After setup

corbettfam7 · 08-31-2006, 07:45 AM

I have a new 75 gallon fresh water tank that's two weeks old, and i have three oscars and one pleco. i'm running two aqca clear 70 filters with a 8' air bubble strip. My water started to get cloudy and i went to petco and they gave me acu clear to added to water, i also was told that bactria will grow for the next few weeks. I would like to know should i change 20% of the water every week? or wait until the bloom is finshed?

Jay · 08-31-2006, 10:11 AM

Hi corbettfam7, Welcome to the forum.

My suggestion would be to read the sticky on tank cycling (located at the top of the Freshwater sub forum) as soon as you can, as IMHO you have rushed the addition of fish into your tank.

I also fear that three Oscars in a 75 gallon tank is way too many Oscars. Oscars grow at an astonishing rate of about an inch a month up to a mass of 5 pounds or more. They tend very territorial as they approach adulthood and will fight and rip each other up. They are also very dirty fish producing large quantities of waste and therefore water quality is a constant issue.

I would not worry about a little cloudy water at this stage in the cycle of your tank, IMO you have far more important issues that need attention.

Put the water clarifying chemical away, IME it will not help at this stage.

Weekly 20% water changes are always a good thing.

Regards,
Jay

RDTigger · 09-04-2006, 07:21 AM

The bio-load looks a bit extreme to me. Oscars are, as Jay pointed out, fast growers and are heavy waste producers as such. Also I am not certain how much turnover the Aquaclears create but I think the ratio is suppossed to be around 3-4 cycles per hour(?) in a normal load and even more for increased biological loads.
I would suggest adding bacteria, like a biozyme or another natural additive to the filter itself to build up your colony.

corbettfam7 · 09-04-2006, 09:43 PM

Hey RDTigger thanks for the reply, the information on my aqua clear 70 are 100-300 gpm and with two it would be 200-600 gpm. So my turn around should be fine. After three weeks my water has cleared, and seems to be ok for now. As far as the heavy bio from my monster, if i do a 20% water change once a week, it should cut down on the bio. Hit me back and let me know what you think!

Jay · 09-05-2006, 07:02 AM

IMO It's not the current bio load, it is the future bio load that is going to give you problems.

Jay

ahill3780 · 09-05-2006, 10:02 AM

Agreed.

Also corbettfam, I think you mean 1-300 gph. That little impeller would have to be moving close to light-speed to move 300 gallons every minute.