HELP!! Cloudy Water !!

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
A

Alegre323

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 6, 2007
33
0
0
Los Angeles
My water is cloudy as hell and i hate it! i have a penguin 350 filter and its just not good enough. what can you guys recommend? i did a 20% water change on my 55 g yesterday and it helped a little, but i still get all those little "particle" things floating around :(

what can/should i do?
 
It is just "new tank syndrome" give it time it will go away. Do you do tests on your water? Are you a beginner or a novice or pro?.......
 
beginner..... 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and nitrate.

its just a little cloudy. it sucks!..lol

my tanks been running 2 weeks now and it seems to not be changing at all
 
:) Well from past experiance i've learnt to wash gravel really good and driftwood and clean filter for a few days instead of waiting for it clear
 
Those readings scare me if the tanks only been running for two weeks. Reverse the media in the penguin...put the media baskets in the REAR slot and fill them with a good quality bio-media like ceramic rings. Don't rince out the stock filter pads for at least a month even if the filter starts to bypass.

Don't even think about changing the system for at least a month. After that....once the tank cycles properly....if you're still are not happy with how it looks then pick up a Hydro5 and an air pump. Most tanks take a minimum of 5 to 6 weeks to FULLY cycle. Sure they can keep fish alive before that if you cut corners but it wont be stable...

One last thing...try another test kit...preferably a liquid one because those are NOT the sort of readings you should be seeing at 2 weeks in. Oh and STOP doing water changes for a couple of weeks.
 
ok, i was using the dipping stick test kits.... you have to move tem up and down for 30 seconds and if it turns yellow, youre good

before my fishes were in the tank i ran it for 4-5 days with plants and some cotton like thing a member gave me and told me to put in the filter. bio sponge or something like that. my fishes are overall happy and they all get along fine. only the female con and female yellow tend to lock mouths every now and then. female con is smaller than yellow and she bullies the yellow around....

what test kit would you recommend?
 
Pick up a freshwater master kit by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals. You might also want to look into picking up a bottle of bio-spira. Sort of a BB (benificial bacteria) jump start.

Thats a bit of an odd mix you have going there. The GT will grow a lot faster than either the cons or the africans and you might have a problem down the road. Look at it as an excuse to get another tank....LOL
 
The AP test kit is probably one of the best kits for the money. Those dip tests tend to be very inaccurate. The cloudy water is probably due to the system trying to build up a proper level of beneficial bacteria to handle the bio-load of the inhabitants.

I would make sure to test this tank every other day, if not every day to make sure you don't get a huge ammonia spike and lose everything.

The main thing that concerns me is that it seems like the tank hasn't cycled yet. If that is true than it would already be WAY overstocked for the level the tank is at in the cycle.

I may have missed this somewhere in the thread, but what are you using for filtration on this tank?
 
I think I found the problem!



my tanks been running 2 weeks now and it seems to not be changing at all
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55 Gallon African Cichlid Tank
2 Yellow Electrics
2 Blue Electrics
1 Green Terror (Still A Baby)
2 Convicts (Male & Female)
Click to expand...
 
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