Changing Water>>??

[faraz312]

How often do we change water! even when the water chemistry is fine.
Normally i do once a week water change 30-40% but my tank gets dirty very quickly! water seems too cloudy and misty. Is it the filter not worken properly or the tank is lacking something, I do the water checks and its fine as well. Fish are healthy and eat fine too but its just the water i.e not too clearn Wat could it be!!!!! :wall:
ThanXX

 

[wataugachicken]

what exactly are you testing for when you test the water?
what are the results that you get?
what size tank?
what fish and how many?
what filter do you have?
do you clean the gravel or sand when you change water?

 

[DAVIDFBT]

Has the tank cycled yet?

 

[faraz312]

Hi!! Its a 80L coldwater tank with 4commets init. By water check i ment Ph amonia etc. i do it regular bassis, I do clean gravel and the name of the filter mmm cant remember it came wit the tank!

 

[wataugachicken]

well, first off - your water is never going to be clean and clear. as your comets grow (and they will grow to 12-14 inches or more) water quality is going to get worse and worse. even if they are babies now, they become large messy fish which really require a pond to live and thrive in. you could get away with 4 of them in a 125g tank (470liters) but just barely. definitely not in a 80liter for any true length of time. the cloudiness is probably bacterial 'clouds' from too much ammonia and waste in the tank. you should be testing for ammonia and nitrite (which should always be at zero) and also nitrate (which should stay under 20ppm through water changes). if the filter came with the tank, it's probably barely enough to keep up with a properly stocked tank, let alone one with 4 comets in it. if you want to keep these fish, you should get a larger tank to keep them in while you plan and build a pond.

 

[THE V]

4 goldfish in a 80L tank is way overstocked. They just eat too much for you to keep it clean. You can actually barely fit 1 goldfish in a tank that size and even then it won't be happy. Goldfish like groups and room to swim. You really need to look at an absolute minimum size of 190 liter tank for those four just to keep it reasonably clean. If you can't get a tank of that size for them you really should look at getting rid of them and keeping smaller fish.

 

[Flaringshutter]

hey - unfortunately we don't have a coldwater newbie section. so guys, lets try to be a little nicer to those new to goldfish.

faraz - as already stated, your tank is too small for those fish. the water is likely cloudy because goldfish produce lots of waste and need a very powerful filter.
you probably have the hang-on-back (HOB) type of filter, since those usually come with tanks in kits. these types of filters make it difficult to keep the colony of bacteria that lives in filter media alive. those bacteria keep your tank "cycled" and will process ammonia and nitrite, the toxic chemicals that build up in a tank between water changes. also, HOB filters are not very efficient at removing goldfish poo and leftover food.
so basically, the tank is too small and the filter is probably underpowered, leading to a buildup of poo and leftover food, which rots and makes the water cloudy.

to solve the problem, you need to first find out what kind of filter you have so we can fix the filter issue and second start looking for a larger tank, or new homes for some of the fish.