Cycle crashed

justarn

Arapaima
MFK Member
May 24, 2011
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Hey all ive crashed my cycle, basically I was a twat and cleaned my filter under the tap as I always do but forgot about my hose and drained 70 percent of my water instead of 20 that I would normally do when I clean the filter. .. end result is still cloudy water 4 days later, should I water change sooner or do my regular 50 percent on Sunday?

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corn fed

Jack Dempsey
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Jan 24, 2014
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Do you have ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? If your levels are good i would continue on with your normal water changes.
 

justarn

Arapaima
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May 24, 2011
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i havent checked them i was hoping someone would just know... i may do a test in a bit im just exhausted and sunk in the sofa at the mo after a hard day laying kirbs in the british weather!-) This is a product of having a bare bottom and running canisters delicate balance on the cycle!
 

corn fed

Jack Dempsey
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Jan 24, 2014
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Yeah. I'm not to that level where i can tell just by looking at it. Hopefully someone comes along soon who can and helps you out. GL.
 

BODYDUB

Fire Eel
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Dec 18, 2009
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If you're running your filter media under tap water then you're essentially killing your beneficial bacteria with the chlorine in your tap water. If the only thing you did different during your last water change was change a larger amount of water. Then the cloudy water is more than likely a bacteria bloom from the larger amount of water you have changed. Since the usual water change was small it was less noticable........
 

Simcan

Gambusia
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Dec 9, 2005
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It is not clear why you think you crashed your cycle. Certainly cleaning your filter with chlorinated water can do that (though depending on your media, even this will leave much of the bacterial population intact, and even if there is a problem it can quickly balance out again). But this will happen exactly as much if you change out 70% of the water or 20% or whatever...the bacteria don't live in the water column, they live on surfaces and most importantly, the huge surface area of good biolgical medium (like Matrix) in your filters. Remember that the cycle is fish produce ammonia, and bacteria consume it as it is produced, so there is no ammonia left in the water. These bacteria excrete nitrite, which a different kind of bacteria consume as it is produced, so there is no mitrite left in the water. These bacteria produce nitrate, which we generally remove/dilute with water changes (since plants, even if present, consume it but generally are enough given our fish load vs. plants, typically, and the bacteria that consume it are anaerobic and generally our set-ups don't support it enough.

A crash of the cycle is basically the bacteria dying. So the ammonia doesn't get consumed and ultimately converted into relatively innocuous nitrate. Ammonia is very toxic to fish so if your fish seem comfortable then it is very unlikely that you have a problem that needs action (meaning it it does not sounds like you have ammonia or nitrite, which would distress the fish greatly). In any case, test your water, but in the meantime I would just wait for the cloudiness to clear and use your regular routine.

Great looking tank, by the way!
 

justarn

Arapaima
MFK Member
May 24, 2011
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thats what i figured, due to having no substrate its a tight rope between crash or fine i guess... might 50 percent water change in a bit unless anyone objects?
 

xraycer

Arapaima
MFK Member
Sep 5, 2013
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Removing 70% of the tank's water shouldn't crash your BB population. Your system probably crash when you cleaned your filter. Did you use tank water or chlorinated tap water to clean the bio media?
 

xraycer

Arapaima
MFK Member
Sep 5, 2013
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Did you dechlorinate the new water when you refilled the tank. Chlorine will kill BB also on all the decors as well
 

justarn

Arapaima
MFK Member
May 24, 2011
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Removing 70% of the tank's water shouldn't crash your BB population. Your system probably crash when you cleaned your filter. Did you use tank water or chlorinated tap water to clean the bio media?
normally i dont clean both at the same time and its fine, yes i always wash it in tap water, i know i shouldnt!

and thats a good point i did forget to add my declorinator, we have a new baby so my mind was else where and i just wanted it all clean... should i water change or let it run its course and carry on as normal?
 
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