Filter Problems

Question
Hi Chris, sorry i made a mistake in my previous email; My tank is 30 gallons not 30 litres. Can you please re-evaluate my question. thank you for your time Kelly Jones
-------------------------

Followup To

Question -
Hello chris,I have a 30 litre aquarium With 2 Power Filters, up until recently I have had no problems,I conduct regular water changes and have maintained the filters as instructed in the filter manuels; 2 weeks ago the filters started failing I cleaned them and they worked great 4 about 2 days so in the worst active filter i replaced the sponge and carbon element, it worked fine, now both filters are playing up again; No matter what i do the Nitrate level is  higher than the Ph and Nitrite which are practically non-existant; So far the fish seem fine(there's no sign of illness), Where do i go from here? P.S. the fish are : Various Mollies, 1 Platy, 2 Spotted plecs, 1 snail eating Loach and 3 guppies. I also have a 19 litre Hospital Tank which is showing no problems. Money is also a factor I can't afford to replace the Filters completely, any advice is very welcome. Thank you Kelly Jones

Answer -
Hi Kelly;

The tank is overcrowded and the fish are producing too much waste for the filters to keep up with. Tanks with community fish like yours should have no more than one inch of fish per gallon. Yours is about 8 gallons so a total of four or five of those types of fish are all it can keep safely, with the exception of the plecostomus. They get too big and make too much waste for a tank that small. The others get to be anywhere from an inch (guppies) to three or four inches (mollies) as adults.

For right now, make a 25% water change every 2 or 3 days. Feed very little food and only once per day. Overfeeding makes the problem worse. You will have to either get a bigger tank or find new homes for some of the fish if you can't get them a bigger one right now. They need about a 20 or 30 gallon, or about a 75 to 113 liter for all those guys. Here is a good web page on tank population;

http://www.firsttankguide.net/capacity.php

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins

Answer
Hi Kelly;

That is MUCH better! I was really concerned for your fish. Glad they aren't as packed in as I thought. Anyway, on to our second look......

You are probably overfeeding them. We all do it from time to time. Excess food is the only way excess waste gets in there and that's what plugs up filters. Your fish need to eat for only about 5 minutes every day. If you feed them twice a day, they should only have enough food for them to finish all of it in less than 3 minutes. You have a lot of livebearers in there and they like veggies too. Instead of a regular feeding about 4 times a week, give them a piece of romaine lettuce, 3 or 4 cooked green beans or peeled green peas, cucumber slices, squash slices, or even a little cooked shredded carrots. Veggies will not produce a lot of waste like regular food and does not rot like regular food either. It can be left in there for several hours at a time. Your plecos will feed on them at night too.

Gravel vacuuming and water changes are essential. Replace 25% of the water every week and vacuum the gravel every 2 to 3 weeks. You might want to do weekly vacuumings for now until the nitrates come down. You can then go to every 2 to 3 weeks when things are better in there. Nitrate is the end result of the biological filtration in your tank. Water changes are the only way to lower them.

Let me know if you need more help.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins