Ongoing Zeb Tank Problems....

[NeoCult]

Hi need some advice on my tank, previously had ph crash, which is now fine thankfully, anyways heres my dilema....

Current tank setup -

Juwel Rio 125 - 125ltr
Fluval 4 internal filter
Eheim 2224 external filter
Heater (obviously) lol
thin layer of sand substrate, just enough to cover the glass and no more

12 caves

1 piece of bog wood

so did a water test yesterday ph and ammonia is perfect...

Nitrite and nitrate were slightly up so did a water change, today retest, same again but higher...

Did a 3rd of the tank water change almost 50% even

No change

Checked the Fluval 4 it was fine not clogged, pretty much perfect....

The eheim i decided to dismantle and the top filter (fine pad) was pretty bad so i replaced it with a new one, aint retested yet...

here is my dilema, im seriously thinking of taking hte eheim out as i do a water change every day or 2nd day at least

do you think this is the right or wrong thing to do and why? i really need advice, ive never used eheims before or much externals, with the water changes i do etc do i really need to use them? all my other tanks are fine inc my discus tank with just fluval internals

thanks for any help, advice you may be able to give

[Mindy]

I am by no means an expert, but if it was my tank and I had to figure this out...

I don't see what difference taking off the Eheim will make. If you have nitrite in your water, then surely there's some kind of cycle taking place, though why I don't know. Removing any kind of established filter when you still have a cycle happening, to my mind, might be a little risky. It will need all the help it can get to sort itself out as quickly as you'll need it to.

My 4ft tank ran for about a year and a half with just a Fluval 4 Plus (internal). I decided to add an Eheim and though it was my intention to remove the internal, I have continued to let them run concurrently and I will say that by and large, my tank is a lot better with the addition of the Eheim. Could be that ANY other filter added to the internal would have helped, but all I know is that my internal Fluval, together with my Eheim, seem to make a good team. They sort of back each other up. Sometimes the Fluval gets a bit mucky and the outflow drops. With the Eheim running as well, it means that tank circulation is still maintained even when the internal starts to slow down (which is good if I don't notice right away, or am just being lazy). Similarly, when the spray bar gets a bit clogged, or the Eheim slows down, the Fluval is still there keeping the tank circulated. Plus, the Fluval is easy to add carbon to if I need it, etc. It gives a bit more flexibilty. Well... that's my two cents worth.

[Plastic Mac]

strange one that.

I use external eheims and have used fluval in the past. Eheims are great, however the last few days of testing on my main tank seems to show the same kind of results as your are at present. My ammonia and nitrites are 0 but my nitrates always seem to sit round the 40ppm no matter how many water chanegs i do...i was actually starting to think the test kit was faulty.
I'm aware my main tank is slightly overstocked which doesn't help but my eheim filter will do up to a tank 4 times the size of the tank it's presently fitted to. So i can only assume I need to do far more frequent water changes.
Just like Mindy suggested, I certainly wouldn't remove the filter. If your tank is re-cycling due to some unknown problem the last thing you need is less filtering potential.

It's just a guess but some products are known to kill the bacteria, or at least make a serious dent in their population, such as some fish medicine products like methalyne blue(I'm pretty sure that one helps kill bacteria). Anyway my point is, do you think that Accu clear stuff you mentioned the other day may possibly bring on the same issues? Does it state it on the bottle? Or have you used any other products in the tank recently?

[NeoCult]

update -

Interpet tablet kit seemed to be at fault hagen test kit shows perfect water!!!!

de-eheimed the tank also, gonna keep it off, no need for it and when i saw how minging the top filter pad was i decided not to use it again...

Eheim 2224 with new pads n media for sale lol cheap



with regular syphoned water changes, cycle added now and again the tank will stay fine with just a fluval 4 im sure

thanks for all the imput though, its well appreciated

[Plastic Mac]

How cheap is cheap? pm me.....I've already got a 2224...another wouldn't go a miss

[nesolb]

Just to throw in my two pence worth; I would have left the Eheim external filter running. I've got three myself, one running the zebbies tank, one on the Tanganyikan tank and one on the baby grow out tank. All three tanks also have internal filters and, as Mindy mentioned, they compliment each other. More often than not it's the internal filter that needs cleaning first, bare in mind that and internal filter keeps the dirt trapped in the tank too.

[Caesars]

Agree with Nesolb. I used the 2227 for a while and was very happy with it. I am not convinced cycle works (I have been running my tanks without for about 4 months now and they are fine) but I would highly recommend Seachem Purigen. For your size tank you should really see a reduction in nitrite and nitrate (I had the same problem and it did help).

Good Luck!

[Barbie]

Cycle is a product meant to stimulate the production of bacteria that digest the waste your fish put off. In a nutshell, fish put off ammonia, it's then converted to nitrite by the first set of bacteria, and then from nitrite to nitrate by the second set. You SHOULD remove nitrate from your system with frequent small water changes, in order to also remove dissolved organics and replace buffers that keep your water stable. There are MANY products out there now that claim to make shortcuts for these procedures, but there really is no replacement for good clean water in our tanks, IME.

Barbie

[NeoCult]

Forgot to update this post sorry, My bad......

Nothing was wrong with the tank, filter or water it was an "Off"?? interpet tablet test kit that was giving the error, the eheim s still there as is the fluval 4

thanks again guys

[nesolb]

Glad to hear it m8.