Cloudy water and how do I siphon sandy gravel?

[BrooklynAngel]

Help!
I have a 65 gallon FW palnted tank, about 6 weeks old. 4 medium angels 8 cardinals and a few algea eaters. Eco complete substrate. I added some more cardinals, and a die off occurred. 2 angels fell ill and most of the cardinals died. The water then got very cloudy. I have a Fluval (the one for a 100 gal tank). I removed the sick fish, and did two large water changes, added water dechlorinator/conditioner/buffer to PH 7. The water is still cloudy. The filter seems to be working fine. When I siphon the substrate the smaller particles empty out. How do I perform a good water change without removing the sand. And WHAT ELSE CAN I DO TO FIX THIS!?!? HELP!

[Rbishop]

You need to just hold the siphon tube far enough off the surface to lift the debri but not pull up the substrate. You may have to pinch the tube to reduce the suction pressure.

What are the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings on your tank? Did you rinse the eco complete before putting it in? What kind of a cycle did you do when setting up the tank? Media transfer?

[ILOVEBETTAS]

Ammonia, nitrate, and nitrites could be the problem What are your readings?

[BrooklynAngel]

Bob,
I did not rinse the eco complete. I was instructed not to in order to preserve the becteria. I did not check the ammonia level. I just loaded the tank with plants and eco complete in the hopes that the ecosytem would take off.
Are u syaing that I only have to siphon the top layer of substrate, and not the deeper layer? Thanks for the response, I will check the ammonia and report back.
David

[Rbishop]

I personally don't think there is active bacteria in eco comp that helps you establish the bacteria needed to manage the nitrogen cycle. There may be some for plant growth.

You should just need to siphon the debri like wastes and uneaten food that collects on the surfae of a plant substrate. If you were using gravel, than yes, you would do the deep gravel vacs.

It sounds as if you may have a cycling issue....will wait and see what your readings are..

[BrooklynAngel]

update. Just remembered I went away for a week and put a week feeder in the tank. That was 2 weeks ago. Maybe that messed it up?

[dwag88]

those vacation feeders are horrible for your water quality. thats probably what did it. Honestly you are usually better off leaving the fish unfed for a week. fish can go a long time without eating.

[Rbishop]

Have you got the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings..?

[BrooklynAngel]

Ok. Heres the update. I put some water aside to test to ammonia level at the LFS, then I did another 50 % water change and gravel suction this time, and added some floss to the fluval. The ammonia level was zero. I bought a kit and will test the rest in the am (its 2 am in NYC). The water cleared up a lot in the last eight hours. Still a smidge of haze though. I'll get the rest of the stats later on. THANKS!!!!!