Tank Maintenance Problems?

Question

I received a bit of good advice posting my last fish problem here, so I thought I'd give it another go. A couple of days ago, my 10 gallon fish tank began to make a strange noise; it's nothing loud or abnoxious. Every now and again, it sounds as if something were being dropped into the water--and trust me, that's not happening.

Now, I don't have the best history with fish--I'm new at this--, and the ones I own now are the first I've had with this tank. In the five months I've owned these fish , I have done little in the maintenance of my tank, other than water changes when the water level drops, and leveling the pH level.

I know I suck at owning fish--please don't answer to state that. I know it, and am working on it.

There's also salt build up around the filter cartridge--the thing that looks like you could scrub dishes with it? Do I need to clean that--and if so, how?--or replace it?

Any help on these problems would be appreaciated.

Thanks

Answer 1

The sound you are hearing from time to time may well be due in part to the filter cartridge being dirty. Let me make these suggestions that might help you out and help you to have a clean, healthy tank with a very limited amount of time and work invested.

Each week change 25-30% of the water. Use a gravel siphon to clean the gravel as you go. They are available at any pet store and are quite inexpensive. When you do this change, wash out the filter cartridge in some of the dirty tank water before you toss it out. Once a month or so, replace the filter cartridge instead of cleaning it out. That's it... that's really all there is to it for basic maintanance. Do that and you will have a nice clean and healthy tank. You may wish to also wash off any ornaments from time to time, or wipe off the inside of the glass from time to time (you can get an algae scrapper for just a few dollars to do this), but that's up to you.

I would not suggest that you try to adjust your pH levels, most fish will do just fine in such a wide range of pH that it's better to have it a bit high or a bit low than to try to adjust it and have it changing on them all the time. Stable is good, change is bad from a fishes point of view.

The build up around the cartridge is due to evaporation and can just be wiped off the filter housing and the top of the cartridge.

As far as salt in your tank, that will depend on the particular fish you keep, but assuming you have fairly common community fish, I would suggest you add 2 teaspoons to the tank at first and then add 1/2 teaspoon each time you change 25 - 30% of the water.

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 2

the noise you hear is most likey the water dropping from the filter into the tank. it sounds kind of like a rock falling into water now and again. nothing to worry about.

for maintenance you need to do water changes (which you are) and gravel vac. walmart has these for 4$. its a siphon with sucks dirt and debris (uneaten food and wastes) from the gravel. this will help greatly in keeping the water clear and the parameters in check.

you dont really need to level the pH. my tap water is very high, at 8.0, and the fish i keep usually require a lower. acclimating the fish to the water very slowly and keeping the pH stable is what keeps them healthy.

is the buildup inside of the filter, or just around the sponge, not in it?
if its not actually IN the filter or tank, you dont need to clean it. its a tough job scrubbing that stuff off.

you should never replace a filter sponge or cartridge. beneficial bacteria grow on the filter media and replacing the media would start the cycle over again. research the nitrogen cycle, and the right way to cycle a tank.

email me if you need anymore help!

Answer 3

i can answer the filter question, if its an on the hood filter like mine called trickle, when there is a pump that sucks the water up and the is dropped on the other side. mine does it once it a while not to be alarmed off, i found that when my pleco goes near the pump end where the water is sucked up and stays there blocking a bit of it, then when he goes away the water will go up at once and the water will flow fast to the other side making an unusual dripping sound. on the other hand if its a power head the propeller inside may be scratching inside , try to clean the propeller once in a month and replace it when it looks badly scratched. for the salt build up you can use a small cup to remove part of it once in a week :)

good luck with your new hobby, seems your taking this thing seriously if your worried about simple things and no beginners dont suck every one has his problems when starting a new hobby

Answer 4

You have a Tetra power filter? The sponge thing is doing a vital job, providing biological filtration. If it is really gunked up and causing water flow problems, you can rinse it in a bucket of water you've taken from your tank at the next water change. Don't clean it too much, or you will lose the bacteria you need.
Is it a banging noise coming from the filter? Maybe it has air bubbles. You can shut it off, fill it with water until it flows out the spout and restart it. That might clear it up. Are the intake tubs gunked up? You can remove them and rinse them. Better if you have a filter brush and clean them completely.

Answer 5

Fresh tap water changes should be once a week with a 50% change. You don't have to remove anything from your tank unless you want to clean where things are in the way. You might be using way to many additives. We use nothing but tap water...most additives just pickle your fish and the pH will return to just what is was 24 hours later. We don't even use a declorine because it isn't used in our city water. You can call your water carrier and find out if they use it in yours. You might need a new filter as well. We don't use salt either...I've heard good and bad things about using it. So I figure...would they get that much in their water in the wild? NOPE...I wouldn't know how to remove the buildup on it...or if you have really hard water (we have that too!) it looks like salt build up...just ignore it.