Help with filter...please

nofinga911

I have a fluval filter in my tank...it is for about 60 gallons and my tank is 60 gallons. I have large rocks in my tank and all of the debris and dirt gets stuck in the rocks. Also, I have the filter on the right side of the tank and it doesnt pick anything up from the left side. Am I doing something wrong? How do I get it to filter the whole tank?

Fat_Fender_40

That when you get a turkey bastor. I usually squirt in those hard to reach places right before I vacuum the gravel and do the water change. It's literally impossible for the filters of the tank to pick up every bit of debris and fish poop.

Do you vacuumed your gravel?

nofinga911

no i dont vaccume, i suppose i should start lol...

willow

good idea,also i was going to add maybe a BBQ skewer,just to
use as a stirer.
:)

fish_4_all

I agree, a good gravel vac will be priceless for getting the mulm and gunk out of the substrate. There is only one way I know of to filter a tank and not "have" to gravel vac and that is with a reverse flow UGF but this is going off what I was told as I have never done it.

Fat_Fender_40

You can use anything that holds water to vacuum water in. I bought a 5 gallon water jug with a handle and spout from wal-mart. It works great to empty and fill without making a huge mess.

Quick tip I learned with vacuuming. Instead of fitting something that big under the bath tub faucet. Run your water about the same temp as the tank and stick your hose under the sink faucet and have it drain out into the bucket.

The huge benefit is that it's hands free. Once you get the hang of it, so I'm changing filters and cleaning algae while it takes about 10 minutes to fill.

The tricky part is getting just the right amount of water coming from the sink faucet so it doesn't over fill the vacuum hose and you just waste water or not enough and the hose doesn't really have suction heading towards the bucket on the floor.