Returning to the hobby

[David80]

About a month ago we purchased a 20 gallon hex tank for the kids. We wanted something easy for them to maintain. It has a gravel substrate and fake plants. The kids wanted it to be colorful. It has 8 Guppies, an albino cory, and a clown pleco. We added these over a 2 week period after having the tank set up for almost 2 weeks. I know that was a little fast, but with 4 kids begging we took a chance. I'm running the HOB filter it came with (Top Fin Silent Stream 20)but I removed the blue plastic because it was slowing down the filter in my opinion, a sponge pre-filter, and a small sponge filter hidden in the back. (ph 7.6, Alkalinity 200, 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, it's well water) We had a bacterial bloom recently that turned the water white. It's almost gone now, but there's some white stuff growing inside the HOB filter. I've never had anything like this happen to my previous tanks. I'm wondering if that's something to worry about? The filter cartridge clogged shortly after the bacterial bloom. I replaced the cartridge and it is beginning to clog as well. I don't want to clean out the filter unless this stuff is bad for the fish. Any advice is appreciated. 

[Taco Playz]

Welcome to the forum!

[Guppysnail]

It is hard to tell but looks like the bacteria that created your bloom have created a colony there. It should go away on its own once your beneficial bacteria amps up.  Makes no difference if you remove it or not your choice just don’t let it clog things up. If you don’t mind the suggestion adding some coarse sponge will keep your Ben bec intact when you have to replace the cartridge.  If you have no other media and the old cartridge disintegrates and needs replaced you risk a mini cycle. Welcome to the forum. Check out the coop on YouTube to see how to “hot rod” and improve any type filter it great stuff

[David80]

On 7/30/2021 at 8:00 PM, Guppysnail said:

It is hard to tell but looks like the bacteria that created your bloom have created a colony there. It should go away on its own once your beneficial bacteria amps up.  Makes no difference if you remove it or not your choice just don’t let it clog things up. If you don’t mind the suggestion adding some coarse sponge will keep your Ben bec intact when you have to replace the cartridge.  If you have no other media and the old cartridge disintegrates and needs replaced you risk a mini cycle. Welcome to the forum. Check out the coop on YouTube to see how to “hot rod” and improve any type filter it great stuff

Thanks for the info. I picked up some Fluval sponge media to add when this cartridge is toast. I have watched tons of Co-op youtube videos, and my sponge filter is from the site. I hope this is just a bacteria party in my filter and time fixes it. 

[Guppysnail]

On 7/30/2021 at 9:10 PM, David80 said:

Thanks for the info. I picked up some Fluval sponge media to add when this cartridge is toast. I have watched tons of Co-op youtube videos, and my sponge filter is from the site. I hope this is just a bacteria party in my filter and time fixes it. 

I would add it before so it can populate.  Yeah the videos are what got me hooked on the coop. They are awesome. 

[Aqua junky]

Yep I agree with @Guppysnail just keep an eye on the flow. It will fix its self over time.  In my opinion worst thing a person can do is start adding chemicals. Keep it fishy Friends!

[David80]

Almost 3 months have passed since the cloudy water and strange white film in the filter. I've made some serious changes to the tank and it is absolutely beautiful now. The filter now contains a small bag of Fluval pre-filter media and 2 sponges. I also removed all of the plastic plants so we are now fully planted. I don't know much about aquascaping yet, but I'm learning. We have one amazon sword, one banana plant, a floating moss ball, some water wisteria that's huge now, one anubias, and one cryptocoryne wendtii. All of these are being fed by the co-op root tabs. The fish are super happy too. We have some guppies, neon tetras, a butterfly loach, 2 ottos, and 3 snails. After a long day of teaching I like to come home and sit in front of the tank and just watch. 

[Colu]

Fish always seem so much more  active with live plants and they help to keep stable water parameters

Edited October 27, 2021 by Colu

[Flumpweesel]

Love the floating moss ball. Well done the aquariums are great when they reward hard work.  The beginning is always frustrating when every thing you do seems to either do nothing or throw up a new challenge. Then suddenly pop everything is great you have to find something other than water changes to do in the evenings.

[Wingman12r]

I love those old hex tanks. Make aye your Otto's are eating they can be challenging.

[smoore]

Love your choices with the plants.  So glad that you're enjoying your slice of nature.😀

[David80]

On 10/27/2021 at 8:07 AM, Wingman12r said:

I love those old hex tanks. Make aye your Otto's are eating they can be challenging.

I have some wafers that they love. When the tank has a small algae outbreak I slow down their feeding. When I toss in a wafer they both are on it within 30 minutes and they just sit there and stuff themselves till it's gone.