Help.. ive made a mess of my tank!

[XxRachxX]

oook.. so today i was looking at my tank, i was missing a clown loach... he got stuck in a shell and died :unsure: took the shells out, messed up the gravel, water got dirty.. did a 25% "dead fish water change" :( to be safe...
turned my filters back on,.....nothing... not even a click!! my powerd head AND my internal filter were dead... tinkered around, messed the water up even more... with a big nasty explosion of ....gross fish stuff... into my water.. ick... after much wiggling the ugf pipe around.. i got gravel in it!!! i had one tiiiny piece of gravel in there before, now theres tons! it rattles like hell.
everytime i try to get some out... more magically appears!!
any help??

im now of thinking of getting rid of the UGF and getting a better internal, maybe an external?


ive stressed out my fish, ive stressed out myself, ive killed a fish, ive mucked up my water, my UGF, the gravel is all crap AND im covered in water....:o

ps, sorry for the wierd grammar and the odd way of writing this post.... im STRESSED!!

[corr]

That sucks! Some gravel must have gotten under the plates. You'd have to completely tear the tank down to get it out, in which case you'd need a stand in filter anyway. So yeah, I'd ditch it too. Aquaclears are a decent, inexpensive HOB filter (at least here they are).

[XxRachxX]

um.. whats an HOB filter? hang on back? lol...... if im right... then i am GREAT! if im wrong.... well.... yeah i suck!

you can get the ones which fit onto the powerhead you already have dont you?? or am i just dreaming that up? cuz i have an aquaclear powerhead.... so it would be perfect :)

"come on daddy! bring your credit cards.... were goin shopping!"

[corr]

LoL, you're right, it's hang on back!!

Yup, you can get round filters to go onto the AC powerheads. I've found that they clog up very quickly though and they're kind of a hassle to service. As soon as you unplug it, junk falls of into the water.

[Shane Tesser]

Corr is right, those filtered power heads can be a real pain...especially when removing to service!....nothing more frustrating then a piece of loose gravel..or watching all the junk float back into the tank. Hanging style filters like Penguine, or aqua clear are a good route to go. Some tanks can bennefit from ugf but ive never seen much of an improvement personally, although they will sure push them at you when you purchase a tank for some reason! Rach, things like this are what make you a better keeper. Its pure frustration, i know...but we have all been through it. Now you'll know for next time, dont fret...it gets easier as time goes on!

[XxRachxX]

my internal kinda died... but ive got it GRINDING yes.. i did say grinding! along in my quarentine tank, a) because i have sick fish (whitespot) and B)i dont want all my nice friendly bacteria to die ^_^

my internal fluval has a nasty habit of spewing stuff back into my tank.... and it seems to get clogged easily..... but i think that may be partly due to the remains of a long lost tank mate..... eew...

ive only been running my ugf for the past week and the water is still fine! , levels seems to be good.
im going to get an external! it would be far less hassle.. and i have more tank space! and no ugly black boxes!
i also found out they are much more cheaper in the shops than on the internet O.o ive seen them on ebay for about £50-£60... and thats second hand! ive found one for about £40 and its pretty decent!
cheers :)