problem with my 40 gal

Greeneyez0623

I have a 40 gallon with 2 small plecos, 1 small Oscar and 1 small clown knife. ( once i move i will get a bigger tank. they are smal right now) I have a Top fin 40 filter. But my tank always stay somewhat murky. Also within a day of cleaning the whole filter and changing the cartride the water starts overflowing out of the other side. Why is that? also is it not enough to keep my tank clear. ? CAn anyone sugget a better filter?

jeaninel

Get a filter that's rated for larger than your tank. You have a lot of messy fish. Even though they are small now they still put out a lot of waste...especially the plecos and Oscar.

I really like my Penguin 350 Biowheel. It's rated for a 75 gallon tank so it would be much better for your tank than the Topfin 40. The Emperor 400 would also be good. These are both made by Marineland.

You can also try canister filters but I have no experience with them so maybe somebody else can make a suggestion there.

When/if you do get another filter make sure you still run your old filter alongside with the new one until your bacteria colony is established in the new filter.

Is your tank cycled?

iamntbatman

You never want to clean the whole filter and replace the cartridge all at once. You really only need to replace the cartridge when it starts to physically fall apart. You can clean the gunk off of the cartridge during your water changes by gently swishing it around in used tank water.

I agree - more filtration would definitely help. The Penguin/Emperor filters are great. A canister filter would also be a good choice. I have a Fluval 204 filter that runs with no problems, but I've heard a lot of complaints about the 04 series, so Marineland or Eheim might be better choices.

You may as well make the investment now, since you'll eventually need a much larger tank with very powerful filtration for those fish.

Greeneyez0623

Yes my tank is cycled. I just a few mins ago cleaned the whole filter and changed the cartridge. What will happen if I did that? Will it hurt my fish? the reason i did that i becuz of al the brown gunk that was al over the edge of the filter and inside it. it was making it not flow back in the tank,

Little-Fizz

Upgrade that filter for sure. I have a topfin 60 running on my 20 gallon with like 5 platies in it.

And just a thought... But your ten gallons REALLY over stocked. What kind of goldies do you have?

The only thing that will come from completely cleaning your filter and changing the media is a mini cycle, because thats where most of your beneficial bacteria is and when you wash out your filter your washing them out too.

Greeneyez0623

not realy sure what kind fo goldies. lol. They were feeders that we liked and kept. lol. one is white and gold though with a big flowing tail. and 2 r orange with black markings. anyone know whatb kind they are. that would help so much. since this is now a home for them I know its not a a good ida to use this tank as a feeder tank.. Would another 10 gallong be a god feeder tank? But how many feeders should be in it at a time?

iamntbatman

I would avoid using Goldfish as feeders. Here's why:

1) You have to buy them from the store, so they can come with diseases and parasites.
2) They have serrated spines that can injure your fish when your fish eat them.
3) Since they're coldwater fish, they aren't nutritionally balanced for a tropical fish. This can lead to health problems long-term.

A much better choice would be to set up a tank and breed your own livebearers. I have a 10g with feeder guppies and a few fancy guppies to boot. They breed themselves, so they're free other than the cost of water changes and food, plus I know they're healthy because they were born and raised in my own house. They also lack the serrated spine and are tropical fish themselves so they're healthier. Guppies would be fine for your fish while they're smaller, but once the clown knife and Oscar get bigger you might want to set up something bigger, like a 55g with a bunch of breeding mollies or something.

Greeneyez0623

You mean breed the mollies in the tank the clown is in? How woudl i do that. I know nothing about breeding? is it hard or costly?

Little-Fizz

I think he means in a separate tank for breeding the mollies. Breeding mollies is NOT hard, all you need is a male and like 3 females and I promise you will have baby fish in no time.

It doesn't really cost anything besides the whole having a separate tank thing. Just crush fish flakes into a fine powder and now you have baby fish food.

iamntbatman

Yeah, if you've got male and female livebearers together in a tank, it's pretty much impossible to *not* have them breed. Unless you got a very big tank I don't think you'd be able to have your feeder population sustain itself in a tank full of predators...although I did see something like a 700 or 800 gallon tank once full of gars that was also chock full of feeder guppies that had clearly been reproducing faster than the gars could eat them, so I guess it's possible.

But yes, I meant a 55g tank with just mollies in it breeding to supply feeders for your other fish that would be in a different tank. Beware that your clown knife is going to become a very big fish. They are known to reach sizes of up to 40", so he will need a tank hundreds of gallons in size.