etc from when it burned out???

All I know is htat things look 100% better this morning and I will get some testing done also.

:angel:

[Chad Hughes]

The old filter should have had a magnetic impeller. That's what makes it safe for fish tanks. It's not likely that it contaminated the tank.

Best wishes!

[waters10]

I am going to take my water in for some readings today, my test kit is kind of old as I have never had this happen. Unlike others I don't test often in my tank as it was very established and old. Another thing I don't like doing is adding things to make those readings perfect. Sounds not right I know but time and patience is my motto.

Getting your water tested is a good idea, but a test kit is handy for these type of situations. I don't test everyday, but when stuff like this happens, it's good to have them available. Last week, my Aquaclear got unplugged somehow and was off for one night! I tested my water 3-4 times per day for the next 3-4 days and I adjusted my water change to make sure ammonia/nitrite were always low. I got only a hint of nitrite and no ammonia, but at least I was prepared.


Tank just came on, fish are fine, hungry not breathing rapidly like yesterday. One thing I did do over night was to run that Mini Aqua clear filter all night with the Fluval. The water surface is so much better and the tank is very clear.
While it's a good sign, ammonia/nitrite is not something you can visually inspect right away. Fish get stressed and you'll see signs of disease days or weeks afterwards.


One thing I did not mention is that the sand in the bottom came with the fish, I did not clean it and placed it right into my tank when I set it up along with the water from my previous tank went in there too. I have been doing weekly water changes from that point on.
That's probably a good thing, cause there's some bacteria on your substrate. Your new cycle won't take as long as brand new setup.


I have been doing weekly water changes from that point on.
Be prepared to do a lot more than that until your filter catches up! Hopefully you won't need it, but be prepared.

Best of luck!

[Palue]

Hello, okay. Ammonia readings are zero and the others barely register. The lfs is really concerned as she has Discus herself. I had her do the testing for me.

One thing she did mention is that we don't know what kind of tank conditions these new fish came from either. My fish is just fine with very clean water and maybe the new ones are not.

The fish are still looking good, one of the pigeon bloods is not eating but the color is good. My cobalt blue is showing stress bars which is not often does.

Time and patience and careful watching is what I will need to do.

I am still confused though with this filter. The out flow is just below the water line I have it pointed towards the back of the tank, it gives a swirling motion on the water is this correct??

Can you tell me what caused heavy breathing usually??

:angel:

[Eddie]

Hello, okay. Ammonia readings are zero and the others barely register. The lfs is really concerned as she has Discus herself. I had her do the testing for me.

One thing she did mention is that we don't know what kind of tank conditions these new fish came from either. My fish is just fine with very clean water and maybe the new ones are not.

The fish are still looking good, one of the pigeon bloods is not eating but the color is good. My cobalt blue is showing stress bars which is not often does.

Time and patience and careful watching is what I will need to do.

I am still confused though with this filter. The out flow is just below the water line I have it pointed towards the back of the tank, it gives a swirling motion on the water is this correct??

Can you tell me what caused heavy breathing usually??

:angel:


Heavy breathing can be a number of diferent things, low o2, gill infection, ammonia, nitrite, excitability.......long list.

Eddie