Do I have too many fish in my 20 gallon tank

[Tattoo Dave]

Hi everyone. I have 7 glofish tetra's, 2 green cory's, 3 peppered cory's, and one rubberlipped or rubbernose pleco. According to pet smart it will only grow to 4 inches. Is this too many fish for my 20 gallon tank? length 24.1, width 12.5, height 19.0. It seems to stay just a little cloudy is this because I'm not changing enough water or too many fish? It was clear when I had the 7 glofish and 3 cory's . I use my gravel vac at least once a week when I do a water change to make sure there isn't to much waste. I feed them twice a day and try to make sure they eat what I give them in 5 minutes. Thanks for any advice I can get.

 

[FreshyFresh]

Welcome Dave! If you haven't established a nitrogen cycle yet in this tank, yes, it's too many fish. You can make this work with daily water changes. Probably 50% or more WCs. Use a quality dechlor like Seachem's Prime. Hopefully you've got a water parameter test kit like the API Master Test Kit.

 

[Tattoo Dave]

Welcome Dave! If you haven't established a nitrogen cycle yet in this tank, yes, it's too many fish. You can make this work with daily water changes. Probably 50% or more WCs. Use a quality dechlor like Seachem's Prime. Hopefully you've got a water parameter test kit like the API Master Test Kit.

I'm really new to this and I'm not sure how long it takes to establish a nitrogen cycle but this is pretty much step by step what I've done. I've had my tank for around 5 weeks with 3 Glo-fish tetra's to start with then I waited about 8 days and put 4 more in then waited for 7 days and added 2 green Cory's and a peppered Cory. I went and got more replacement cartridges for my power filter and happen to see they had Peppered Cory's on sale for $2 and had a rubber lipped pleco for $5.49 I just couldn't pass it up. I changed the filter while the fish were adjusting to water temp then put them in. Would that make any difference. I think maybe a haven't changed enough water each week. how much would you recommend with the amount of fish I have? Thank you very much for your help.

 

[Rbishop]

What kind of filter and pads? Most you can just rinse out and re-use. You don't want to lose the bacteria at all by tossing pads away. Sounds like a new tank bloom. Get a liquid test kit, test daily for ammonia and keep it close to zero with water changes.

 

[Tattoo Dave]

What kind of filter and pads? Most you can just rinse out and re-use. You don't want to lose the bacteria at all by tossing pads away. Sounds like a new tank bloom. Get a liquid test kit, test daily for ammonia and keep it close to zero with water changes.

I have a Top Fin 20 Power filter with the Top Fin 20 cartridge activated carbon and biological filtration pads. I have API test strips. NO2: 0.5, NO3: 20, PH: 7.0, KH 120, GH: 60. Does that give you an idea of what I'm doing wrong? Thank you

 

[tanker]

Your tank is not cycled. What is your ammonia reading?

 

[Tattoo Dave]

Your tank is not cycled. What is your ammonia reading?

I need to go buy a better testing kit these API test strips don't test ammonia just NO2, NO3, PH, KH, GH

 

[FreshyFresh]

Dave, the good thing is, the TopFin hang on back filter uses that black foam piece for biological filtration. That's the important piece that will colonize the beneficial bacteria you need for the nitrogen cycle. Be sure to only squeeze/rinse that out in the tank water you're pulling out of the tank during water changes. This is not the best filter in terms of bio filtration, but it can work for you. I'd add a cheap sponge bubbler filter to your tank if you already have air running to it, if no air, don't worry about that for now. You could eventually run a different (and better) HOB filter like an AquaClear 30 next to your TopFin20, then eventually phase the TopFin out.

In regards to your water changes, I would do 50%/day at a minimum. Total piece of cake with a 20g.

 

[Tattoo Dave]

Dave, the good thing is, the TopFin hang on back filter uses that black foam piece for biological filtration. That's the important piece that will colonize the beneficial bacteria you need for the nitrogen cycle. Be sure to only squeeze/rinse that out in the tank water you're pulling out of the tank during water changes. This is not the best filter in terms of bio filtration, but it can work for you. I'd add a cheap sponge bubbler filter to your tank if you already have air running to it, if no air, don't worry about that for now. You could eventually run a different (and better) HOB filter like an AquaClear 30 next to your TopFin20, then eventually phase the TopFin out.

In regards to your water changes, I would do 50%/day at a minimum. Total piece of cake with a 20g.

I have a sponge bubbler running already. Do a 50% change everyday or until It clears up? So the AquaClear 30 will be safe to use in my 20 gallon tank? The reason I ask is I bought a top fin 2-10 and put it in the 3 gallon tank thinking it would be OK since it was for up to a 10 gallon tank. Wrong it killed my boys goldfish but it didn't have the tube coming out the bottom just a grate make in the front of the filter. It just sucked it right up against the grate. Thanks for your help I greatly appreciate it.

 

[platytetrafan]

Dave you need test drops for PH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and you can test the water for ph at anytime really but you need to test the water for ammonia daily while cycling even if there is a little you have to do a water change until the ammonia level is 0 even a level of 0.25 can hurt you fish getting it to 0 steadily could take a few weeks then you should start testing for nitrite daily and once you see nitrite do water changes again until the nitrite is 0 this could take time as well and then start testing for nitrate once you see atleast a reading of 5-10 then your cycled. The testing drops are much better than the strips if you can get the API ones those are very good. I also used a few danios to start my fishy cycle because they are very hardy and can tolerate the levels of ammonia that some fish can't and can survive for a long time after that. Once I had my tank cycled then I added my other fish when you cycle a tank you risk losing those that can't tolerate the ammonia and nitrite levels and end up losing a lot of money too. Good luck hope all goes well.