# UPDATED AUG 17: I need help with my AC70



## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

I bought the AC70 for my 30g tank 3 weeks ago. I followed the instructions, put it together, and everything was great... Until a couple days ago. 3 days ago I began to detect an audible hum, and didnt think anything of it. When I first installed this thing it was like Niagara Falls, now its like an old man taking a whiz. Did a minnow get sucked up in that or what? What is causing my lack of volume? The water is also getting murky...


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

the water is also starting to smell


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

Drain the filter.clean the media in removed tank water and then turn the black motorblock to take it out for cleaning. If you have mosses it could get stuck. Or a fish too. Remember that a filter doesnt mean you can skip water changes. You need to really plan oit a no water cjange planted tank for it to work. Even then you need to maintain the filter

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I896 using Xparent Green Tapatalk 2


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Sounds like your impeller needs a clean out, and the filter could probably use one as well. Follow Neven's steps for cleaning the impeller, and pull the media (sponge etc.) out and rinse it gently in a bucket of tank water to remove any crud.

If the water is starting to smell, *you need to do a water change, pronto*. Your aquarium is cycling, it sounds like, and if you have fish in there, water changes will keep them from dying as the ammonia and nitrite levels spike. You should always have a regular water change schedule, as a filter won't remove the need for that.

If you don't have a test kit, go to the pet store and pick one up. J&L in Burnaby has master test kits for about $25, but you should have at the very least a test kits for PH, ammonia, and nitrite.

This page has really good info about managing the cycle to stabilize the tank:

Tips for Cycling Your New Aquarium - The First Tank Guide - Getting Your Fish Tank Up and Running with Minimal Headaches


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## The Guy (Nov 26, 2010)

#1 To Elle and Neven's solutions for your AC 70. BTW this is a family site, please try and watch your choice of words when posting, good luck with the filter.


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

Yeah it is a family thing, for sure trust me i got in trouble before too, lol
but I have to admit the old man remark made me bust out with a chuckle.


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## mdwflyer (Jan 11, 2011)

I needed a laugh, and that one did it. On top of water change and clean, make sure the u-tube is properly seated over the impeller.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Well I hope the fish will make it until I get home this afternoon. I just didnt have time this morning. I should also add that this a new tank, and I was warned to let it cycle naturally, and not to do any water changes for at least 5 weeks


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

> I should also add that this a new tank, and I was warned to let it cycle naturally, and not to do any water changes for at least 5 weeks


Can I *please* smack the person who told you this? And let me guess...it was at a big box pet store? Most of the employees there know NOTHING about fish or cycling and they don't train their staff very well, so good advice is rare (in my experience).

I've cycled lots of tanks, and regular water changes won't hurt the cycle, and they are necessary to keep your fish alive. The bacteria are building in the filter bed and gravel, not in the water itself, so water changes just remove the toxins that will kill your fish. There will be plenty of ammonia left to get the cycle going. Think of it as opening the windows to let in fresh air in a dangerously smoky room, but leaving the fire burning.

Smelly water, cloudy water, or fish sitting on the bottom or gasping at the top are all signals that you should change your water.

I would definitely get a test kit so you can monitor what's going on. You can also add some extra help for the fish with an airstone or bubbler. The more oxygen the better!

What kind of fish do you have in the tank?


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

The only white guy that works at King Ed (in the back) told me not to change the water and to let it cycle. he said he has been in the aquarium business for over 20 years. I am new so I trusted him.

I have a bubbler. Its a skull that opens and closes as the air is released.

The goldfish and Jacks have been gasping since last night. Christ I hope they'll be ok by 430pm

This tank contains everything in my signature except the BlackBelt


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

**Smack*!*. There you go.

There seems to be a weird outdated myth that you shouldn't change ANY of the tank water during cycling. It's been around forever, as a friend of mine who has kept fish for years does the same, and loses fish every time. But live and learn. I had to learn the hard way with my first tank, 'cause I got told that as well. D'oh!!!!!

If you've got JD's, GT and goldfish in the same tank, it's a good idea to separate them, as they should not be kept together, and that is way too many for a 30g. Goldfish are messy pigs, and they and the minnows need *much* cooler water than your cichlids. Dropping the temp a bit will help the water retain more oxygen as well.

I'd do a 50% water change when you get home, clean and restart the filter, and do daily or every other day 10%-20% changes and keep testing the water. You'll see the ammonia spike, then that will drop and the nitrites will spike, then they will drop and things will level off.

Welcome to the hobby!


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

im just glad the big ole black belt isnt in the mix, to help cycle your tank with your goldfish too you could take the sponge off your bb tank and squeeze some scunge into the other tank 
you gotta watxh too that you dont lock up your aq70 and it if that impeller isnt spinning you can cause some serious damage to it or worse have it melt or burn out ,


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Elle said:


> If you've got JD's, GT and goldfish in the same tank, it's a good idea to separate them, as they should not be kept together. Goldfish are messy pigs, and they and the minnows need *much* cooler water than your cichlids. Dropping the temp a bit will help the water retain more oxygen as well.
> 
> Welcome to the hobby!


I understand that the goldfish and minnows are from naturally colder water, but they seem perfectly fine in the 80 degrees F water. If they die, thats ok, theyre feeders anyways! Also I unplugged my heater on monday because my windows are all open and its very warm out.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

macframalama said:


> you gotta watch too that you dont lock up your aq70 and it if that impeller isnt spinning you can cause some serious damage to it or worse have it melt or burn out ,


thanks, I will make sure to take care of it when I get home


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

ThePhoenix said:


> I understand that the goldfish and minnows are from naturally colder water, but they seem perfectly fine in the 80 degrees F water. If they die, thats ok, theyre feeders anyways! Also I unplugged my heater on monday because my windows are all open and its very warm out.


If you have a heater with a built in thermostat (most heaters out there), I wouldn't bother unplugging your heater. Your thermostat on your heater should be set to a temp that kicks the heater into gear. This just avoids temp fluctuations when the weather cools down and you forget to plug the heater back on.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Heres the thing: I had the heater set to 79 degrees F, but the thermometer sticker strip that a previous owner stuck on the tank said the temp was 88 F. When I unplugged the heater, the temp DID go down, leading me to believe there is something wrong with the heater.


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## hp10BII (Apr 23, 2010)

Check the accuracy of the stick on thermometer strip with a reliable thermometer. If the strip is good, maybe the heater can be recalibrated like the Eheim brands, if not, if the heater is new or under warranty - take it back for an exchange.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Ok I got home 20 mins ago and thankfully no dead fish!

I pulled out the AC70 and the suction shaft was blocked at the first extender. Cleaned that out and its running good as new!

The water was even clearer than it was this morning 

Thanks for all your help everyone


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

it was full of uneaten food and fish crap


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

your just over feeding , it happens , you should take a piece of sponge and put a slice in it and put it over your intake sort of a pre filter and then you can get an idea of how badly you are over feeding so as to not do it again


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

i cut back to feeding them once a day


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. i know this thread is about you filter but i am surprised no one has mentioned that you have way to many fish for an uncycled tank. how many fish do you have in there. from the sounds of it you will need to do a lot of water changes until it does cycle. i work part time at a pet store and i only recommend 2 or 3 fish for a tank that is not cycled. other wise Imo your going to have a hard time, unless you test you water Daily and do a wc whenever needed. This does not mean your fish will die but it does mean you will have to work harder to keep them alive. if it were me i would start dosing seachems Stability right away. just my 2 cents. Good luck Cheers


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## IceBlue (Mar 17, 2011)

Hi Pheonix, Cycled or uncycled in time this tank will crash and burn with the current stocking. In my opinion, almost all fish in it need 75 gallons minimum. You can grow them out for a while but if that green terror or the convics mature and harass the others you will have a battlefield.
Also interesting how you described the guy who helped you at King Ed's.


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## neven (May 15, 2010)

sometimes a simple description doesn't sit right with people, but im sure many went, oooooh him. 

as for the fish load, figured one issue at a time. Generally do not trust an LFS worker when it comes to stocking a tank, even at a few of our sites sponsors you can get iffy information. From one shop i was told a common pleco will solve all my problems in my 10 gallon planted. The same shop sold me 3 clown loaches to solve a snail problem in a moderately stocked 29 gallon tank. So just look into it a bit prior to purchase, most of us have made the same mistakes you have on our first tank 

Our freshwater section has a link to this: AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor
it helps a ton to figure out whats acceptable. When you become more advanced, understand flow, filtration and tiers fish swim in, you may go over 100%, but i dont recommend doing it until a few years into the hobby when your responsible routines are well established. Just remember, its best to stock your tank in atleast 3 stages (30%, 30%, 40%) Start with the most hard to kill species commonly used for cycling, you can always give them away or sell for cheap later.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Scherb said:


> Hello. i know this thread is about you filter but i am surprised no one has mentioned that you have way to many fish for an uncycled tank. how many fish do you have in there. from the sounds of it you will need to do a lot of water changes until it does cycle. i work part time at a pet store and i only recommend 2 or 3 fish for a tank that is not cycled. other wise Imo your going to have a hard time, unless you test you water Daily and do a wc whenever needed. This does not mean your fish will die but it does mean you will have to work harder to keep them alive. if it were me i would start dosing seachems Stability right away. just my 2 cents. Good luck Cheers


Stability worked, but now I have other issues that I hope you guys can help with


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

IceBlue said:


> Hi Pheonix, Cycled or uncycled in time this tank will crash and burn with the current stocking. In my opinion, almost all fish in it need 75 gallons minimum. You can grow them out for a while but if that green terror or the convics mature and harass the others you will have a battlefield.
> Also interesting how you described the guy who helped you at King Ed's.


I just bought a 75 for my Blackbelt. I will be moving the convicts to the 30 vacated by the blackbelt. Then it will be 2 JDs and a GT with the goldfish. The minnows are long eaten, lol.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Now for my current issue. For some reason the basket in my AC70 keeps rising, lifting the lid up. I had to use some tape to hold it down. can anyone tell me why this is happening? It happened when I wrote this thread, but at the time I considered it unrelated to the problem. Now its happening again. There is crap building up in the bottom of the filter, under the basket. Why is this happening, and what can I do (other than clean it every couple weeks) to prevent this from becoming a regular occurance?


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

sponge over the intake, will help debris from going int he filter, weird problem are you sure it is all together properly?


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

ThePhoenix said:


> Now for my current issue. For some reason the basket in my AC70 keeps rising, lifting the lid up. I had to use some tape to hold it down. can anyone tell me why this is happening? It happened when I wrote this thread, but at the time I considered it unrelated to the problem. Now its happening again. There is crap building up in the bottom of the filter, under the basket. Why is this happening, and what can I do (other than clean it every couple weeks) to prevent this from becoming a regular occurance?


Hello. Sounds to me like your sponge is plugged up and not letting enough water through. try cleaning it and see if that works. Cheers


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

neven said:


> sometimes a simple description doesn't sit right with people, but im sure many went, oooooh him.
> 
> as for the fish load, figured one issue at a time. Generally do not trust an LFS worker when it comes to stocking a tank, even at a few of our sites sponsors you can get iffy information. From one shop i was told a common pleco will solve all my problems in my 10 gallon planted. The same shop sold me 3 clown loaches to solve a snail problem in a moderately stocked 29 gallon tank. So just look into it a bit prior to purchase, most of us have made the same mistakes you have on our first tank
> 
> ...


This is what I got:

Warning: You NEED to add more aquarium filtration capacity!!!

Your aquarium filtration capacity for above selected species is 28%.
Your tank is too small - it will require massive amount of frequent water changes each week!

Your aquarium stocking level is 310%.
Your tank is seriously overstocked. Unless this setup is temporary, you should consider a larger tank


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

macframalama said:


> sponge over the intake, will help debris from going int he filter, weird problem are you sure it is all together properly?


Oh yeah. I followed the instructions to the T. Sponge on the bottom, then charcoal, then pack of pellets for the bacteria. how else can you screw that up? lol


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Scherb said:


> Hello. Sounds to me like your sponge is plugged up and not letting enough water through. try cleaning it and see if that works. Cheers


I will look at it when I get home. I dont get why Im having these problems. They shouldnt be happening


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## Tazzy_toon (Jul 25, 2011)

Well, to be honest, it sounds like the bio load is too high for your filter to keep up with. For the amount of fish in the tank, it will get dirty and clogged in a real hurry (especially if you are over feeding). You will have to do regular water changes and rinse out the sponge every time you do until you are able to move your other fish to prevent glogging. As Mac previosly posted, putting a sponge over the intake (the part that sucks up water from inside the tank) will prevent the gunk from getting sucked up, but you will still have to rinse it out on a regular basis to keep the flow going.

I'm not a real experienced fish keeper yet, but I have an ac filter and have dealt with all these issues.


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

yup the basket will rise when the sponge is too mucky as the water cant get thru it so it goes under it and lifts it. smack it against the side of the sink or bucket you use to clean it rather than squeezing too much to preserve the good bacteria. i know one timei was doing a w/c and i lost track of a section of intake tubing.so i just grabbed another one. well i got home the next nite and it seems it was in the filter bed under the basket which raises the water level and it was filtering the water out the back of the filter instead of into the tank..........der.......big mess.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

The sponge was almost completely full of gunk. I had to rinse the crap out of it, literally! Then I added 2 capfulls of Seachem Stability to the tank after I put it all back together


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## macframalama (Apr 17, 2012)

put a sponge on the intake so it will give you a pre filter and prevent this from happening , or feed less, i dont understand how your stuff is getting so gross so fast , you must still be over feeding by alot


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

I feed them once every morning and they eat ALL the food within 2 mins.

That thing I posted on the previous page says my tank is seriously overstocked.

There are 10 fish all less than 3 inches in length


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## mcrocker (May 29, 2010)

A few comments:

The tank stock calculator probably assumes your JDs and GT are full grown, it sounds like they are not. A 10 inch fish will produce many times the waste of a 2-3 inch fish. Not to say that you should ignore the site, but take the size of your fish into account.

It sounds like more filtration or relocation of some fish to the 75 may be in order, but until then you could reduce your feedings. Turn down your temperature a few degrees and feed them every other day or every 3rd day until you have stabilized your tank. They should be fine with that level of feeding, and you can cut down on the bioload. Needing to move the JDs and GT is inevitable once they grow a bit so you may as well do it now if they are okay with the black belt.

You should also probably get a test kit, at least one for ammonia and nitrites so you can see if your filtration is sufficient. Regarding the bubbler, if the skull thing is what I'm picturing it isn't really designed for aeration since it doesn't disperse the air like an airstone. It just releases air in one large shot at intervals so is much less effective, it's more of a decoration. That being said, AC filters normally produce a good amount of aeration from surface agitation, so aeration may not be an issue.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

The AC70 does produce quite a but if aeration, and since writing that previous comment i have replaced the skull with an air stone.

The blackbelt is going to the new 75, and my convicts will be moving to the blackbelts old 30. That way the tank in question, the 30 with the AC70 will just have 2 JDs, 4 goldfish, and the GT. (the blackbelts 30 came with a penguin 200 filter)


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## onefishtwofish (Apr 21, 2010)

how big r your goldfish. they all by themselves can really polute a tank


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Theyre about 2 inches long


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## Elle (Oct 25, 2010)

Filter sponge needs to be cleaned. Squeeze it out in a bucket of tank water, clean out the crud in the filter and put it back in. Mine always float up when they need cleaning.


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## ThePhoenix (Jul 23, 2012)

Elle said:


> Filter sponge needs to be cleaned. Squeeze it out in a bucket of tank water, clean out the crud in the filter and put it back in. Mine always float up when they need cleaning.


ok at least i know that it happens to other people too!


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