brown weak tea water

gerri

I have a 20 gal long for over a year. The only way to get clear water is to replace it all and then it turns brown again after a week or so. I have washed everything and there is no real wood. I had an oscar in it until he committed suicide by jumping out. Now i have cichlids. I have a small filter...would maybe getting a larger one fix the problem? thanks all!

trust-e-man

i had the same problem i also had a 20 gallon with a oscar but i eventualy sold him but my water was always merky and i would change the filter pads all the time do water changes and it would help then go back to the way it was. then i got a vacuum for the gravel i vacuumed it realy good replacing it with RO water as a vacuumed i noticed in the vacuum tubes the water was realy brown so after i vacuumed the gravel ealy good the water stayed clear after that and it was crystal clear. oscars produce waist realy quick and alot of it. the waits eventualy builds up in the gravel and the water gets merky over time so vacuum it realy good and that should do it. also i added a micro film pad to the filter its made by fluval its called a water buffer or something like that and it filter out tiny particles in the water that the normal filter would get so that helps to with the problem

gerri

Thanks for the feedback! I never thought about it being the oscar causing it. I will vacuum it tonight and then I think tomorrow I will get a better filter for as well. My son bought a small filter from walmart. I really do not want to sound stupid but what is RO water? I have a small micro film pad but it is wore out and I have been unable to find more at the local shops. Thanks again!!!! I will let you know how it turns out! Gerri

Tommy Gun

Gerri,

What type of substrate do you use in your tank?

Has this always been an issue or just a recent problem?

If recent, what has changed in the tank?

I am asking these ?s because it seems odd to me that a tank which has been established for a year should be able to deal with the amount of wastes an Oscar produces or multiple cichlids so long as the tank is big enough for it.

A 20 gallon tank is not large enough for an Oscar and I am assuming that it was pretty large when you eventually removed it from your tank? However, the amount of wastes produced by an Oscar can easily be equalled or surpassed by keeping multiple cichlids. In fact, it is many people's opinion to intentionally overstock a cichlid tank for various reasons and do not have a murky water problem.

Do you know what types of cichlids you have right now?

I think that you have other issues creating the tea like color of your water. It sounds like you are familiar with the concept of vaccuming the substrate, so if you have practiced doing so since you shouldn't have too much build up of wastes that would cloud the water. If not, it may help you out a lot to change the substrate or take it out and clean it well, however this could cause a mini-cycle in your tank so be careful.

trust-e-man

i was just saying that reply because thats what happend to my tank i sold my oscars so i dont have to worry about there problems they acualy do produce alot of waist i feed my oscars dried shrimp and will have a clean bottom(i had no gravle but the glass bottom) but at the end of the day there will be a small pile about the size of a quarter and i would vacuum it out its alot after a while if the waist isnt removed