What's up with my water?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Alright I'm going to hold off doing the changes on the big tank because I think it's making it worse. Ive opted to leave the light off for a couple days and see what happens. The small tank is looking much better though, and I'm going to resume normal weekly maintenance with that.

If water changes, vacing or cleaning doesnt work and ur waters fine id say u need a micro pad too catch all the fine crap. It should clear up then. What kindof filter u running?

#1 S. Vettel
 
An Fx5 and a magnum 350 penguin. I have to admit I think the Fx5 is overrated. As a matter of fact it wasn't to long ago that I hooked up the penguin because I wasn't satisfied with the fluval. Maybe that thing is just getting close to being cycled, or like I was saying earlier some of those old aquarium decorations may have been contaminated in some way. Either way that big tank looks like soup now so it's only up from here.
 
An Fx5 and a magnum 350 penguin. I have to admit I think the Fx5 is overrated. As a matter of fact it wasn't to long ago that I hooked up the penguin because I wasn't satisfied with the fluval. Maybe that thing is just getting close to being cycled, or like I was saying earlier some of those old aquarium decorations may have been contaminated in some way. Either way that big tank looks like soup now so it's only up from here.

Damn i just got my fx5 2 days ago and it is better then my xp4, water is 20-30% clearer and i run an ac110 w/ sponge/2 layers of floss in a 90. Best thing is it purges itself, good water flow and so much space for bio media, I prefer api chem-stars tho





#1 S. Vettel
 
It's neat, lots of cool features and perks, but I went from a thousand gallon pond filter I had rigged up to the Fx5 and it didn't keep the water as clear. And I only feed once a day in moderation. I just wasn't getting the flow I had with the other setup.
 
Congrats! What do you think finally did it? Was it the daily water changes? I am dealing with the same thing, or something very similar. My 55 had been setup for about 6 months and looking crystal clear the whole time. I don't know what changed, but the water started clouding up like yours with a white color to it, and I started noticing white particles or stringy things floating in the water. I also noticed a snot like slime on decorations and filters. I have broken down the filters (Fluval 306 and Penguin 350) and done complete cleanings of the slime, as well as refresh physical media at the same time. Ceramic bio media has just been physically cleaned in aquarium water each time. My water # are good for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, as well as GH and KH. I have started seeing some improvement in the past couple of breakdown cleaning cycles, but still not crystal clear like I had before. Do you think large daily changes will get me out of this?
 
Just my 2 cents. How I understand it is, you bb gets killed by a contaminate, or you add a large amount of bio media, so your bb releases and becomes kind of free floating. That's your white cloud. It's not toxic to your fish, but usually the reasons for it happening are. I've had the best results from not touching anything so long as your levels and nitrate aren't in the red zone. It will cloud, stay clouded awhile ( I had it stay clouded when I upgraded a tank to double it's size and added a bunch of ceramic rings the bb had to colonize for a couple weeks), and then pretty much clear out over night once the bb starts clinging back to solid objects. Basicly you want to avoid disturbing the gravel, filter media, and cut out the feedings since they'll add nutrients into the water. I was also told to avoid water changes until a little while after it clears, then just do a "pure water" change not vaccuming etc. Then get back on schedule. Same reason you only gravel vac half the tank at a time, change filter media staggered etc. Glad everything's back on track, and good luck with yours paul - N

(if I'm understanding this wrong do speak up as I'm totally trial and error taught)
 
I'm guessing ya'll are tap water people? - N
 
Just my 2 cents. How I understand it is, you bb gets killed by a contaminate, or you add a large amount of bio media, so your bb releases and becomes kind of free floating. That's your white cloud. It's not toxic to your fish, but usually the reasons for it happening are. I've had the best results from not touching anything so long as your levels and nitrate aren't in the red zone. It will cloud, stay clouded awhile ( I had it stay clouded when I upgraded a tank to double it's size and added a bunch of ceramic rings the bb had to colonize for a couple weeks), and then pretty much clear out over night once the bb starts clinging back to solid objects. Basicly you want to avoid disturbing the gravel, filter media, and cut out the feedings since they'll add nutrients into the water. I was also told to avoid water changes until a little while after it clears, then just do a "pure water" change not vaccuming etc. Then get back on schedule. Same reason you only gravel vac half the tank at a time, change filter media staggered etc. Glad everything's back on track, and good luck with yours paul - N

(if I'm understanding this wrong do speak up as I'm totally trial and error taught)

Very well said, everyone should read this imo!



Go S. Vettel #1 rb8
 
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