FishProfiles.com Message Forums

I have a 10g that seems to be very dirty, i.e. there's a lot of plant & fish waste. I currently do weekly water changes of about 20%, however, I can't seem to get ahead.

Right now there are a few plants and only one fish, though he seems to be a poo machine. I've taken out the hornwort so there shouldn't be any more plant debris being adding to the tank.

What are the largest water changes I can do and how often can I do them?

What kind of filter are you running? And what kind of fish is this poop-machine?

~~~~~~~~~~~~
There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Lets face it 10g's are tough to deal with. I'd look first @your stocking, then @your filtration then deal with increasing water changes if everything else checks out okay.

Rather than doing one large one, more frequent water changes may work for you better.

^_^

My filter is a penguin mini biowheel.

My poop-machine, I mean, fish is an otto cat. I put him in there to keep it cycled until I add a betta. Even though there isn't much algae the tank seems to alway be full of his waste.

Adding to the problem is that my substrate is sand so all the waste sits on top and is very visible.

Your filtration is fine, and well...hardly any bio-load on the tank. Do you gravel vac your tanks when doing water changes?

Well ottos and bettas like different types of environments. The ottos like faster moving water, the betta slower to no movement. Hopefully the otto will be moving in with 3-4 friends soon as the betta comes .

There are ways to keep sand clear without having to do water changes all the time (powerhead with sponge or floss acting as a quickfilter) however they wouldnt' make the betta happy.

If you're not getting all the poo up with a gravel vac doing the 20% change, I'd suggest 20% twice a week rather than a larger change all @once.

^_^

I do "gravel" vac the sand and get as much as I can in one water change but for some reason I can't seem to stay ahead of the mess.

I'll try a couple of water changes a week, but would it be a problem to do a 20% change every other day for just one week?

You would think one otto cat would have a small bioload, but this guy seems to be creating quite a mess. A couple days after a gravel vac and the sand is already peppered with little...well you get it.

I know otto cats are schooling fish, and don't do well in 10g, but that's a whole other thread. Maybe I'll post questions surrounding that if I have the time.

[span class="edited"][Edited by johnsmith 2004-09-07 13:02][/span]

Don't see a problem doing WC's every other day, but IMO you'll need to keep it up for as long as he's in the tank.

Ottos do produce alot ...they're eating alot of well...the equilivent of fiber .

I know otto cats are schooling fish, and don't do well in 10g, but that's a whole other thread.

Awareness is the first step .

^_^

If you get the sand to lean forwards, thicker layer in the back of the tank, you might get most of the poo to collect at the front and you get more of it out with smaller water changes. Ive never tried to make sand lean this way and dont know if it is possible but you could try it.

---

So here I am once more...