cloudy water

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S

ssd

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 9, 2009
28
0
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new mexico
Ok i'm sure you guys get tired of helping noobs but i can't figure this out for myself so instead of leting my fish suffer i'm here saying i don't know what the hell i'm doing.... ok here is my set up i got a 125 gallon tank with two rena xp3 canitsers and small round river rock about the size of normal fishtank gravel. i have a real drift wood about 14" long and two others synthetic logs,and my water is cloudy not real bad but just enough that if you look thru the end of the tank it look nasty but the front looks fine. Ok i just took some readings from my tank o by the way i use the API Freshwater test kit i do not use the little dip sticks.
ok ph is 8.0, nitrate is 40 ppm, nitrite is 0 ppm, ammonia is 0 ppm. witch would tell me to do a water change right? Like i have been doing once a week usally 20 to 30 % and my nitrate would always read 20 ppm. I Haven't done one in a week. But the guy at the pet shop said that I should not be doing water changes that often that it is not good for my tank. so i am waiting.:confused:

He also told me that with my filter setup that i can do a complete clean on one of my canisters every three months witch would mean that the filter would run for six months before it got cleaned or new carbon that don't really sound right to me. he said to clean one completely and leave the other running and then three months clean the other?

ok i have two 4inch oscars, 2 2" texas cichlids, 2 2" jack dempseys and 1 2" firemouth and 3 pleco's about 3" man they grow fast

Any help you can give me would be very appreciated
o yeah and all i feed my fish is pellets in the morning for about two min. hardly any hits the bottom and at night two capsules of frozen brine shrimp or blood worms i alternate it.
 
I would change 50% of the water each week no matter what. There are many things that water changes do for a system besides lower nitrates. i also double up on my 50% change every 6months. 2 in 1 week.

The only way i could think of that doing water changes can hurt your system is if you weren't using a decent dechloranator to rid the new water of chlorine and chloramine. I change 80% in my feeder tank every 3 days with no problems. I just add my chemicals before I start the new incoming water.
 
You have a lot of questions there, but have you tried a water polishing pad? Keep doing your WC's at least weekly & definitely alternate your filter cleaning schedule to avoid mini-cycles.
 
yes I do use a polishing pad i have one in both of my canisters right above the carbon witch would be on the very top tray. Should I clean this pad or replace it? Both canisters have only been running for little over a month. how fast will it normally foul out under the conditions of my setup?
 
ssd;3362073; said:
yes I do use a polishing pad i have one in both of my canisters right above the carbon witch would be on the very top tray. Should I clean this pad or replace it? Both canisters have only been running for little over a month. how fast will it normally foul out under the conditions of my setup?
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HMM i think you have just answered your own question about the cloudy ness.

Since the filters are new or about a month old. Then what you have is a bacterial bloom. Your bacteria in the tank is trying to raise its population enough to fill the new filters. So the cloudiness is just alot of bacteria spores in the water column.

Makes sense now.

just keep doing your normal 50% weekly water changes and wait it out. It will start to clear up on its own after a few weeks or longer.
 
hybridtheoryd16;3363259;3363259 said:
HMM i think you have just answered your own question about the cloudy ness.

Since the filters are new or about a month old. Then what you have is a bacterial bloom. Your bacteria in the tank is trying to raise its population enough to fill the new filters. So the cloudiness is just alot of bacteria spores in the water column.

Makes sense now.

just keep doing your normal 50% weekly water changes and wait it out. It will start to clear up on its own after a few weeks or longer.
Click to expand...
ok thanks for the help guys
 
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