My water is my water is cloudy I'm guessing from waste I would like to know can I change my filter for a new filter and putting my old filter inside the tank to keep or try to keep the good bacteria I have a 55 gallon tank I got about 10 fish in my tank
Tank filter
- Thread starter RODOLFO DELVALLE
- Start date
Could you give us a little more info? What find of filter do you currently have, what kind of fish, how often do you do water changes? Maybe just keep your existing filter and add an additional filter as well.
This pretty much tells the story. Your tank is cloudy because it's cycling. The green tube on the far left indicates that you have ammonia, and quite a lot of it. You will want to keep up with large daily water changes using dechlorinated water that is the same temperature as your tank until the cycle is complete and you no longer have ammonia levels. Your ammonia should always be 0, nitrite should always be 0 and nitrates should be less than 40ppm (yours are high).
The nitrogen cycle takes toxic ammonia, which fish produce with their waste, converts it into toxic nitrite, and then finally converts it into nontoxic nitrate. The nitrate will continue to build up in the tank until you remove it with water changes.
As for your filter, if you can post a picture of it we can help determine if it's adequate for a 55 gallon tank. If not, then you will probably want to add another one.
Hmm. The cloudiness is most likely a bacteria bloom. Like others said I would start doing more water changes. I think your tank may be going through a mini cycle, did you completely clean your filters with tap water or use new media recently? They look too clean to me haha. Also, seems like your tank could be a bit overstocked. Remember that cichlids are big waste producers. Maybe look on craigslist for a used filter, the aquaclear hang on backs are great. On my overstocked 90 I'm running an aquaclear 110 with a xp4 canister filter. More biological filtration could help. Perhaps you could also start feeding them less. Generally speaking I feed mine only once or twice a day and after water changes I skip a day. Looks like you have live plants so that should help with the nitrates a little bit. You should also test your tap water, maybe that is the cause of the high ammonia and nitrate in which case you can just treat it with seachem prime or something.
Ps. A good way to help reduce all those nitrates is to use pothos vines. You can stick them in the top of your hob filter there or just have the roots dangle in the tank. They take a while to establish but once they do they really help reduce the nitrates between your water changes. They also clean the air in your house for you and only require a minimum amount of light.
Ps. A good way to help reduce all those nitrates is to use pothos vines. You can stick them in the top of your hob filter there or just have the roots dangle in the tank. They take a while to establish but once they do they really help reduce the nitrates between your water changes. They also clean the air in your house for you and only require a minimum amount of light.
I have those plants on the back for the filter I just change them that's y they look so clean today. It's fustrating that this is happing. It sucks big time I also put bacteria supplement aquarium salt and the prime. I just wanted to go back to normal
It must be a mini cycle then since you cleaned it. Just keep up on water changes and it should correct itself in a week or 2. 