Just wondering if anyone has a biorb tank. I have a 60litre biorb and currently have 2 small orandas and 4 minnows, recently had problems with whitespot and lost one fish poor gordon.

Anyway, after some advice from other member, i figured that i am not doing enough partial water changes although I am doing what is recommended in the instructions

Just wondered if anyone else has on and if so how many water changes do you do and how often? Plus how often do you change the filter sponge?

Thanks
Amey

Welcome to kokos
Sorry about Gordon
I dont have one but i see them about alot, i personally wouldnt keep a goldfish in there, the surface area isnt enough for them to get sufficient oxygen. eeerm 60 L.. how many gallons is that.. 10ish?
i think you need to do about 30-40% twice a week with two orandas in there. and dont change the filter sponge regularly, i change my filter sponges when they are really bad, like starting to desintegrate! as its not really important to have new media, but its very important to have matured media.
how long has the tank been set up?

Hi Lucy,
The tank has been set up about 3 months now, the fish seem to be doing well at the moment, the two orandas are very small, does that make any difference to the amount of water changes necessary? They are both about 1 inch long.

Just thought I'd ask aswell, 2 of my minnows have become quite fat, still looking healthy, not laid any eggs yet though, do you think that they might?

Thanks
Amey

Hi Amey,

I got a 30l BiOrb for my two fantails about a year ago. They are now too big for it, and I'm looking for a suitable big tank.

Anyway, I now do 30% water changes at least twice a week - three if I can find the time. Every time I change the water I give the media a really good vacuum with a syphon tube as there is always lots of poop in there.

I used to only change some (25% ish) water every two weeks or so, but then I got a test kit and realised the nitrate levels were really high and possibly hurting my fish! I'm still struggling to keep the nitrate level down at a reasonable level (60ppm or so) even changing water 3 times a week.

I have changed the filter about five times this year but keeping half the old sponge sometimes. Every two weeks I give the whole tube/sponge/rocky bits a good rinse out in the old tank water I'm about to throw away when I'm changing water. This helps keep the water flow good around the tank I think.

Finally, I have changed my airstone a couple of times to keep the bubble stream stong and thus keep the internal currents good.

I would reccomend looking for a bigger tank sooner rather than later as I'm now having to do a crash course in goldfish keeping as well as finding the best prices for stuff!

Hope this helps

The orandas being small is a bit more helpfull.. just make sure you keep feeing down to a minimum.
The minnows will probably spawn soon, except the eggs will most likely get eaten, so if you really really want the fry and have space for them then move them to a breeding tank to spawn but if you have doubts just let them do their thing and see what happens

Dipsy, nitrates at 60 is still a tad high, you wanna be below 40 i think 20 is even better.