Unclear/Foggy Water ??? At Random??

[Jonny Steele]

ok, ive had my 55g at my apt for about a few months now. Im running a Marineland Penguin 350 HOB filter and a Eheim 2217 that i bought new about a month or so ago. Both are running in the tank. My water was slightly green and even after i had both running in the tank, it didnt seem to help, so i bought a UV light Sterilizer and it cleared up in a day or so, crystal clear. Now the water is getting foggy/unclear, but somedays i come home and its fine, other days its cloudy?? What gives?

I have a large shrimp, im getting rid of him, he just ate my new loach.

My other fish are:

1 goldfish
1 pleco
2 electric chiclids
1 blood parrot
1 small cory

My tank has sand as substrate and i have live plants.

 

[JC_P]

I want to say cycle crash(s), but you said it goes back and forth? How often do you do water changes, and at what percentage?

 

[Jonny Steele]

I want to say cycle crash(s), but you said it goes back and forth? How often do you do water changes, and at what percentage?

When i first started the tank when i moved it to my apt, i didnt it every other day about 50%, but once it was established, i did it about once every week and a half or so about 50%. I just did it the other day, when my shrimp killed a fish and i had an ammonia spike, so i did a 75% water change and then the ammonia went back to 0.

 

[JC_P]

When i first started the tank when i moved it to my apt, i didnt it every other day about 50%, but once it was established, i did it about once every week and a half or so about 50%. I just did it the other day, when my shrimp killed a fish and i had an ammonia spike, so i did a 75% water change and then the ammonia went back to 0.

I think you might be overdoing it, cycle crash is the best answer I can give. You're only supposed to change your water once a week at about 25% max. What's happening is your water keeps trying to re-establish, but with all those water changes you may be killing the benificial bacteria faster than it can reproduce Hence the cloudy water. I suggest to start doing smaller changes along with only doing it once a week. you will see a difference, I can almost guarantee it! Adding tap water conditioner to every change will minnimize the loss of any benificial bacteria, it will also take the harsh chemicals out of the tap water. Hope that helps

 

[geronimo69]

I think you might be overdoing it, cycle crash is the best answer I can give. You're only supposed to change your water once a week at about 25% max. What's happening is your water keeps trying to re-establish, but with all those water changes you may be killing the benificial bacteria faster than it can reproduce Hence the cloudy water. I suggest to start doing smaller changes along with only doing it once a week. you will see a difference, I can almost guarantee it! Adding tap water conditioner to every change will minnimize the loss of any benificial bacteria, it will also take the harsh chemicals out of the tap water. Hope that helps

10%, 25%, 50%... It all depends on your bio-load. I do 50% in all my tanks, as I have puffers that are very messy eaters. Make sure you test your ammonia.. When it gets to 20ppm or more, do a water change. Simple as that...

Oops, should read "nitrates" not ammonia... typo, my bad.

 

[buddha1200]

I do 75% once a week and never had a problem,do you rinse your filters when you do a water change if you do,dont rinse in tap water,rinse them in the water you take out of your tank. If you rinse in tap it kills your bacteria than its like starting new again evry time,that would also cause cloudy water. If you have large fish as most on here do 25% will not bring your nitrates down enough. Not sure how big your fish are though.

 

[JC_P]

10%, 25%, 50%... It all depends on your bio-load. I do 50% in all my tanks, as I have puffers that are very messy eaters. Make sure you test your ammonia.. When it gets to 20ppm or more, do a water change. Simple as that...

That is reasonable, but he says he runs an eheim 2217 on that set up which would be enough, but I'm telling you the reason for the clouded water is not inadequate filtration, there are simply too many water changes happening! 20ppm for ammonia is rather high.

"Edit" I think I may have misread that, once a week should be ok. nvm, there aren't too many water changes happening.

 

[kdrun76]

That white cloud is a text book response to ammonia. The ammonia spikes and about 36-48 hours later you get a milky look that lasts for a few days. So even if you have the ammonia gone, you might still get the cloud the next day.

 

[JC_P]

I do 75% once a week and never had a problem,do you rinse your filters when you do a water change if you do,dont rinse in tap water,rinse them in the water you take out of your tank. If you rinse in tap it kills your bacteria than its like starting new again evry time,that would also cause cloudy water. If you have large fish as most on here do 25% will not bring your nitrates down enough. Not sure how big your fish are though.

Yes, but how often? you said once a week, which is completely fine. On the other hand multiples of 50% a week is overdoing it, 25% won't get nitrates down fast, but it will help to avoid major BB loss. In his case I would focus on getting the tank to properly establish.

 

[buddha1200]

On my 125 oscar tank i do 50% twice a week,and have never had a bb crash,that tank is filtered with a marineland c-360 canister,aquaclear 110 and a 20 gallon sump(800 gph),the reason i do 50 % twice a week is they are poop factories and my nitrates get to 40ppm from 10ppm in 4 days but the ammonia and nitrate stay at 0ppm so i dont agree that that will case the cloudy water or maybe i am just lucky.