extremely cloudy 180

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new2natives

Fire Eel
MFK Member
Dec 1, 2007
1,266
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ohio
about 2 weeks ago i lost power for about 48 hours, and my 180 has been extremely cloudy ever since (can barely see to the back of the tank)
i should have enough filtration, because it wasn't bad before the outage. it wasn't crystal clear, but it was good, and that was before i added my wet/dry (which i thought would make my water perfect).
i added the wet/dry about 5 days before we lost power so it didn't get much of a chance to establish anything

but i don't understand why my water got all cloudy? and what can i do to fix it?
i don't want to do large water changes, and risk recycling the tank? (its happened to me before, NOT FUN!)

anyhow, i currently have a 70g HOB, a eheim 2217 (although its not moving very much water lately) and a 30g sump, with 5g of bioballs in the trickle, and a 900g/h pump

whats my problem, and how can i fix it without risking my fish?
 
bacteria bloom?? or the dirty water sat in he filters for a while and when the power came on it shot it in the tank...thats My guess!!!
 
You probably lost all your bacterial colonies if you didn't pull the media from the filters into the tank due to lack of oxygen.

Have you tested the water for ammonia and nitrites?

I would immediately do a 50% water change and probably another one in two days.
 
won't that cause my tank to recycle if i take that much water out ?

my fish have to be able to stay in the tank, i have nowhere for them to go
 
No problem doing a 50% water change. infact, you will need several to clear your problem. Sorry for the pun.
 
new2natives;2262050; said:
won't that cause my tank to recycle if i take that much water out ?

my fish have to be able to stay in the tank, i have nowhere for them to go
Click to expand...

No, but there is a possibility that the bacteria in your filter media is dead. Doing a water change is the best thing you can do. If you can reach out to a fellow hobbyist and borrow some of his media, that would help out. I would greatly reduce the feeding of your fish and carefully monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels.

Next time you loose power, make sure you put the media from your power filters into your tank, get a battery power air pump with a bubbler to agitate the surface to improve oxygen exchange in the tank, keeping the bacteria colonies alive.

How about an update?
 
BUMP i need some more opinions!
i am a little afraid of taking out that much water, b/c water changes have ruined some of my tanks in the past, and this is my monster tank with $500+ of fish in it

all the media remained submerged in water during the power outtage (although not much aeration) and then i cleaned them a lot since there was stagnant water, and they are back up and running well ...

i haven't had a chance to test the water yet, but the fish seem pretty good, no labored breathing or anything ... as for the feeding i will hold off a little bit until i get the water under control
 
I do a 50% w/c weekly on all my tanks , its not gonna hurt but what will hurt is if you let amm, nitrite and nitrates build up without doing a water change .
 
No but there is a possibility that the bacteria in your filter media is dead. Doing a water change is the best thing you can do. If you can reach out to a fellow hobbyist and borrow some of his media, that would help out. I would greatly reduce the feeding of your fish and carefully monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels.

Next time you loose power, make sure you put the media from your power filters into your tank, get a battery power air pump with a bubbler to agitate the surface to improve oxygen exchange in the tank, keeping the bacteria colonies alive.
Click to expand...

:iagree:

But I would test the water first. If Ammonia and Nitrites are ok. I would do smaller daily water changes.
 
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