Wont Stay Clean

So my 45 gallon tank that is planted won't stay clean. The poop shows so much on the sand substrate and there is also stuff floating around. I do water changes weekly and sometimes twice weekly its been running for about 3 weeks and I do vacuum with a vacuum made for a 10 gallon (had for a 10 gallon and have not bought a bigger one) I will vacuum and see poop come through the tube into a bucket I walk outside and dump the bucket walk back in and BOOM MORE FLIPPEN POOP ALL OVER THE PLACE. My tank is not even overstocked! Please Advise!!!

 

What kind of fish and filter do you have? You may have some messy eaters so some snails or shrimp may help

 

I have
3 dgs
4 dime sized angels
3 Neon tetras
5 black neons
4 zebra danios
3 cories
And 3 swordtails

 

What type of filtration do you have? Might not be enough.

 

Even if you have enough filtration it might help to get a filter with a higher gph and space to add filter floss so the waste is collected out of sight. Then you just need to replace the floss when you do your w/c's.

 

I have a whisper 60 ... would a fluval c4 be any good???

 

For your tank you need a pump/filter that will move at least a minimum of 180GPH or filtration for a 90-120gal tank. So you want a filter that is double the size of your tank at least.

That whisper 60 & Fluval C4 is barely making it.

 

I agree it sounds like an issue with your filtration. What filter and media are you using

 

I am using tetra bio bags, I don't have a c4 was asking if that would work, the c4 has a gph of 240, so would that be ok

 

So, not sure if it’s different for non planted tanks, but 180gph on a 45 gallon would no where near cut it...

You want to look for close to 10x turnover (so gph 450).

A better filter should help your issues

 

I agree, you could probably save yourself a lot of gravel vacuuming time by upgrading your filter

 

Ok I have wanted a bigger/ better filter for a while, what would you recommend? I would like to not spend a fortune tho lol

 

Would a SUN SUN H-303B work plus my whisper? It is rated about 370 gph

 

How about the seachem tidal 110 rated 450 gph???

 

You could add a powerhead to increase water flow in addition to the filter.

 

Marineland Magnaflow 360. I have 3 and plan to buy more. Outstanding filter. Don't go cheap you get what you pay for. I have Marineland canisters that are close to 20 years old and still run trouble free (Mag 350's)

Also you may want to try Seachem's Pristine . I have been using it for around 8 months. It is very good at breaking down poop and such. The 55 has white sand and the poop is gone in hours. There is 560 GPH filtration.

I use at least two filters on all our aquariums.

 

Instead of upgrading your filter, you could add a sponge filter to it and then run 2 filters. That has the added benefit of keeping some biological filtration should one fail, and if the power goes out, you can hook it to a battery powered air pump.

 

Ok so the magniflow is breaking the budget a little... will look into pristine, I can't run two filters in my tank because the lid only has one slot. Any word on the seachem tidal???

 

A sponge filter sits in the bottom of your tank and runs off of an air pump. You only need room to put an air line down inside, you can run it next to your existing filter.

The nice thing about them is that they only cost like 5 bucks, and you can use an existing air pump to run them.

 

I had considered that ... Any specific good ones that u recommend

 

I've read there are some upgraded ones, though I'm not sure how. For my tanks I just bought the first one I saw on Amazon lol. I use one in my 20 long with an HOB, and my other one is the only filter in my shrimp tank.

They're also incredibly simple to make yourself if you check out a video. It's amazing how clever yet simple the things are!

 

Ok so the magniflow is breaking the budget a little... will look into pristine, I can't run two filters in my tank because the lid only has one slot. Any word on the seachem tidal???

I have 3 of the Magniflows 360's and if you dig around you can probably find a new one for under $100 dollars. I got a brand new one off eBay last month for under $80 delivered, the receipt was from Petsmart, another was a warranty replacement for the older C-360 filter that the primer button had got stuck in the down position, the third was a pre-owned unit but never set up and used for $100. BTW the C-360 is still operational instead of priming the unit with the primer button I fill it with water and use either the hose from a python system or the squeeze bulb from a regular siphon to get the filter running properly. The two FX 4's on my big tank I never paid full retail for either, you just have to wait for sales or comb eBay, Craigslist, and Facebook buy and sell pages.

 

Hydor Crystal filters are good too, I have the version 1 in my 20G tanks, but they come in bigger sizes. Water is always crystal clear, no poop, but I don't have sand (I have med-large gravel). Sand imo, is really hard to keep clean -with gravel, the poop falls down in the gaps where it then gets broken down naturally/biologically, whereas sand, it kind of just sits there unless you have a really strong filter that can suck everything up (but then I'd think it would be too strong for the fish to live comfortably).