Cloudy Fish Tank
We just got a new fish tank - one of those "oceanic" all-in-one acrylic tanks. I don't have any experience with the acrylic ones. But it has been running for about 2 weeks now and the water is cloudy. We've tried the drops that are supposed to get rid of the cloudiness but they do not seem to be doing much.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Does anyone have any ideas?
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On my kids tank, which is a plastic one too, they have an algae eating fish and if he can't keep up thay have some tablets called "No More Algae" "Tank Buddies" The warden(wife) says follow the directions on the package but it takes a couple days to clear up. The kid says also an apple snail will help keep the tank clean. 0 -
What are your water parameters? Done any recent water changes? What kind of water are you using? 0 -
I believe the cloudiness may be due to bacteria, algae is a different critter. The material that the tank is made of is not the cause. My opinion is that time will clear it up. Try changing filter elements every 2-3 days until it clears. Good luck. 0 -
your tank is clouding because::
1- the friendly bacteria are growing.
2- you filters need cleaning
3- too much fish food
do NOT put any chemicals in the tank, also when you fill it up ,every time the water level drops, get a bucket of water from the tap, let it settle some where for a mimimum of 48 hrs to clear the chemicals , 'the water treatment plant put in'..(yuk)
if you clean the tank completely, keep 25% of the orignal water,as this will have the friendly bacteria in, it helps sort the new tank , stabalises it & fish happy,
all you need to do is clean the filter(s) & leave it ,it will clear after a few weeks..thenits balanced & perfect
it just takes time..
good luck.0 -
When you set up a new tank the bacteria in the water encounter enough organic material in the new set up to bloom. They reproduce quickly and prolificly. They do so enough to cloud the water. They also die about as quickly. Do a partial water change to reduce their numbers (they do require oxygen leaving less for the fish) and to reduce the cloudiness. 20% every day or two will help. Their population will reach equlibrium with the organics produced by the tank and the cloudiness will clear, probably leaving a scum on the water surface. Now would be a good time to google Nitrogen Cycle to understand the chemical changes your tank will go through, why you start with very hardy fish, why you build the population gradually, and how to deal with toxic ammonia build-up as the tank cycles. Aquaria are not fill them and forget them projects, but they are very rewarding for relatively little work. Look for a good used copy of Exotic Aquarium Fishes by William Innes (try Amazon or www.bookfinder.com It is an older book, but in my view still the best basic primer out there. 0 -
Get a Diatom filter. It uses a white powder called diatomaceus earth. That will filter out anything down to 1 micron. Leaving your tank water VERY clear. These are also helpful for disease because they will filter out any disease over 1 micron. Good Luck.. Tom 0 -
All advice seems good to me. You may also want to crank up the undergravel filter for a few days to. Tanks take a long time to establish themselves. The water changes are what I did. I did a 50% water change and went from there. Also, its always a good idea to let your tank establish itself for a week or two before introducing fish.
Good luck and post your progress,0 -
He Dog nailed it as usual when asking about the animal world. It will take a while for the good bacteria to establish and then it will eat the Ammonia which will kill your fish and turn it into Nitrite, which is also dangerous to your fish. Then bacteria eat the dangerous to your fish Nitrite, and it becomes Nitrate which is much less harmful. You should change about 20% of your water every 2 weeks to remove the Nitrite from the water. Most new filters have a Bio Sponge or something similar to let the good bacteria grow, you never want to clean this or you will loose your good bacteria. If I was setting up a new tank I would use fish that can with stand high Nitrite and Ammonia to establish my tank. I also use a liquid bacteria to help jump start my good bacteria, its called Cycle. I have a 75 Gallon tank that has over kill on filtration but my water stays crystal clear. I use a Penguin 350 (350GPH) with the Bio Wheels, Tetra - Tec 300 300GPH, a Rena XP3 300GPH under the tank canister type filter, and an under gravel filter with 3 170 GPH power heads. Alot of people will tell you not to use a under gravel filter because they cause waste to build up in your gravel. I agree if your useing air pumps to run it, but with power heads it works great. I have an Emporer 400 with Bio Wheels (Which is supposed to be the best but isnt)it has a spray bar that only allows a small amount of water to come in contact with your Bio Wheels as it runs out of the filter. The Penguin 350( both made by the same company)allows all water 350GPH to contact the wheel as it exits the filter which gets much more contact with the Bio Wheels. You never need to change,clean or replace the Bio Wheels. One big thing is the good bacteria require large amounts of oxygen to live and grow. Even after your tank is established you will get bacteria blooms once and a while, which clouds your wayer some. I usually add cycle to help it catch up or just wait a few days and it will clear up on its own. HTH!! 0 -
Thanks for all the good advice. This is a new tank that I set up 2 weeks ago, I waited a week to get 7 fish (3 neon tetras, 2 blueberry tetras, a cory cat and a spotted cat).
The cloudiness has been there since day 1 when no living organism was in it. I stared with tap water. We used the chlorine rid stuff, Ph balancer and when the fish were put in, we used the liquid bacteria.
The fish are healthy. There is just this cloudiness that won't seem to go away. I have a bunch of distilled water that I will be using instead of tap water from now on as I refill from evaporation and 20% water changes.
The Oceanic systems are self contained with a wet/dry filter attached to the back. There is no undergravel filter.
Perhaps the tap water is the cuplrit. I'll change out 20% with distilled water every week or so and see if it lightens up.
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Stop using the distilled water bud. It contains no minerals or electrolites and will actually kill living organisms by drawing minerals from their bodies and disrupting their electrolite balance. If you want to used distilled it must be mixed with minerals to make somebody or others solution (I forget that cats name). You are better off using tapwater aged for a week or so. Do frequent, small water changes, as neon tetras are rather fragile and prefer very clean slightly acid water (which you almost certainly do not have). They do ok if the water is clean, and the nitrite levels remain low. Probably not the best fish to cycle the tank with, but keep them with quality water through out and them may do fine. 0 -
Ditto on the distilled water! It is not good! Best source of water is plain old tap water allowed to sit open for a few days to rid it of the chlorine. You didn't mention the size of your tank, but 7 fish to start out with is quite a few. That could be part of your problem too. When I kept goldfish (notorious ammonia producers) 2, 3 tops, is all I would keep in a 20 gallon high tank. In my 20L tank I could keep 4 comfortably. As He Dog said, tetra's are hard to keep. I currently keep two 50 gallon tanks running and keep Oscars exclusively. My favorite died last year after 6 years. He was huge! Great fish, would eat out of your hand. Threw him a couple of feeder goldfish or guppies once a week as a special treat. I felt about that fish like I do about my dog, which we have had for 11 years. I cried like a baby when he died! 0 -
It's been quite a few years since I kept fish but I remember in the beginning I made all the beginners mistakes as in over loading the tank with fish to soon and trying to artificially clear the water. It's don't work. I know I've killed just about ever species of fish found in the oceans and rivers of the world.
Yep, the tank will have to run in as it's called. It's a cycle going from ammonia to nitrite to nitrate if I remember correctly. Once it's made its cycle the water will clear up. That's why you only want to put a couple of fish in a tank at first then after the water gets right you can start adding fish. Beginners rush to fill the tank up with fish and then get a big let down when they all start dying. No need for artificial stuff like drops to clear it up you're just wasting your time and making it worse instead of better. Buy you a water tester to check to see what stage your tank is in.
Smitty0 -
ok - the distilled is out! (I've only used about a pint so far)
I didn't know chlorine would dissipate on its own if you just let the water sit. We have the chemical stuff that removes chlorine but I will try that.
Our water out of the tap is acidic but we used the Ph balance to bring it to the level the test kit says is optimal.
If (when?) the initial batch of fish dies, what are the hardier types? Guppies?
I don't think the cloudiness is bacteria since it has been there since day one. The fish and beneficial bacteria weren't added until a week later.0 -
Chlorine will go on its own, about 24 hours of sitting. Chloramine won't. Some city water systems use one or the other or both. Call the city and see what they say. 0 -
quote:what are the hardier types? Guppies?
NO! NO! NO! Most guppies are cheap, but they can be kinda fussy about water quality. Good first fish would be swordtails or platy's. Molly's are easy to keep, but they seem to like hard water. That means you can put a teaspoon of salt in your tank for each gallon of water and the molly will be happy. Just need to make sure your other species can tolerate it. MOST can. The good thing about all of the above is that they are live-bearers. If everything is nearly perfect, before you know it, you will have fish running out of your ears! Just remember, for most livebearers, the optimum is 1 male to every 2 females. Since the males are more colorful, most people put too many boys in the tank, and that opens up another can of worms!0 -
Quit washing your hands in it. Don 0 -
+2 what He Dog said
Also Amquel + a live bacteria additive will help get the tank rolling.0 -
I keep a 38 gal reef tank (upgrading to a 55 soon) and I use strictly RO/DI water. Airwaterice.com sells great 5 stage RO/DI units. I got a 75 gpd and plumbed it to a large tub. All the fresh pure water you could ever want. They're also relatively easy to hook up. The RO membrane takes the water down to 10 TDS and the DI resin cleans up the rest taking the output water down to 0 TDS. Basically only allows hydrogen and oxygen to pass. This is all I use for mixing water and top offs. Then you add whatever you want to the water. The filters last a year, the membrane about 3 years. You have to check with your municipality though because the normal carbon blocks won't take out chloramines. They're not very common yet though.
I only recommend this route because if you're serious about it for long term success, tap water, depending on where you live, can really jack a tank up. Our tap water has a TDS of 286. Anything over 500 is considered unsafe to drink by the EPA. Basically that's all dissolved solids, metals, and who knows what else.
On top of this, most municipalities typically add phosphates to the water to make it easier on the pipes. Our tap has 1.5 ppm phosphate consistantly. The phosphates will just fuel algae in the long run, which can take over your tank. You go to do a water change, thinking you're adding pure water and you're not. It'll just be more phosphate and who knows what else. Heavy metals can also build up from tap water over time and eventually cause a crash.0 -
Pint of chlorine bleach will clear it right up.[}:)][:D][}:)] 0
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