General African Cichlid Discussion • My water just doesn't seem clean enough

[Chelps03]

I have a aquaclear 110 in my 55 gal tank. I thought it was suppossed to be a pretty good filter but I seem to have to much debris in my tank. I thought about going to a canister filter like a fluval. Would one do the trick or two? Any thoughts or advice? Thanks

[DJRansome]

What type of debris is it? Unless it is fish feces, try to remove the source of the debris. Do you vacuum the substrate thoroughly every week? Do you have live plants that shed?

[Chelps03]

Yes it is fish feces. Just particles floating makes my tank look unclean.

[13razorbackfan]

Yes it is fish feces. Just particles floating makes my tank look unclean.

Is the poop not making it to the intake? My doesn't all the time either so I vacuum what I can when do water changes.

You can also add filter floss to help polish the water but be warned it has to be replaced often depending on the load.

[DJRansome]

A canister isn't going to filter out more particles than your Aqua Clear, so we need to look for another solution.

If you first clean the filter and then vacuum, then at that time there are no feces...is the water clean then?

How many/what size fish are in the tank?

[AulonoKarl]

I had this problem when I was running only one aquaclear filter on my 55 gallon. When I added the other, the circulation improved to where all of the debris started making it's way to the filters. I have an AC70 and AC110 on my 55 gallon and there are no dead spots. All debris finds the intakes relatively quickly. I would not only have one point of circulation on a 4 foot tank.

[kenko]

I would consider the fauna in the case of adding more filters/filtration, as some fish may feel stressed in highly circulated water...

[countryboy814]

I had this problem when I was running only one aquaclear filter on my 55 gallon. When I added the other, the circulation improved to where all of the debris started making it's way to the filters. I have an AC70 and AC110 on my 55 gallon and there are no dead spots. All debris finds the intakes relatively quickly. I would not only have one point of circulation on a 4 foot tank.

Yes I agree. You need more circulation in a 4' tank. I have an aquatop cf-400 uv canister with the intake set low to the bottom of the tank and a penguin 350 with the intake set at mid level. Intakes are on opposite ends of the tank. The 350 creates a lot of surface agitation as does your AC110. I also have a power head rigged with a micron filter in tank.