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Hey all, I am currently operating a Fluval FX5 and after changing over one of the filter medias and switching the unit back on, an awful lot of muck was spat out. Have done changes before and found some air will come up as part of the system's auto-primer function however my tank is 8ftx2ftx2ft and enough crap came out that the whole tank is putrid.

I am looking for help in how to quickly and effectively remove as much of the mess as possible without having to siphon out and replace half the water in the tank. I do have particulate matter remover but am also trying to avoid using it as it makes the fish uncomfortable.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Stv

Hi Stv,
Welcome to Fish Profiles. After the fact, it sounds like
that filter needed more cleaning than just changing one
of the filter medias. You might want to change a different
section once a month. You don't say what you have in the
tank as far as fish, quantity, and size but with that big
a tank you can easily over do things.

Now that the stuff is in the water column, it is going to
enter the filter and soon clog the first section. Really,
the best is what you dread, massive water change(s) and
gravel vacuuming at the same time. Particulate matter
remover, simply causes the "stuff" to precipitate out of the
water column and settle on and in the gravel where it must
be vacuumed out.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

I wouldn't worry about it. It all would have been in the water anyway, just inside the filter. It's pretty normal. It will just get sucked up again, won't be enough to even come close to clogging up the filter.

Cheers for the advice, spent a lot of time siphoning it out from the gravel and then topping up with new water. I was changing the ammonia remover but have since found a large deposit of muck at the bottom of the filter. Must have been gathering for some time. Have since cleaned filter out as thoroughly as possible to avoid this happenning again. All other medias have been replaced within 1 month ago so I am hoping they will still be good for a little while longer.

As for the fish, they are quite random.
I have:
1 x Venustus (4inch)
2 x Tandannous Catfish (12inch)
1 x Sleepy Cod/Snakehead Gudgeon/not sure cause he looks similar to all but was advertised as Sleepy Cod (7inch)
1 x Kaiser Moori (2inch)
1 x Silver Scat (4inch)
1 x Banded Leporinus (5inch)
1 x Spotted Pecoltia (not sure how big haven't seen him long enough to measure, roughly 4inch)
2 x Archer Fish (3inch)
2 x Ghost Knife (5inch)
3 x Electric Yellow (2inch)
1 x Convict (3inch)
1 x Algae Eater (4inch)
2 x Salvinis (5inch)
1 x Red Jewel (3inch)
and 1 baby Jaguar that managed to escape being breakfast like he was intended.

All other medias have been replaced within 1 month ago so I am hoping they will still be good for a little while longer.

Hi Stvmeister

Welcome to the forum

Do you mean that you not only replaced the sponges, but ALL the media within a close period of time? I'm not sure if that's what you mean, but usually, you would not do that. You would rinse out the noodles, or bio balls (or whatever you are using) in old tank water. Rinse out the coarse sponge in old tank water too & then replace the fine sponge monthly or bi-monthly. If you replace them all within a short period of time, then the tank needs to cycle again.

Cheers
TW

Have been cleaning/replacing one section at a time every 2-3 weeks for the past month or two. The Ammonia was the last thing that needed to be done. I do not continually keep replacing all media at this rate. Now that it is all done I will leave it be. I was under the belief that 2 weeks between changes was okay, or is that too short a time period?

Cheers,
Stv

I'm not sure what type of filter you have or what your media arrangement is. Mine are all cannisters.

The bio balls, noodles, etc shouldn't really need changing - only rinsing in the old tank water. Fine sponges - no need to replace more frequently than 4-6 weeks. I don't replace my coarse sponge - just wash in old tank water, squeeze it out & re-use it.

Rinsing in old tank water causes no harm to the beneficial bacteria. Replacing means the filter has to play catch up, so you wouldn't want to always be doing this regularly at 2 week intervals. But that's ok, 'cause I see you intend to leave it be now & that you don't always do this anyway

Cheers
TW

Cheers for all the help, god bless fish enthusiasts. Have been browsing this site for months but only just got around to joining and already am stoning myself for not joining sooner. Thankyou all very much for the help

Cheers,
Stv