I quit smoking for this? Incentive, cloudy water, second thoughts, regret.

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pelleeklund

pelleeklund

Peacock Bass
MFK Member
May 23, 2009
1,494
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Pennsylvania
I'm new to the site and was wondering if I get some help with a problem I'm having with a 3 week old 220 gallon tank I set up way to fast. I've had a 55 running for a few years and upgraded too anxiously without respecting the cycling process. Good news is the ammonia level is perfect. But the bad news is the water is cloudy as **** and super alkaline. I used 200 lbs. Home Depot All Purpose Gravel which is full of silt and was also impatiently put in without being rinsed thoroughly. I've got a Dempsey 10in. alive and well, Oscar 4in. good shape, 2 Irridescent Sharks 4in. good shape, 1 new Peacock Bass 4in. doing good and 1 dead ass gold nugget pleco. I need to get this water squared up quick and am having serious problems. Ive dropped the PH twice now but it seems like it's spiking. Maybe from the small water changes ive been doing? I realize this was irresponsible to the fish but it was my decision to Ivan Drago all of them. I just want it to clear this water up and maybe learn from someone who's been in the same boat. I figure the silt would have rested by now and the cloudiness is something regarding chemistry or filtration. By the way its a 1000 gallon Fishmate Pond Filter powered by a Lifegard Quiet One 3000 pump. Since this is my first post if I can find where it ends up I will greatly appreciate any help. I am awful at navigating this site.
 
Well the first problem I see is your pump. It pushing 780 gallons per hour at zero head hieght. And you are more than likely only getting around 600gph after it pushes thru the filter and tubing. One thing you will hear alot about with keeping big tanks is turn over rate. And you have to match your tuen over rate to the type of filter you are running. With your canister type filter you need around a 7x turn over rate. And you have 600gph(pump) divided by 220g(tank) = 2.72 turn over rate. So you need to upgrade the pump to one that pushes around 1500-1700 gallons per hour. And then for the soot that you have from the gravel. That can be cleaned out by doing daily 50% water changes and vacuming the gravel with a python gravel vac. Also you could added a better filter material that would catch the soot that is in the water column. I would suggest polyester batting from a fabric store. It is cheap and you can pack it in afilter a little and it will catch very very small particles. And then for the PH. Test the ph of your water right at your sink. If it closely matches what is in your tank then its fine. Most all fish will adapt to a very wide ph and do fine. But using ph addatives will cause a ph swing which is deadly to alot of fish. And if there is a big difference between your tap and the tank water 24hrs after a water change then the gravel is more than likely at fault. And will need to be changed out. If you replace it, pea gravel from HD washed really well is a good cheap choice over aquarium store gravel.---------if you have any more questions feel free to pm me and i will try to help out.
 
The cloudiness could be Nitrite build-up. What are your other water parameters? How do you know the Ammonia is good? High pH tap water is a pain, so hopefully its the gravel. To drop the pH without chemicals in my tank, I have to let it sit out in a clean container for a few days before my water changes.
 
Both you guys, thanks a lot. My tap water is alkaline as balls so i agree that is a factor. Unfortunately I think hybrids got it nailed with that pump being short on flow. Great points and thank you, I bit pieced the filtration system together without first hand knowledge and i'll bet thats causing the cloud. You guys were very helpful, thanks for your time.
 
Thanks guys I will. I'm sure your right Jake, my problems are usually more dynamic than simple. I just figure the pump will really help the water filter much more often. The water looked like coffee for the first 5 days, and has improved with time and water changes. It just still has yet to clear entirely and that's my main concern. Home Depot gravel is so silty. Its full of sticks and little pieces of crap. And I was so anxious I didn't even bother cleaning at least 175 pounds of the 200. This is what you get when you skimp on expenses and preparation. Now i'm considering swapping for real black aquarium gravel so if anoyone knows a good place to buy in bulk near Philadelphia please let me know.
 
Continue water changes every day to clear the dirt. And if you want it all out, stir the gravel up (after the water clears) so more dirt gets into the water and continue water changes.
 
I'm still curious about your other water parameters... Any chance you could post them? Also, API Stress Coat seems to help with fine silt. I guess it kinda makes it stick together & sink faster (thats my theory).
 
Jake I just got done replacing my gravel. It was a huge pain in the ass. Dumb, really dumb. This time I made the effort to clean the whole batch. Anyway during the gravel change a ton of water was changed too so my parameters are almost tap-like. I dumped a bunch of aquasafe in there and the fish are maintaining, but it will probably take a bit for everything to regulate. New gravel looks good though, and everything, filter, pump etc have been cleaned out and are moving well.
 
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