so, Now my water is cloudy.. WHY? pls help
- Thread starter Jayfish7
- Start date
I have a 20g bucket I fill with tank water clean the pads with it and lightly swish the bio balls in it just to knock out any crap thats not media the I use conditioned tap water to wash out the empty canister, plug it in wait 30 min for all the crap that blows back in to sink and then do my water change.
thats great advise 760fishaddict,! i will absolutely do it that way next time .. thanks all for the helpful ideas
Since ya washed some filter media in tap water, ya might have a mini cycle. I'd check the ammonia over the next few days to be safe.
Your new filter will take 3-6 weeks to build enough bacteria to help filter ammonia/nitrite.
I basically do what 760 posted for my filter sponges, never had an issue.
Your new filter will take 3-6 weeks to build enough bacteria to help filter ammonia/nitrite.
I basically do what 760 posted for my filter sponges, never had an issue.
now after all that... (cleaning the filter.. doing W/Cs of 50% 3-4 times over the past 2 weeks... my water is still cloudy!.. what could it be?? i reduced feeding , vacuumed the gravel very good, heck!.. even bought a 2nd fx5!. etc... hmmmm its frustrating cause my water is always crystal!.. think it'll need a couple days after doing all this work to it over the past few days, too settle?..
any advise is greatly appreciated!
any advise is greatly appreciated!
So cloudy water is from two things generally.
A bacterial bloom due to new fish/overfeeding/filter or substrate cleaning. This is fixed by waiting. If it's happening and you're also getting ammonia readings your filtration is either not enough, or something happened to harm your biological bacteria (washing filter media in tap water can/does kill your bacteria.
The other option is an algae bloom. Reducing lighting strength and/or duration, along with water changes generally fixes this.
Let it run a week, my guess is you're having a major bacterial bloom from all the cleaning/filter mucking ya did. Clean each filter every other month from here out, don't do both at once.
Also, test your ammonia and nitrites, really.
A bacterial bloom due to new fish/overfeeding/filter or substrate cleaning. This is fixed by waiting. If it's happening and you're also getting ammonia readings your filtration is either not enough, or something happened to harm your biological bacteria (washing filter media in tap water can/does kill your bacteria.
The other option is an algae bloom. Reducing lighting strength and/or duration, along with water changes generally fixes this.
Let it run a week, my guess is you're having a major bacterial bloom from all the cleaning/filter mucking ya did. Clean each filter every other month from here out, don't do both at once.
Also, test your ammonia and nitrites, really.
If you have 2 canisters use one as bio media and clean it about never. Set the other one up w mechanical and clean it when you do water changes. Or do yourself a favor and build a sump and have very little maintenance.
BTW nitrates at 50 ppm is nothing really. Nitrates are waste of the nitrogen cycle. Most tap water, unless completely nuked w chlorine has nitrates.
Sent from my SM-G900R7 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
BTW nitrates at 50 ppm is nothing really. Nitrates are waste of the nitrogen cycle. Most tap water, unless completely nuked w chlorine has nitrates.
Sent from my SM-G900R7 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
my ammonia is at zero.. i think it may be a bact bloom.. :/
i test my my water often.. hence is why i had to do all of this , seeing my nitrates where high and now my water is cloudy.. .
thanks for the help so far guys.. its appreciated
i test my my water often.. hence is why i had to do all of this , seeing my nitrates where high and now my water is cloudy.. .
thanks for the help so far guys.. its appreciated
