[mambee]

I have had my 150 gallon tank established for 6 years.

The current inhabitants are 2 Uaurus, 3 Synodontis Cats, 1 Geophagus Surimanis?, 1 Festivum, 4 Silver Dollars, 4 Congo Tetras, 5 Australian Rainbows, 2 Siamese Algae Eaters, 2 Large Plecos, 3 Clown Loaches, 1 BGK and a very large crayfish.

The tank is filtered by 2 Eheim 2028 canister filters and 1 Emperor 400 Biowheels.

I've always had problems with very high nitrate levels even though I perform 40% water changes once a week, and sometimes there is a lot of tiny particles floating in the water.

I would love to add some live plants to this tank to suck up some of the nitrates, but my Uarus will try to eat anything that is the color green.

Do I have adequate filtration? Is there another type of filter technology that I should be using?[/list]

 

[Heyguy74]

I would go with a wet/dry. I would also increase the water changes to twice a week to keep the nitrates down. What levels are they getting to? How often do you clean the canisters? They may have to be cleaned more often.

 

[mambee]

Nitrates are always off the scale. I'll test them tonight.

I clean the canisters about every 6 months. The canisters are usually pretty clean because I have blackworms living in the filters, and they seem to eat the deitrus.

I rinse the pads on the Emperor once a week.

Doesn't a tank have to be drilled with a sump to use a wet/dry?

To be honest, I'm worried about adding a sump because of the additional weight.

 

[Heyguy74]

Make sure your test kit is not too old. If your not sure try taking a water sample to a lfs. Most test for free. If the nitrates are really off the charts, you have t o do almost daily water changes to bring them down. Once you get them down to acceptable levels, you can resume normal wtare changes, as long as you keep an eye on your nitrates. You may need to do water changes twice a week.. Your filters probably need to be cleaned more often.
A tank doesnt have to be drilled , they sell overflow boxes for that. A 30 G tank would work fine & wont add much more weight. Maybe about 200 lbs. The sump is never filled to capacityanyway. If you are handy at building things making one out a used tank is easy.

 

[co4nd]

Like everyone is saying you need more water changes.