foam/bubbles

[Rufio]

ok so my tank just cleared up water clear as day.. but now theres a foam/bubbles on the surface off the water..

any clues?

[cgrabe]

Have you done a partial water change lately?

[Rufio]

yup.. i noticed that my filter is leaking water.. where the intake is..

[OrionGirl]

Sounds like the filter media needs to be cleaned.

[Rufio]

yeah it seems pretty dirty but every time i clean it .. the tank gets cloudy :-( .. bacteria booms everytime lame

[OrionGirl]

How do you clean it? The bacteria that cause cloudy water are not the same as the ones in the nitrogen cycle. If you have a bacteria bloom, it means too many nutrients are in the water column, so you might want to review how you clean the filter media.

[got_nailed]

If you’re using a HOB filter you can just lift the inlet tube out of the tank and the filter. That would leave all the nasty water in the filter box. Unplug the filter and off to the sink. Wash out the filter box with a lot of running water. Put a bit of tank water into the filter box so it will restart easer. As for the filter I would lightly run a little bit of water through it.

A lot of time there can be a build up of sediment in the filter boxes.

[OrionGirl]

Good point. I always use a chunk of tubing to siphon the gunk out of my filter box, then rinse the media, and put everything back together.

[Rufio]

well this is what i did.. i cleaned out the entire thing by turning it off and emptying it .. then plugged it back in with the filter out.. cleaned the filter under cold tap water... and put it back in ..

hope it goes smoothe

[OrionGirl]

Straight cold water from the tap? Do you have chloramine/chlorine treated water?

While the amount of chlorine in the tapwater is unlikely to cause too big a problem, it certainly could be harming the bacteria. Chloramines are most definitely a bad thing for the filter media--and for your tank, since the media likely holds enough water to introduce them to your tank.

The cold water doesn't help the bacteria either.

A better way to rinse your filter media is to use a bucket of treated/aged water that's at room temperature. In a well established tank, or one with additional biological filtration, the media can be exposed to chlorine, but not so for a new/young tank.

[Rufio]

should i put a dose of aquasafe in the tank?



neutralizes chloramine and chlorine and metals.,..


thing is i put a dose in yesterday when i changed teh water

[OrionGirl]

You should dose the water you rinse your filter media in, yes. You can put it in the tank, as well. Dose based on the amount of new water, not on the total tank volume.

[got_nailed]

If you just turn off the water then the siphon tube will empty the filter box out in to the tank where there is a lot of sentiment. That’s why I pull the tube out of the tank with the power still on.