Cloudy water,with bad smell....

[Dovii dude]

I have a 150 gal tank,i will admit it was a bit overstocked.So i get rid of most of my fish,but the yellowish water persists(even after replacing half of the tanks water)plus it had a very bad smell to it,since the water change it doesnt smell so bad.The ph is 7.0.I change the filter media every week or so.What could be causing this???Any help is appreciated.

 

[cichlid2006]

when you say you change the media every week or so, do you mean the whole lot or do you have a 2nd filter running and change the media in them at a rate of one per week?
if you change the whole lot then your tank may be cycling. im not trying to be insulting but even the best of us forget the simplest of details sometimes.

 

[chesterthehero]

yeah.. sounds like yer pulling out all yer BB and constanly short cycling yer tank... leave the medi alone.. just rinse it out a bit so you dont restrict the flow..

also whats the rest of yer parameters lookin like... what sort of filters, whats yer stock

 

[Hawkfish3.0]

I agree with cichlid2006, media should be left alone and only rinsed in order to prevent clogging. The only other thing I could think of would be the presence of thiosulfates in the water. Check with your local government for a water report. I would guess that's not the problem though, since you stated that it isn't as bad since performing the water changes.

 

[12 Volt Man]

first thing to do is get some test kits, and test ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

often, tanks high in ammonia/nitrite will be cloudy and have an odour to them.

once you know your parameters, you can begin to work on correcting them.

post the results and it will help alot. good luck

 

[Nicksplosion]

i had the same problem not to long ago.
i solved it by feeding less and lots of substantial water changes.
you may need to do more than one change.
and like ^^^^^^^^^^said. dont change all the media or pads, this gets rid of the bacteria!