i have a plecostamus, 3 baby fantails, a comet, a shibunkin, 2 baby butterfly koi, 2 algae shrimp, a snail and a driftwood shrimp in my tank. i do 10% water changes once a week and 25% water changes once a month and clean the filter weekly, but the water is still murky. i know my tank isnt overcrowded and i know that goldfish breeds have high waste levels, but i was wondering if there was any better way to clear up the water. the filtration system is incorporated into the lid and i use a ammo carb in a bag for extra filtration, but even thats not working. anything helps.
thanks!Any idea on how to clear up the water on my 40gal tank?Your biggest problem is the crowding, you need to get some of those fish out. Goldfish are very hard on a filter and require a lot of space, any one of those fish is about all you should have in 40 gallons. Koi get HUGE and are awful on water quality. What happens is simple, you need to have a measure of bacteria that are good, and you cleaning your filter so often is keeping them from developing. I would get a second filter with a biobag, and run it constantly, the other thing is the algae eater.
What is causing your water to get cloudy is an abundance of cianobacteria, not algae. You need to get filter feeders to get rid of that, good filter feeders are clams.
The number of fish and the type of fish you have should easily be in 200 gallons of water or a pond where there is a good bio filtration level. A forty gallon tank seems large but a full grown fantail needs 20 gallons of water, a full grown comet needs at least 40, shubunkin 50 to 100 gallons of water, koi of any kind need ponds as the will destroy aquariums. Algae shrimp need about a square foot of bottom space each, same with driftwood shrimp and depending on the snail, some of them need upwards of ten gallons, when you total that you are looking at a HUGE tank.
The only thing you can do is big water changes frequently, but that is stressing your fish and holding back your bio cycle. Honestly you just have way to much and nothing you are going to do is going to clear that water up any time soon if you keep all those fish. Best thing you can do is sell them back and rebalance your tank, or upgrade to a much larger tank.
Good LuckAny idea on how to clear up the water on my 40gal tank?Every week or so, try to replace 1/4 of the water. Do it with fresh, purified water and not tap. Hopefully this helps... try to add some algae eaters as well (fish ones, to help your pleco). Good luck!Any idea on how to clear up the water on my 40gal tank?well what color is the water. if it's green, that's alge bloom. has your tank cycled? you could try otos for alge, not alge eaters. otos do a much better job.
water changes do help as well, but find out why its cloudy and what color is your water?Any idea on how to clear up the water on my 40gal tank?Check the drift wood it may be leaching out tannic acid which can lead to an unatractive appearance. Consider switching to a higher grade of carbon and reduce feeding. Also consider freshwater clams they are great filter feeders and are safe with your specimens.Any idea on how to clear up the water on my 40gal tank?You might want to have you water tested at an aquarium store or buy some test kits and test it yourself. You are doing plenty of water changes. Make sure that when you are changing your water to clean the gravel good. Plecos are messy fish. I have a python cleaning system that I use. I connects to the faucet in the kitchen and you can remove and add water very easy. The only other thing I can think of, is to not over feed your fish.
