I have a 5 gallon tank, 6 guppies, 2 little catfish, 5 tetras and an algae eater. It's been about 2 weeks since the last filter and the water looks a little murky, is it time to change it?
Also do I shut my lights off at night for the fish?How often should I change my filter and how do I know to change it?As Kylie said, your main problem isn't the cartridge its the fact that you've got way too many fish in there.
That stock list would be appropriate for a 20gallon tank.
You should either consider getting a larger tank, or bringing some of those fish back to the store.
If you do neither - you'll end up with some problems, especially if those guppies start a breedin'.
You can delay this by doing weekly 20% water changes, I think 10% with that many fish probably just isn't enough. Every month you'll wanna change that cartridge, and the water changes will help - however - in such a small tank, waste will build up quickly, so you may just have to do it sooner.
Also, you only want roughly 8-10 hours of light on your tank a day. This doesn't have to be when our sun goes up - the fish don't care what time it is. You can have it on whenever those hours best suit your viewing pleasure. However having it on all day 24/7 will stress out your fish and invite tons of algae to bloom.How often should I change my filter and how do I know to change it?I change mine once a month. But I do a weekly gravel vacuum and water change. Every two weeks I take the filters out and rinse them.
As for light, most tropical fish like 12 hours of light since they live near the equator that's what they would get if left in the wild. How often should I change my filter and how do I know to change it?just change the filter pack once a month. you will know when to change it because it will be a very nasty brown color. Murky water comes from high ammonia in the water. you have overloaded your tank a and the filter cant take the change in waste production. those fish require a bigger tank.
and yes shut your lights off at night so your fish know when it is day and night.
How often should I change my filter and how do I know to change it?your tank is murky because it's over stocked. your tank was pretty much full at the 6 guppies and catfish. you've more than doubled what you should have in there!
are you doing 10% weekly water changes using a gravel vacuum to suck the water from the bottom of the tank? this will help.
anyway, changing your filter isn't something you should do all the time. I know a lot of people say to just rinse it, but this leaves me with a saggy mess. so, I tell it's time to change when the water starts coming out the other side because it's blocked. if this hasn't happened the tank is cloudy because it is cycling, read about this here:
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php
and yes, fish need to rest too, and they don't even have eyelid to block out the light!
