Possible Problem

Hey my 4ft tank has started playing up on me there is a airstone on a airpump at one end and a filter with spray bar on the other it is designed for a tank 50-70 pointed at the glass to minimize water current

there are baby trout from the lake in there cycleing it since the 23rd of december so i am going to move my axies in soon

there is a grease like thing going on on the top of the water it collects fine particals of dust ect on the top of the water is this natural? i heard it can be due to the feeding process and not much water aggitation am i right?

there is also an abundence of crumbs ect accumulateing on the bottom of the tank and try as i may seems to be getting worse is this because of my filter i am going to invest in a new one soon but wondering if i should do it sooner rather than later?

PS: I have been doing two ten liter water changes every day and i useually turkey baste all the water out when i do the water changes

I had a similar problem with the greasy film. What is the substrate? My problem disappeared when I replaced the play pit sand with washed river sand. In my other tank the problem sorted itself out. I thnik this is a fairly common problem. Are you sure about using the trout? They don't have any parasites, bacteria or communicable diseases? Not sure what you mean by crumbs. Is it food crumbs or dust?

Actually- on second thoughts in my other tank the problem was sorted out when I added an airstone- so maybe that's it

Usually I find the grease along the top is a byproduct of the frozen stuff I feed my axie (brine shrimp and blood worms). Airstones are useful in that they break up this on the surface. I don't use an airstone so just scoop it off the top if it is looking particularly bad!

thanks all i have an air stone in there and the crumbs are a mixture of pellets and dust just really fine i can get it all so i think than in the morning there is more piles on the floor

I have had bare substrate in all tanks for few month's since ive had them spot has passed all his sand and midnight hasnt passed any thing unusuall since ive had her i changed from stones to bare a week after i got her wich was in november

i have been turkey basteing the top and getting any bits i can see through out the day when i can and have put the cover back on to try and keep the dust out

they are doing okay at the mo in there tanks just a bit iffy about putting them in there new tank was thinking about getting a new bigger filter on thursday will it make the tank cycle again?

In DESPERATE need of DAPHNIA

if any one is in nz and has some daphnia for sale could you please message me its quite urgent as some egg tiped out all my daphnia and the newts are still small to feed them i dont know what else to feed them lol

Maybe put in your new filter with the old one for a couple of weeks and that will help cycle it. I'd imagine if you just swap them, you'll at least get a mini-cycle, particularly when you add your axies. Can't help on the daphnia sorry.

maybe this is an obvious question but are the crumps fish pooh.

lildevilrose

the crumbs are part fish poo and pellets i guess its just really small and settles when the fish stop moveing it doesnt help the current is strong as well blows it all around and me moveing the turkey naster around in the water i just thaught the filter should be able to suck it all up at least most of it

my tank is 120cm length 44cm wide and 22cm is the water depth at the moment and is usually around this levl more or less but not much

wht size filter do i need and how many liters is in the tank?