Well, I am a new member to the forum, and I joined because I am running out of ideas on how to fix my aquarium. My local pet store isn't much help, and its hard to pinpoint what is exactly happening.

A little background...
30 gallon tank, I have the Elite Hush 35 Filter system on it, its only rated up to 35 gallons, and is 520L per hour. I plan on getting a much larger filter system on it, but one step at a time. I also have an LED lighting system, which I believe is a Marineland LED hood set up. If I knew what I knew now, I would have bought something different but oh well lol. It has 42 white bulbs, and then 3 blue 'night' bulbs.

For fish... I have one Tin Foil Barb (4-5"), Jack Dempsey (3"), Oscar (3"), a Pleco, and two small 1-2" fish that I'm not sure what they are.
I realize that this is a lot and somewhat odd assortment, but so far they have done well together and its been a great tank. However, I'm not a big fan of the tinfoil.

Now for the issues... I can't keep them healthy. I'm not exactly sure what it is. They are currently doing well, but every two to three months they become sick with either the fungus or the bacteria. I treat them and then it goes away and they seem to be fine. I believe this is from the lack of filter... And yes, I do water changes about every 2-3 weeks, at least 30%, sometimes closer to 40-45%.

2nd Issue: I decided to try out the plant thing. I thought maybe that would help with cleaning up the tank as well as improve the asthetics. I'm kicking myself in the head for not remembering what kind of plant, but it was just a typical healthy tall plant for $5 at the fish store. It was doing great, but in the last two weeks it is slowly dying. I don't know if it was the lighting, or maybe the substrate, or maybe that I took it out of its little "potter bucket". Any ideas?

Any suggestions or criticism would be appreciated. I do plan on getting a larger filter soon and would also like some suggestions. My goal is to make this a well mixed tank of plants and maybe some rocks/wood to give it that asthetic look. And I am probably going to get rid of Tin Foil, as I feel it might be a little too crowded and he is the biggest fish.

Thanks in advance!

I uploaded pictures on my gallery, take a look!

Here are some photos...

Attached Images

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	tank2.jpg (60.0 KB, 1 views)
	plant1.jpg (51.6 KB, 2 views)
	plant2jack.jpg (59.4 KB, 2 views)

Well lets start off with, how long has the tank been set up? Do you know your readings for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates? Hope you have your own test kit. How often are you doing water changes?

Some answers that may help.
1. filter is too small for the fish you are keeping.
2. the fish you have will get to big for your tank, they will need at least a 75 gal, just for the oscar and pleco.
3. Your tank is overcrowded, which goes with number 2.
4. The oscar and dempsey aren't plant friendly fish and will destroy most plants.

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The tank has been set up for 7 months now, and I do a water change every 2-3 weeks. I check all my readings about every week to two weeks, and they have all been stable and have been good. I've never had a reading that was completely way off.

As for the oscar and dempsey, yeah I had read that they tore up plants, but I thought I would give it a shot and see what happened. The pet store talked me into it as they had plants in a tank that was full of oscars. Obviously it'd be hard to tell, but from what I can see, they haven't screwed with it.

And yeah... I'm going to have to do something here soon, probably upgrade tanks or figure out something to do with the oscar and dempsey.

When you bought the plant from the pet store, was it in a tank or growing in the air? Many aquarium plants are actually swamp plants that can grow both immersed and submerged, and if they are grown immersed then you submerge them, the leaves used to the air will die and rot off, and new leaves used to submersion will grow in their place. What are you using for substrate? If it is regular aquarium gravel, consider buying a package of root fertilizer tabs to give the plant some much-needed nutrients through its root system.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Yeah, the plant was completely submerged when I bought it. It's pretty tall, its tallest leaves reach to the top of the water.
The substrate is just a basic aquarium gravel. I'm thinking about trying something different? like black sand? Idk how well that would work though with the fish, or water changes. How much of the root/base of the plant should be under gravel, or should any of it?

With the fish that you have you need to be changeing water every week. The pleco, oscar and dempsy are heavy waste producers.

Can you give us the actual numbers for the tests. Ammonia, and nitrite are toxic to fish and need to be at zero at all times and the nitrates shouldn't go above 40. If you are using the test strips they are highly inaccurate.

__________________
SUCCESS IS MEASURED BY YEARS, NOT MONTHS!!!
220 Tank build
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/sta...late-3253.html

Yep, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Fish that large in that small of a tank probably need a water change every 3-4 days. Not sure why you've only been doing water changes as little as you have. Tanks that size take like 10min to do a 50% water change...in and out in no time. Plants, although can filter the water some, cannot keep up with the waste that your fish produce.

Your fish are stressed.....stressed from tank size, the fish that they share it with, and the water conditions that exist. That is why they keep getting sick. Surprised they haven't died on you.

If you can't re-home those fish do at least 50-75% WC per week, not all at once. It will go a long way toward their health. The plant might be the wrong light...not a plant bulb. Swords don't require a whole lot of light.