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I have had my 20 gallon tank for about 2 years now and just recently the filter has been getting clogged very quickly. As in, 7 days after changing the filter. Now I do not siphon the water often maybe once a month if I remember... Manually siphoning it is such a pain... could this be the reason?

The filter I have is a Tetra 10-20 gallon (Whisper Power Filter 20). I have contemplated buying a larger filter to maybe solve this problem. There are 9 fish in the tank. Six scissor tails and 3 small catfish types. Some people say overfeeding them could be the problem but I only feed them maybe 4 times a week with very small portions. Anyone have any suggestions?

Welcome to FP:Are you sure its the filter. It might be the propeller,If it keeps cloging try pulling up on the intake tube and see if that help thats what I do. If you unplug it will it start right up if not this maybe your problem .

I am 100% sure its the filter... if you lift up on the white bag, it is clogged with algae or whatever it is.

Lets talk about the water change how do you do it and how often?

Now I do not siphon the water often maybe once a month if I remember... Manually siphoning it is such a pain... could this be the reason?

If you want to keep fish in good health which means clean water at all times this must be done.

I manually syphon 60lt from two tanks weekly, yes it takes time but it must be done.
When was the last time you did any type of substrate deep cleaning?

Have a look in [link=My Profile] http://www.fishprofiles.com/forums/member.aspx?id=1935[/link] for my tank info

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Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos

Keith

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If you haven't given your substrate a thorough gravel vac in some time, then this will be a source of the extra mulm that is clogging your external filter.

My aquarium substrate receives a gravel vac twice per week. My Panda Corys really appreciate this by the way.

You don't have to go the lengths I do (50% water change and gravel vac twice per week) but a 25% change once per week and a gravel vac once every 14 days will be enough to make a BIG dofference.

Oh, you can make a gravel vac that does the job quite cheaply by the way - my DIY version cost me all of 50p. Cut the top third off a soft drinks bottle (the one litre size is adequate for this), drill a hole in the cap that you can poke a siphon tube through, and hey presto, cheap gravel vac. And you want to see how much gunk one of those gizmos will shift.

Take a look at mine here. Oh, and either side of that shot in my Webshots album, you'll see my aquarium cleaning in action.



Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002