to much or not enough filtration

[cec ohio]

I have a `150 tall fresk water with 2 10-12 inch oscars 2 7-9 inch tinfoil barbs
one 8 inch south american red pike one 5 inch yellow stripped pike one 12 inch lungfish one rope fish one 9 inch red tail cat one 12 inch shovel nose cat one 8 inch jack dempsey one 8 inch pleco and one 3 inch blue loach. They get fed sparingly once a day. I have one magnum 350 canister filter and 2 whisper 30-60 hang one filters. my water is always cloudy its a white cloud not green.

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A FILTRATION ISSUE? DO I NEED TO POLISH THE WATER MORE? DO i HAVE TOO MANY FISH?

ANY RESPONSE WILL BE GREATLY APPERATED

THANK YOU

[Drumachine09]

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. You need to do a large waterchange, and then see how it ends up.


Just as a rule of thumb, you can NEVER have too much filtration, providing the filtation is not making too much of a current for your stock.

[Kuli_Loach]

Redtail cats get BIG, as in needing about a 300 gallon, they can reach nearly 5' in length.

[rollie]

Redtail cats get BIG, as in needing about a 300 gallon, they can reach nearly 5' in length.

yo, sorry but a 300 gallon is way to small for one of them. lol

[Kuli_Loach]

What it said on another site. He has his in a 150 which is WAY to small for them as well. Try a pond outside!!!thumbs2:

[cec ohio]

i HAVE TRIED A HUGE WATER CHANGE ONE TWO WEEKS AGO TODAY AND YESTERDAY IT WAS SO CLOUDY YOU COULDNT SEE THROUGH IT FRONT TO BACK SO I DID ANOTHER TODAY.

WHAT CAN I DO TO FIND OUT IF IT IS A BACTERIAL BLOOM AND WHAT CON I DO TO STOP IT?

[Kuli_Loach]

Water changes is all you can do..... I think..... Just wait it out is all you can do.

[rollie]

what can you do??

YOU GOT TOO MANY FISH IN THAT TANK. GET RID OF MOST OF THEM, NOW.

if you do not you got big trouble coming.

[Lady Hobbs]

I have a `150 tall fresk water with 2 10-12 inch oscars 2 7-9 inch tinfoil barbs
one 8 inch south american red pike one 5 inch yellow stripped pike one 12 inch lungfish one rope fish one 9 inch red tail cat one 12 inch shovel nose cat one 8 inch jack dempsey one 8 inch pleco and one 3 inch blue loach. They get fed sparingly once a day. I have one magnum 350 canister filter and 2 whisper 30-60 hang one filters. my water is always cloudy its a white cloud not green.

DOES THIS SOUND LIKE A FILTRATION ISSUE? DO I NEED TO POLISH THE WATER MORE? DO i HAVE TOO MANY FISH?

ANY RESPONSE WILL BE GREATLY APPERATED

THANK YOU

IMO, you are way low in filtration. The Whisper 30 is rated for only UP TO 30 gallons which is probably good for a 10 gallon tank. The Whisper 60 is rated for UP TO 60 gallons so might be OK for a 20-30 gallon. Neither of these two filters are doing you much good at all in that big tank. The Magnum is a polishing filter and probably would best be used for only that when water may need a "touch up."

You would do much better having a good canister filter on both ends of that tank.

Oscars are dirty fish and require very good filtration but I would be very concerned with the amount of large fish in that tank. As I mentioned in the introduction thread, you are way over stocked with too many large fish.

[Kuli_Loach]

WAY OVER STOCKED but that is how you learn mainly, from trial and error. Try and return the fish you don't want, especially that red tail cat.

[Lady Hobbs]

You just have too many fish in the tank and I don't believe it's a bacteria bloom. With that load of fish, you need to be doing large water changes at least twice a week. Your filters can not keep up with what they need to get rid of.

[rollie]

and it only going to get worse as time goes on.

[cec ohio]

I Have Had Even More Fish Than That In The Same Tank. I Have Never Had An Ammonia Problem And Ph, Nitrite And Nitrate Have Always Been Ok This Is The Least Amount Of Fish Since The Tank Was Set Up March 06

[rollie]

well then you are very luckly.

and i hope we was not to hard on you.
because we all would like you to come back, once in awhile. lol

[cec ohio]

You Wernt To Hard I Asked You Answered. Until I Can Bring Myself To Get Rid Of Some Would A New Canister Filter Rated At 350gph For Upto A 125 Gal Help With The Cloud?

[Lady Hobbs]

It's not by how many fish you can fit in a tank but how happy the fish are and how close they are to their natural environment. Cramming all those huge fish in one tank is about the same as you being stuck in an elevator with 15- 500 pound people. You figure that in a tank 18 inches wide, a 12 inch fish barely has room to turn around and that's not counting rocks and decorations.

Water changes, and often, need to be done to keep the water oxygenated. That many fish will eat up that oxygen quickly. You can have all your water parms perfect but water will still lack oxygen.

But really, you are way low in proper filtering. You really do need two canisters that can be crammed full of filter floss and bio-rings. The tiny filters you have are far from adequate and not even what I have on my 55 gallon moderately stocked.

Happy fish that live in good conditions will breed like crazy and give back several times over selling them in pet stores than what one big fish will and will produce for you continuously.

Judge your filters by about half what they state they can handle.

[rollie]

it should help. but leave the other 2 in the tank to. lol

[cec ohio]

I Am Realizing I Have Two Many Fish. Adding Another Canister Filter Rated For 125 Gallon Should Help? Remember This Is A Tall Tank Its Measurment Are 24x32x48 My 12 Inch Fish Have No Trouble Moving Around.

[cec ohio]

Thank You For Replying You've Been A Good Help Its Just Had To Get Rid Of Fish That You Have Had Over A Year. I Love Them Just Like My Dogs And Cat

[Lady Hobbs]

Oh my Gawd. A tall tank makes your conditons even worse as they have even less room to swim since fish swim back and forth and not up and down.

A canister rated at 125 will not be enough for a 150 gallon tank "moderately" stocked. You should have one rated for 300 gallon or even more.

I hate to be such a bearer of bad news with you being new here and all. You must think us not a very friendly group at all but really we are. We're just concerned with your situation and with your fish, of course.

Good filteration will clear that water up for you, tho. Those little filter pads that come in those Whispers are hardly enough to hold anything. Gosh, I have a penquin 350 on a 29 gallon tank and do 50% water changes weekly and clean the gravel. I contains 2 angels and some bottom feeders.

Check the filter prices online. They are always cheaper than buying from stores and often have free shipping. It will not be a wasted investment because you will always use a large filter on that tank.

I bet your tank is awesome, tho. Those big tall ones are pretty cool. I also know how hard it will be to get rid of some of those fish but you have to consider the good of all.

[cec ohio]

I Dont Think Your A Mean Or Bad Bunch I Asked Question You Answered That Why I'm Here I Apperciate All The Advice I Can Get. I've Been Debating On Getting Rid Of The Two Cat Fish Any How So I Didnt Need To Get Feeder Fish (thats All They Will Eat).

So One Magnum 350 And One Jebo Odtssea Cfs4 Is Still Not Enough
With The Two Cats Gone?

[Lady Hobbs]

No. If it claims to be rated for 125, you can bet it's good enough for about a 55 gallon with an additional filter. I know nothing about this Jebo brand but Eheim and Fluvals are the best ones.

I checked Ebay and this guy carrys no filters any larger than this one. This filter might work for a tank about 55 gallon but not nearly large enough for your tank.

Really sorry kid. Big tank = Big filter = More money.

[gm72]

cec ohio, just to put a different spin on this situation. First of all, everyone here is absolutely correct. You are FAR over acceptable stocking levels. Let's get into the fish happiness aspect of this.

You have a 12" fish living in a tank that is 4 times his length. I want you to imagine yourself living in a space that is only 4 times your length. Forever. Never going outside that space. Pretty horrible thought, don't you think?

Most of us will tell you that the oscars and barbs alone are a far large enough bioload with a 150 gallon tank. Just because you have had no overt problems over the last year does not mean you will continue with such pattern. I have not had a cold for a very long time, but given that I work in healthcare settings it is inevitable that I will get sick. The question is not IF, the question is WHEN. You are starting to experience the beginning of a very bad situation for your fish.

What can be learned from this is the key of researching fish before bringing them home. Many fish look cute and little in the stores but will outgrow all but the most extreme large tanks (I'm thinking of the pacu debacle that continues with some aquarists). Also, many store workers don't themselves understand just how large the fish will get and further may not understand care requirements.

If I were you I would seriously look at adding a Fluval FX5, the largest heavy-duty canister available, to my knowledge, in the states before you go into industrial systems.

[Lady Hobbs]

eloquently put, gm72, and right on target!

[dev]

There's a lot of urban legend going in this thread, I'll adress a couple of them that can be easily proven.

Biological filtration:

People have a lot of different opinions on the amount of biological filtration required for a given load. The scientific truth is very simple.

You will want to monitor your ammonia and nitrite levels. If these are both at 0 ppm, your biological filtration is adequate. There is nothing more to it.

Oxygenation:

Some people believe that changing water will always improve the concentration of dissolved oxygen. Unfortunately, there is absolutely no guarantee that your tap water is rich on oxygen, and even if it is, the provided oxygen does not last very long without being replenished. We may be talking hours, not days.

In a non planted tank, oxygen is provided only by surface agitation. If surface agitation provided by your water circulation is not adequate it can be provided by an air stone.

The oxygen level is easily determined by using a simple oxygen test and by looking at your fish. Lack of oxygen has rather clear symptoms. Many fish that would otherwise occupy different sections of the tank will stay close to the surface, and will seem lazy. As the lack of oxygen gets worse your fish will have trouble keeping their balance, and will have erratic swim patterns, perhaps doing loops or swaying to the sides.

In my opinion overstocking is not really a technical issue, it is a social issue.

edit> This doesnt mean that I don't think your tank is overstocked, and your foggy water problem is most likely infusoria. This is an indication of lack of circulation, lack of oxygen and general poor water quality.

[Bill Brasky]

I noticed you equated your fish to cats and dogs and I'm wholeheartedly with you on that front. I just had to give up my absolutely beautiful 5 year old long-hair German Shepard because I was moving to an apartment in a college town. He was a large dog who LOVED being active with large open spaces... I gave him to a sheep herder in Oregon with 12,000 acres to spare.

There are times when we've got to make sacrifices for the animals we love and care for. In your case, you really should look at another place or places for your beloved fish to go. I've heard of city aquariums sometimes taking the red-tailed catfish because there really isn't a hobbyist that has a tank large enough for it. I'm sure you can find plenty of owners who would love to have some fish of that size and really take care of them well. It's sad to see your pets go, but you'll know that they're going to be in an enviroment where they can thrive - and that's what really counts.

Like dev said, I'd really look into the possibility of infusoria. If your perameters are a-ok, make sure your water is of good quality, oxygenated, and is being circulated well.

[gm72]

eloquently put, gm72, and right on target!

Thanks as always, Lady.