Why is my 180 cloudy

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
depending on how stocked a tank is I usually like for my filtration to turn the water over 10-12 times per hour at least. on the 150 I was talking about in my previous post I was filtering 1500 gallons per hour (exactly 10 x per hour) and that was when it still had a tendency to get cloudy. I added another 500 gallons per hour (2000 total) and that was when the tank stayed crystal clear all the time.

so all that being said, you're about 300 gallons per hour under 10x per hour so you may be slightly underfiltering depending on how much waste your africans are putting out. you might try adding a HOB (AC 110 :thumbsup: ) just to polish it off. :)
 
I may add another filter if it doesn't clear up fairly soon.
 
I had a recurring bacterial bloom in a 220. Like Jason_S adding a filter took care of it. When I had the recurring (about 4 times a year) bloom I was running 4 AC500's (2000GPH total). I had enough mechanical/particulate filtration but not enough biological capacity. I added another AC500 and a DIY 4' fluidized bed filter and have had no blooms since (3 years).

Slam
 
Remember when you're setting up filtration that it's not all about GPH, it's also how much bypass that filter has and how much actually gets taken out. I have a 110 overstocked (30 someodd mbunas, 6" JD, 5" & 3" Midas, 5" Livingstonii) and all of that runs off a Fluval 404, which is rated for up to 100g. . . . and I clean my gravel once a month and clean my filter once every 6 months. How does this work? Lots of plants and efficient gravel vacuuming.

Anacharis, Hornwort, and Swordplants are a great way to balance your tank. There's also a type of duckweed that I use that's actually a giant variety, grows like mad, and since it's roots are waterbound it's sucking up the nasties all day long. Any live plants you can put in there, even if it's just a floating cloud of hornwort, will help to keep it balanced.

Another thing I always tell people with a bacterial bloom stop changing the water so often. Gravel vac 1/2 of the gravel in the tank, never all, and don't do more than a 25% water change, anything more and you're just taking out all your biologicals. Then stop doing them so often, maybe once a month. If you have any other tanks try some water changing, just taking a gallon jug and dipping it in one, pouring it in the other, then dipping in the other and putting it back into the first. They'll both have good water, but if you do that about 10 times it will help you dilute the bacterias without hurting your water or fish, and the other tank should be fine with such a small change.

Lemme know how it turns out.

--Jimmy
 
Still a little cloudy but fish are fine. i'm not so sure that it wasn't the water treatment chemical. I think that I used a little too much to treat the water I had aging this last time. I did squeeze the sponge part of the filter (I forget what its called) where they came from into the water and not the toilet. I figured that this will give them alot more quality bacteria. :grinyes:
 
Whatever works. . . hope it finishes clearing up soon. Sometimes it takes awhile, mine took 3 weeks once. Good luck.

--Jimmy
 
Why is everyone telling this guy he needs more filtration? His tank is only 3 weeks old, therefore is not fully cycled. You can add all the filtration in the world, but if it is new and does not have any beneficial bacteria built up in them, then they will not help clear the tank up. Test your water like I told you too in the first post and I bet your high in one of the three. You should not do any major water changes for the first month if any at all until the tank cycles and it is recommended to keep the tank as light as possible with fish and feed them once a day or everyother day. Your tank should clear up real soon.
 
on the first page he specified that he added some type of "liquified bacteria" which I'm assuming to be either Cycle or something like Bio Spira. either way the cycle would have been greatly sped up and I'd venture to say has been completed by now.

SphericalCube, doing too many water changes or a big water change will not cause the tank to go cloudy provided the tank has proper filtration and a bunch of gunk isn't stirred up when doing the water change. Even if a bunch of gunk is stirred up, with enough filtration the water will clear within an hour. I used to do 75-80% water changes on all my tanks and I only stopped because it got too time consuming once I got up to having 16 tanks up and running. None of the tanks ever got cloudy from doing those large water changes. I cut back to doing 40-50% water changes and they still didn't get cloudy. the 150 was the only one that ever got a little cloudy and that was usually if I stirred up a bunch of gunk when doing the water change. after I added the fourth AC 110 it never got cloudy. :)

oh, and the majority of the beneficial bacteria are in the filter media (again a good reason to overfilter), the gravel and on the tank decorations. very little is actually free floating in the water so even doing a 95% water change will not cause the tank to recycle. :)
 
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