Barracuda-m Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Hi everyone I have a 29 gallon community tank with 3 bushy nose plecos, 2 upside down catfish, a synodontis, a ropefish, a gourami, 3 danios and 3 tetras. It's been up and running for 6 months or so, before that, I used it as a cichlid grow out tank for a couple of years. I have one piece of older, established driftwood in there, one of those "onion" plants, and an anubia. I have to do a 30% w/c every week or I can't see to the back of my tank!! The water turns a murky brown, yet the glass is clean. Every time I vacuum the gravel (weekly), theres a RIDICULOUS amount of brown crud coming up through the gravel. I changed it to new gravel about 6 weeks ago, and it still gets bad. The water in my water bucket is as dark as strong coffee, with grounds (yuck) I'm running more than adequate filtration (rated for up to 60 gallons) and obviously, the water is fresh. I have a 55 and a 61 gallon as well, and have no trouble with them at all. Why oh why is my community tank so nasty???? Any suggestions/ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Ther eis so much brown gumk in your gravel becuase you have 3 BN plecos and driftwood in the tank. BN plecos + Driftwood = tons of brown poop. I just setup a 40g with driftwood and 4 BN plecos and after 2 days there is a ton of brown poop floating all over the sand. I also put a zebra snail in a 5g with a betta and had to remove it becuase the snail was pooping out so much dirftwood and the water was so gross when I changed it. So that would explain the gumk in the gravel and WC bucket but not the muddyness of the water. My water is still crystal clear. How old is your driftwood? COuld tannins leaching from the wook be causing the murky water? Can you get a pic of the water? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackMumba Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 How old is your driftwood? COuld tannins leaching from the wook be causing the murky water? I have the same problem with my tanks, that contain driftwood! The driftwood is approx 4 months old, but the wood does leech out the brown and makes the water brown like coffee. I have to do almost 50% once a week water changes due to the amount of coffee colored water, not to mention the plants continue to die off caused by the lack of light required because of it... (I think is the problem)... I don't have any pleco's no snails err... except the ones I wonderfully did not purchase with my plants! LOL The more driftwood = darker coffee water! One tank has one piece, water clear! One tank with three peices OMG hard to see the fish, two others the same amount of driftwood same effect..... I am hopeful that eventually with continuous water changes the driftwood will stop leaking the tannings... until then I am the bucket lady!! Who needs Yoga, I have water changes !! LOL :tongue: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkangel Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 I added 2 pieces of driftwood into my 29 gal. tank. they are large enough that they take up 1/3 of the tank. I soaked them for2 weeks changing the water every second day and used straight hot water. Do a 50% W/C every week and the water still comes out piss yellow but is gradually getting lighter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Chicklets Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 I had similar problems with my tanks that had bogwood. I found that the outer layer was saturated with some sort of clay. The problem dissapated to a little staining of the water after I took the bogwood to the car wash and pressure washed it down to the clean wood. At the car wash I put the money in turned it onto rinse blasted a spot on the floor to make sure it was clean and that no soap or wax was in the hose and then went to town on it with the wand at about a foot away turning the wood several times to get all surfaces. I then brought it home and soaked it in dechlorinated water with aquarium salt for about a week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barracuda-m Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 hi, thanks for all the responses! The wood in question is well over a year old, and has leaked nothing for about 7 months. It was boiled dozens of times, and soaked for weeks before, and I set it up in a different tank for a while, there was no color leeching. I changed the water again last night, so the water is nice and clear today. Let's hope it stays that way this time! lol If it gets nasty again, I'll be sure to take a snap before I clean it. The crud doesn't look anything like pleco poop, I have 9 plecos in total, 3 in each tank, and I have no problem with any others. (One pleco in my cichlid tank is 16 inches long, I know all about poop now......heheheh) This stuff is really dark, almost black, and fine, like dust. This has been going on for months and months, I just can't get this tank to stay nice! If anything happens to the occupants, I'll turn it into a cichlid tank again, and be problem free once and for all...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
werner Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 Try putting some of the water in a white bucket or bowl- does it have a greenish tint at all? If so, the problem may be a mild algae bloom (green water). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barracuda-m Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 I tried it, the water isn't green at all.......I'm gonna wait a couple of days (it usually gets really gross after 3-4 days post w/c) and see if it improves. I changed the filters and vacuumed the gravel thoroughly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CORVETTE Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 (edited) The tank has a good bio load of fish in there with a lot of waste produced. i say up the filtration, i don't know what your using for filtration, but i have ran 2 Ac 300's on a 33 gallon with a small202 power head for years now and i have a "sorta heavy" fish load in there at times with no problems. I have always believed you can never over filtrate only over stimulate. Edited October 15, 2007 by CORVETTE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barracuda-m Posted October 15, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 I have a Penguin 350 filter running, rated for up to 75 gallons (on my 61 gallon, I used 2 of them, with great results) I used this filter for this tank for years, and never had a problem til I changed it to a community tank. I know I have a lot of bottom feeders in there, but the "regular" fish in there are tiny, the tank looks empty! hehehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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