HELP!! Cloudy Water !!

[ShadowBass]

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.

None of the penguins take media baskets as far as I know, just emperors, I run a whole ton of both. Biowheels will cycle up just fine on their own anyway, I have at least 20 of them right now, I even use them to start up new tanks.

I do agree, buy a liquid test kit, you should be seeing some ammonia already at least. If your strips say 0 it's probably because, IME, most strips don't read anything until it's above .50.

 

[Alegre323]

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?

penguin 350 (dual bio wheel)

 

[Wolf3101]

None of the penguins take media baskets as far as I know, just emperors, I run a whole ton of both. Biowheels will cycle up just fine on their own anyway, I have at least 20 of them right now, I even use them to start up new tanks.

I do agree, buy a liquid test kit, you should be seeing some ammonia already at least. If your strips say 0 it's probably because, IME, most strips don't read anything until it's above .50.

I have several penguins as well as a crap load of emporers and yes...the penguins all have dual slots. I havn't purched a NEW one in a few years because I'd rather run Emporers (with supercartrages replacing ALL the factory media) but they always came with two slots in each chamber. I replaced the factory pads with one of marinelands cleanable pad frames and used the one piece open top media baskets (also made by marineland) in the rear possition. (the older penguin 300 came with them but the smaller units didn't.)

I have 10 emporers running at the moment and a handful of penquins that are slowly bieng phased out. (mostly to provide uniformity and a common parts stock)

 

[Alegre323]

will this be a good test kit?

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3635399

 

[ShadowBass]

I have several penguins as well as a crap load of emporers and yes...the penguins all have dual slots. I havn't purched a NEW one in a few years because I'd rather run Emporers (with supercartrages replacing ALL the factory media) but they always came with two slots in each chamber. I replaced the factory pads with one of marinelands cleanable pad frames and used the one piece open top media baskets (also made by marineland) in the rear possition. (the older penguin 300 came with them but the smaller units didn't.)

I have 10 emporers running at the moment and a handful of penquins that are slowly bieng phased out. (mostly to provide uniformity and a common parts stock)

I know they have two slots, I meant the big plastic baskets that come with the emperors, the penguins don't automatically come with those, at least none of the ones I've seen do. For the polishing cartridges I've started buying the ones of off drsfosterandsmith and you can open up the plastic frame to put filter floss or whatever in it. I never used the baskets on my emperors, I always just run dual cartridges on each side. I tried filter floss in the baskets but there was way too much bypass for my liking, and as far as more media I run canisters on any tank that needs it so I just put it in there. I have a whole ton of emperor media baskets just laying around that I never use, lol.
I haven't had any problems with the biowheels keeping up on any of my tanks anyway, I just like having extra media to cycle new tanks.

 

[Wolf3101]

The supercartrages take up both slots in the emporers so I have a ton of those media baskets and even a bunch of stock filter pads laying around. I should probubly put them on Ebay.

 

[Alegre323]

bump!

 

[WyldFya]

What color is the cloud? This will tell a lot about what the actual problem is. Also, your readings are definitely inaccurate. For a tank of that size, with that stocking, and having been up for 2 weeks, you would see some form of nitrogen in a pretty decent amount, unless you run a ton of plants in the tank.

 

[Alegre323]

i have a lot of plants in there, maybe 10-15 plants

the cloud looks like hazy white, only with the lights on, when i turn off the lights, its crystal clear

 

[guppy]

Gray cloudy water means bacteria, green means algae, whitish fine particles or other colors usually means suspended particulates from poorly rinsed substrate. As a headstart to clear the water throw in a couple large sponge filters and run for a day or to, remove them, rinse them and repeat. This will remove most of the current particles, no matter what they are. if they return you have a larger problem.