dirty water

**Orca** · 10-15-2008, 04:16 AM

I have a 29 g tank with an HOB, Aquaclear 300. This is a cycled tank, less fish now that this time last year. Occupants are 2 adult angels, a ram, a giant danio, a rose danio, two black neons, two bronze cory's, a small plec, and a mystery fish (some kind of suckermouth something). The plec, the danios, and the mystery fish are leftover's from the previous owners and will be rehomed soon. I just got a new light (a freshwater coralife) so I can grow some more plants.

The last few weeks (before the light change) I have noticed particles floating in the water. They are brown and look like dirt floating around. It doesn't seem to bother the fish, but as much as I change water and vaccuum, they don't seem to go away. Some settles on plants/rocks and some just floats around. It looks awful. The filter seems to be having trouble picking it up. Any ideas on what it is?

**Lady Hobbs** · 10-15-2008, 04:21 AM

How long since you've cleaned the inside of your filter? I clean my sponge out every few months and just pour tank water over the bio-cubes. Those I do not clean. Also, how long since you've run a brush up that filter tube? They can get very plugged and possibly not picked up enough debris.

PS...I squeeze the sponges out in some water with dechlorinator added.

**Orca** · 10-15-2008, 04:36 AM

The entire filter gets cleaned whenever I change the water. I rinse out the sponge and the bio media in the tank water and rinse out the tubes. There is definitely lots of water running through it.
Also pH, nitrates, nitrite, and ammonia are all fine.

**Northernguy** · 10-15-2008, 04:58 AM

How old is it? It sounds tired.
If you just cleaned everything as mentioned you should have tons of draw.
Is it only a year old?

**Orca** · 10-15-2008, 05:10 AM

The filter is a few years old (I bought the whole setup used). I was hoping I wouldn't have to put out the cash for a new one, but it looks like I might. It's been getting progressively noisier lately as well, even after taking it apart and cleaning the impeller area.

Hopefully that works!

**Northernguy** · 10-15-2008, 05:21 AM

I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news

It sounds like your filter will soon be Kaput, finished ,fubar ....

Once you put on a new 30 or better (always a good idea) you will notice a drastic improvement.You should get a filter that will work twice the volume of your tank.It may sound like too much but it will keep your tank just spiffy.
Others here will have more suggestions for you as well!

**Orca** · 10-17-2008, 06:38 PM

Thanks, I've been wanting to revamp the tank a bit anyway, so a new filter is not a bad idea. How much can I get away with at once? If I change the filter, I'll use the same media to keep the bacteria population up, but can I change the substrate at the same time without disturbing the balance of the aquarium too much? I was thinking about putting in sand and some planting substrate in under some of the gravel I have in there now. I really like the look of the gravel, it's fairly fine, natural color, but maybe not as plant-friendly as I would like.

**Northernguy** · 10-17-2008, 06:57 PM

Do you have pics of your tank now,that would helps loads if you are looking for suggestions.

I'd like to see what you got anyway!

What plants do you have now?
What filter do you have now?
What filter are yoou thinking about?

**LosC** · 10-17-2008, 09:24 PM

Something like this?

**Orca** · 10-18-2008, 01:17 AM

It's sort of like that, but not so bad. Cleaning the impeller did actually seem to help. Looking really closely at the particles, it does just look like bits of dirt, poop, wood, basically stuff that should have gotten caught in the filter but didn't.

I'll try to figure out how to get a pic up here, but in the meantime, I have an AquaClear 300/70 and would probably get the same again, although I am open to suggestions.
As for plants, I have 2 anubias nana on a big chunk of wood that are pretty healthy, some barely-hanging-on vals that are mostly roots, two tiger lotus bulbs that are sprouting, some mystery bulbs (just sprouting), two amazon sword plants in my other aquarium that are mostly bare and floating to keep them alive (will be transferring to the bigger tank now that I have the new lighting) and some other mystery plants that I might just take out. Buying plants at our LFS is always fun because they never label anything and I have to try and find them in the books.
I have a fairly good idea of where I want to go with this tank. Now that I have the new lighting, I am definitely looking at CO2 options. The angels will definitely be the main attraction, at least until I can get somethiing a bit bigger for them, with a couple of rams and some small tetras. Really natural-looking.

Pardon the low water (I've been fiddling around with things) and all the snails...looks like snail-picking time again (chickens will be happy)!