dramtic PH crash and smell

[dparks87]

Ok guys I have had a PH crash in my tank. Over the past few weeks I have not altered my tank regiment much. I do weekly water changes of about 20% or so. During my last water change I added a bag of sand to my pre-existing sand bed as it was getting low in a few places. After this water change I noticed one of my female moba frontosa holding a mouth full of eggs. I decided not to do a water change for the upcoming week. The tank however has been getting cloudier and cloudier everyday since this last water change. It is more of a milky consistency and has a smell to it that seems almost like bad moring breath lol.
Now I will add to this that during the early part of this month and the end of last month I had cleaned both my eheim classics. Not at the sane time though. There was a two week spacing between there two cleanings. I am going to be honest with my filters I always just throw away the old filter floss and replace with new. I also keep aquarium stones in my filter which i usually rinse in a strainer under hot water and then re-use.
I think my tank has had some sort of a bacterial bloom, I hope I didnt do to much to the tank in hindsite. Yesterday I added a small imersable filter of which I put carbon and scrubbies in to hopfully cut down on the cloudiness and smell. I need some help hear guys. My filters have always been something I change religiously. But now i think i have been doing just to much.

 

['vspec']

I get the fact your in bias favour for mechanical filtration, & your questioning is justified, so that tells me your aware you need biological.
Visually seeing it & the smell is your primary indicator, so yeah, maybe a touch over doing it. However its not the whole picture, as your noting your going through more than just a mini cycle.
Questions bud, always questions....

Actual timeframe of events
Sand type
sand quantity used
sand washed, if so what water, & how dirty was the rinse
did the sand smell of organics
sand ph test at all
tank dimensions with rough bed dimensions
water type - tap?
water test -kh,ph temp ect?
Other testable parameters?

 

[Goodfellas]

Maybe something is rotting somewhere under a decor? I always rinse and reuse my media except polishing media too hard to clean. I like crushed coral too keep my ph up. Hope this helps.

 

[dparks87]

Actual timeframe of events
It has been two weeks since the last water change. During and prior to that change I noticed no cloudy water, smell or PH change. My tank is almost always around 7.4

Sand type
The sand is a carib sea product called ivory coast white sand

sand quantity used
I added 15lbs

sand washed, if so what water, & how dirty was the rinse
The sand comes pre rinsed but I still gave the sand a tank water did via a 8 gallon bucket I filled up.

did the sand smell of organics
The sand had no odor

sand ph test at all
The sand is marked as PH neutral

tank dimensions with rough bed dimensions
The tank is 125 gallon and is 72x18. the gravel bed is roughly the same

water type - tap?
The water is city not well
water test -kh,ph temp ect?
The only water parameter that is off or has changed is the PH, ammonia is not tracable nor are nitrites and there are very little nitrites.

Other testable parameters?
No other changes noted, I carbon and that has seemed to cut the smell down. Today I am going to perform a 25% change and see If I cant get some freshwater and stability to my PH.

 

['vspec']

The short easy answer is to do nothing, the cloudy water caused by a bacterial spurt will subside by itself. pay more attention to your bacterial numbers id say for future reference

Even doing a water change, i wouldn't expect much difference on this front. Maybe a slight rise in PH at best.

Standard sand introduction in decent quantity i was assuming could have dropped you lower, however your saying its neutral. Most products from caribsea are focused to the alkaline ranges, & a quick search still brings up the african mix?

How's it looking anyways?

 

[blacktarotannis]

I'm wondering since I have never used sand... When pouring it in did you maybe cover one of the fishies? How easy is it to keep sand clean?

 

[carsona246]

if you dont have a little in your tank already, I would suggest adding some crushed coral to your filter just to help buffer out the water. My dorm switched water heaters and in the proccess the water became extremly soft and my ph crashed. Now I always have a bit of crushed coral in my tank to help buffer my ph

 

[dparks87]

[QUOTE='vspec';433996;6]The short easy answer is to do nothing, the cloudy water caused by a bacterial spurt will subside by itself. pay more attention to your bacterial numbers id say for future reference

Even doing a water change, i wouldn't expect much difference on this front. Maybe a slight rise in PH at best.

Standard sand introduction in decent quantity i was assuming could have dropped you lower, however your saying its neutral. Most products from caribsea are focused to the alkaline ranges, & a quick search still brings up the african mix?

How's it looking anyways?[/QUOTE]

The african cichlid mix has aragonite in it, so it does raise and buffer PH but the sand I used is PH neutral, hear is a PLU for the sand 008479058409 its labeled as crystal lake but I have also used the ivory coast from these guys. They make a great product.

The tank looks a bit better after the water change, im taking the advice and letting the tank marinade. The fish are not showing any signs of stress thank god. I do believe your right Vspec in short nothing may be the best thing to do... its just so hard man when my tank is even a bit cloudy I just want to do everything to clear it up lol. Lesoned learned!

 

[dparks87]

I'm wondering since I have never used sand... When pouring it in did you maybe cover one of the fishies? How easy is it to keep sand clean?

I love the sand opposed to rocks! the fish wast sits right on the top and this makes it very easy to siphon off. I also just prefer the look of sand to gravel or bare bottom.

 

[dparks87]

if you dont have a little in your tank already, I would suggest adding some crushed coral to your filter just to help buffer out the water. My dorm switched water heaters and in the proccess the water became extremly soft and my ph crashed. Now I always have a bit of crushed coral in my tank to help buffer my ph

I thought about adding some crushed coral and I still might, Do you find you have to replenish the crushed coral ever? or in other words do you find its ability to buffer diminished after time?

Sorry for all the extra post's I did not realize I could include multiple quotes till just now.