Gravel causing cloudy water?

[thedogzoo]

Hey there.....I was cleaning the gravel and doing a partial water change(because the water is so cloudy) and I noticed that lots of little flecks of rock were coming up in the siphon. They were too heavy to get siphoned out, but they were there. Could the gravel be disintegrating? Could this be the cause of my cloudy water? My tank has been cycled for several months.....all the levels are good - absolutely the same as always - but I can hardly see the back of the tank because of the cloudiness. The only thing that changed was that I had read that I had too much gravel in my tank, so I took some out.Then the water clouded up and has gotten worse from there on out.If it is the gravel causing this.....if I replace my gravel, will that do something to my cycle? I also added some carbon in the filter (Aqua Clear filter) to help with the "dirt/soil" odor that annoys me so much - I've read that that smell is actually a good thing...but the tank is in my room and it drives me nuts! Oh yeah....it's a 10 gallon tank with 5 small neon tetras, 2 bronze corys and 1 Red Wag Platy. Thanks a bunch! J.

[plainzwalker]

I know when I first had an aquarium I bought the "painted" gravel with a mixture of black and white. It had a tendency to flake and would cloud the water fairly bad. Since then I've stuck with natural gravel and I haven't had a problem at all.

Does it go away after a couple days? If so, you might think about getting a python to clean your tank since it provides more suction power then regular siphoning since it uses water pressure to suck the water out instead of just gravity.

[thedogzoo]

No, it doesn't go away....everything just settles back onto the gravel until I siphon again or the fish make a wave or something. This gravel is the black and blue colors - 2 separate bags that I mixed together.What is natural gravel? Does it come in dark colors? From what I've read, these fish feel safer with dark colors....Thanks! J.

[Holly9937]

If it settles after you vac. I wouldn't think that is the cause, but its hard to say. Most of your good bacteria is in your filter, so changing the gravel would be alright, might be something to consider, but it might not be the problem. Does the cloudiness have a color?

[IceH2O]

Did you rinse the gravel before putting it in the tank?

Tyr removing the gravel and giving it another good rinsing, use a cauldron and the smaller pieces will wash out. Then replace it. I'd try this before I went out and bought more.

[thedogzoo]

Yep....I rinsed very thouroughly several times before I put the gravel in......the cloudiness is a white/gray color. It concerns me how MUCH of these little flecks there are - it's not just a few......if the fish swim by real fast....it gets all stirred up and it looks like someone dumped 2 cups of it in there! If it's not the gravel, then I'm really stumped! It's such a huge job to take the gravel out, but if that's what needs to be done, I'll do it. I just hope it doesn't screw up my cycle - doing that cycle once was enough for me :) Jenni

[RockabillyChick]

are you sure its not fish waste that's settled in the gravel? decaying fish poop and rotting food can look whiteish. you may just need to do a really good gravel vac.

[Lund]

I just got over a cloudy water problem myself. I put some live plants in the tank because of my high nitrates, and a few days later my water was clean as a whistle, no cloudyness at all. I put in hornwart plants. They cost about 2 dollors for a fairly large bunch of them. you can plant it or let it float. your fish would love the extra cover too.

If you have live plants already, disregard what I just typed. Good luck, I hope you can figure it out. My gravel also has lots of small pieces that get stirred up but are too heavy to suck out.

[thedogzoo]

Ok...I went out and bought new test kits today just in case I had faulty kits. These are my readings: Ammonia = 0, PH = 7.2, Alkalinity = 80ppm, Nitrates = 20ppm, nitrites = .5ppm and hardness = 75 ppm.

What's up with my nitrites????? I have no ammonia and I keep coming back to an issue with the gravel possibly.....any ideas out there?

Also, I'm not understanding how my ph level can be "neutral" but my alkalinity levels are barely moderate? My kit says that alkalinity should be at 120-150 ppm, ideally. How do I raise alkalinity without raising my ph? How much will it effect my cycle if I completely replace my gravel?

Man.......everything was going perfect until I messed around with the gravel - just because i read somewhere that I had too much - should have left it all alone :rant2:

Thanks for any help you guys :) Jenni

[thedogzoo]

help me! :)

[Primetime]

Well, if you want to change substrate, I suggest keeping a jar or 2 of the gravel you currently have. Then change the substrate and put the old gravel in a mesh bag. Let the old gravel kick start the cycle and then after a couple weeks remove the mesh bag and the old gravel. This way you wont have to mix the old colour with the new one.

[Star_Rider]

you might consider changing the gravel..you should be okay with the bacteria ..most of them reside in your filter..and with the ac you have the sponge,carbon and the ceramic rings.
i find the flakes in my gravel and it's more the natrual gravel..I also have some live plants/ it's odd yo have 0 ammonai and .5 on the nitrites wuth a low nitrates..especially since the tank is several months old

[adrunpants]

sorry but have to say that most of the good bacteria resides in the substrate (gravel)
change the gravel gradually to avoid a complete cycle.

[bubbles42151]

with ten gallons, fish waste gathers pretty quickly because of the small area of the bottom. what is your water changing schedule? What worked for me was to vaccum every water change and for me thats every week. If this problem didn't occur until you messed with the gravel then it could be an indication that you were not vaccuming properly. For the smell, try rinsing your bio media with dechlorinated water and give it a few taps.

-I hope this helps! :coffee2: