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Hi need some advice on my tank, previously had ph crash, which is now fine thankfully, anyways heres my dilema....

Current tank setup -

Juwel Rio 125 - 125ltr
Fluval 4 internal filter
Eheim 2224 external filter
Heater (obviously) lol
thin layer of sand substrate, just enough to cover the glass and no more

12 caves

1 piece of bog wood

so did a water test yesterday ph and ammonia is perfect...

Nitrite and nitrate were slightly up so did a water change, today retest, same again but higher...

Did a 3rd of the tank water change almost 50% even

No change

Checked the Fluval 4 it was fine not clogged, pretty much perfect....

The eheim i decided to dismantle and the top filter (fine pad) was pretty bad so i replaced it with a new one, aint retested yet...

here is my dilema, im seriously thinking of taking hte eheim out as i do a water change every day or 2nd day at least

do you think this is the right or wrong thing to do and why? i really need advice, ive never used eheims before or much externals, with the water changes i do etc do i really need to use them? all my other tanks are fine inc my discus tank with just fluval internals

thanks for any help, advice you may be able to give

Forgot to say this tank houses 10 L46 Zebra Plecos

Presence of nitrite indicates that biological filtration isn't working as it should. What causes this is hard for me to say, it could be the bacteria culture in the filter isn't what it should be. Or you have some dead fish, leftover food, or something in the tank.

I would keep the Eheim, and if you're desperate to get rid of a filter, take out the Fluval one... My experience with various filters is that the Fluval isn't quite as good a filter as the Eheim ones. However, H. Zebra likes to have a lot of current in the tank, so keeping both going would probably be the best idea.

--
Mats

Hiya,

as MatsP said it's good idea too keep external filter. To start a bacteria culture fast you can use Sera Nitrivec - it's really cool thing. I got NO2 on 0,7 mg/l one day (overfeed I guess - it was Q-tank with P.typus) to 80l tank I add whole bottle of nitrivec and next day NO2 was 0 :). You can add some straight to filter and then to water but add more than producer says and add 2-3 times per day (I know it's expensive but after 2 days you should have nice bacteria starter :) and no problem any more :). And as MatsP said watch your fish - maybe they don't eat food you offer them?
I guess that tap water is ok since other tanks got no problems :)

Regards.

How does your Eheim look inside
Usually the LFS shell them with some blue, one white and a coal filter. Best "growing ground" for bacteria culture is to let one blue filter on the ground, then some of the white Ehfi/Sera-substrat (look at the surface/liter -more is better), then put white and coal filter in.

Wash the Eheim every 3week bacteria culter need`s much time to grow.
And then wash only 1/2 of the Ehfi/Sera-substrat. Best is to wash the under and then put the upside unwashed under and the washed up.

Hi all, thanks for the help

i found out that my water was fine and i had no need to panic

my Interpet tablet test kit was to blame, i think the tablets were maybe outta date or something?? anyways with the hagen drops kit it is fine