Pics of the tank would help. What kind of fish are you keeping? Do they do a lot of rooting and digging?

 

I have a lot of bottomdwellers yes, such as loaches and plecos. Sorry about bad image quality.

Also, my tank is 540 liters.

 

When is the last time you actually cleaned the filter? Bio rings, sponges, floss pads, purigen, etc all need a decent cleaning every now and then. Don't just replace this stuff, it houses your nitrifying bacteria. I just slosh my media around in some tank water that is removed during water changes after soaking for a little while. You can use ro/distilled or chlorine treated tap water as well.

How often you will need to do this depends on how heavily stocked your tank is. I do this every two weeks in my tank.

 

It's been a few weeks since last time. Problem is that it never helped on my previous filter at all. But I can give it a try and see if it improves.

 

Also, check your flow "pattern" watch the water flow around the tank and make sure that the flow goes by the intake of the filter. If the intake is in a place with little to no flow, then it's not working at its full potential.

 

Plecos are dirty, dirty fish. Huge bio-load, constantly grazing. I've got a bristlenose, it's maybe 3" in a 10 gallon with just a few tetras in my sons room(don't worry, tank is over filtered). I can vacuum out so much junk each week from that tank.

What size tank? What is your substrate? Fine substrates like sand keep detritus on the surface, so your fish could constantly stir it up. Gravels typically let stuff settle down in, but that may not matter much with plecos and loaches rooting around.

I think you may just have dirty fish lol. @kaldurak could be onto something with flow though. Also, how much buildup is there in your tubes for the 2260? I just cleaned an insane amount of buildup off the inside of my 2217 tubes...it was disgusting. My flow was significantly better afterwards. And like @madcrafted said, make sure the filter is clean. Again, huge bio-load from plecos, your filter could require more maintenance than normal.

 

Water flow seemed to be "ok". But water lost quite a bit of power before reaching the intake. I changed the pipes around a bit, and it should be more effective now. Thanks.

Bump: I have one bristlenose at around 15cm as well as a royal pleco about the same size. I also have a small one that I don't know what is called, as well as two spotted hoplos and an upside down catfish. The tank is 120gallon. I have a sand substrate, but my prev tank had gravel with the exact same problem. The sand itself is fairly clean, but a lot of crap is gathering between the plants. Could the water stream prevent the debris from settling?

Also, the tubes have qute a bit of brown algae inside, but it doesn't seem to inhibit the flow.

 

^ All good points. If none of this solves your issue, it may just be a matter of too much waste, as mgeorges mentioned. You could always try a sludge/detritus remover. Basically it's just a strain of bacteria that feeds on this stuff. There are several products on the market. Seachem has one called Pristine. The only downside to it's use is it can break down driftwood a little faster. It will also lower NO3 (organic)...which can sometimes be a good thing, especially with messy fish.

 

Have you tried adding more filter floss to your canister filter? Another trick that we do to clean the water column is to run an internal pump with a wad of filter floss on the intake. Replace and clean the floss when it gets dirty.

 

I'll definitely check out those products! I also know that there are a lot of microorganisms in my tank after viewing the water through a microscope. I'm not able to identify the debris though, as I'm an amateur, but at least some of it seems to be dead plants under attack by algae. I also threw in some Easybalance yesterday, which made it worse if anything. I'll try all your advice, and hopefully it'll get sorted out.

Not tried filter floss on this filter, but it had absolutely no effect on my previous one :S

 

Can you post some pics of how and where the intake is located in the tank? Are you using a sponge or some type of pre-filter on the intake strainer?

As suggested, sometimes it's just a matter of relocating the position of the intake or output in the tank to help stir up and collect debris.

Are you using the spray bar or another configuration?

Do you have any inline equipment on either the intake or output?

 

Sorry about another horrible quality pic. The intake is the bar on the left, and the output is coming from the right of the tank. However I removed the spraybar to get more force towards the other end of the tank. I'm not sure what you mean with inline equipment. I'm unfortunately not the most gifted person when it comes to technical things :frown2:

 

By any chance does it look like this stuff? (photo beow) I think mine is some kind of hair algae, but what the brown stuff is, I don't know. It could just be debris or some other kind of algae. I just put some new plants in my tank and they already have this stuff attached to them.

 

Actually yes! I thought the plants themselves were growing them somehow! I'm gonna look at the hair-things in my microscope right away.

Edit: Well, the biodiversity is pretty impressive to say the least! You think this algaething could contribute to the messy water? Anyone know what it's called? Would installing my UVfilter help the situation?

 

By inline equipment they mean a CO2 reactor or an inline heater; those are the 2 that I know of anyway.

What's weird in my tank is that the brown goopy stuff attached to the "hair algae" is only there. What I mean is that there isn't a lot of stuff floating around in the water and just happening to catch on the hair algae, the water is actually quite clear. So I don't know if the brawn stuff is another algae? I should try to pull out our microscope too.

 

Hey, anyone knows how I get rid of this algae? Almost all of my plants are under heavy attack! =(

 

Check you impeller water flow can cause that to. I just got a new one for my aquarium. I have the same problem. I figured it out to be the impeller.

 

Hm, I don't understand how the impeller could cause this? The filter has a strong and powerful flow.

 

I need a pic of the algae to identify it. Then I, and others, can make treatment recommendations.

 

Flow rarely has anything to do with these filamentous types of algae, IME. I have good flow and can induce it easily in my tank with lighting alone. I have grown this stuff very successfully. lol Good flow mixed with high CO2 levels, plenty of light, some nutrients will help it thrive. Increasing KNO3 and KH2PO4 doesn't induce it for me, nor does iron or CO2.

The only thing that I can say for sure that has helped me keep it away, was reducing light intensity. Unfortunately, I have plants that prefer higher light at substrate and moss near light source, so keeping everybody happy is nearly impossible without having a little algae around. I look at it as another filter for my water column. It's only feeding off nutrients that my plants aren't utilizing, so it doesn't rob plants of their needs. If anything, it's telling me to find a better balance with my plant's nutritional needs based on the light that is provided. If it gets unruly (and it does at times) I can spot treat it with Excel at 1mL/ gallon. That will knock it back every time, even that invasive rhizoclonium (with a few spot treatments spaced a few days apart). I also only spot treat before a large water change for my inhabitant's sake.

 

Hey, I'll try reducing light intensity. I got a UV sterilizer, and also installed a CO2 producer. It has gotten a lot worse over a few weeks. Do you think I should turn off the Co2? I'll check out the Excel. This is really getting out of hand, there's soon more algae than plant! Thanks for help!

 

CO2 isn't the cause for it, so eliminating it won't do anything, except maybe induce a BBA bloom. CO2 is used by both plants and algae alike, while cutting it will certainly slow down the rate in which the algae grows, it will also reduce the rate of your plant's growth and the demand for nutrients and light.

You could reduce your CO2 flow if you want. I don't but the choice is up to you. I would cut light intensity by 50%. I would also reduce fertilizing to match. Be sure the plants have all the macros and micros they need, but just give them a smaller dose. If you were doing EI, do like 1/3 of that. Not like the excess ferts are hurting anything but no need to waste ferts if they can't be utilized, ya know? You can always work back up after you rid your tank of the algae.

I've used H202 in place of Excel and it seems to work okay. I prefer Excel because it hangs around longer and seems to be just a little more effective.

 

Ok, I'll leave the Co2 on but reduce the light. I haven't been giving much fertilizers in the first place, as I thought it would feed the algae. Thanks a lot =)

 

Also, here is a pic of the algae. https://imgur.com/a/OqQ2m

 

That looks like staghorn algae rather than the typical filamentous algae. The way it branches out is unique to this type, AFAIK. I'm no expert at growing this stuff... just the hairy kind. There's not much that can't be killed with excel treatment, so I'd be tempted to treat it with that if it were my tank. Not really sure what causes this type of algae. I've never seen it in any of my tanks before. Maybe someone who has dealt with this particular species can chime in.

 

I'm pretty sure it came with the moss I bought a couple of months ago. It's been growing slowly, but lately it has exploded.