Cloudiness returned

Drekkyk

Drekkyk

AC Members
Feb 3, 2006
116
0
0
Westland, MI
My water finally got crystal clear, but after my 30% WC on Sunday it has become cloudy again. The water was clear for 2 weeks and 2 other Water Changes.

The main difference is I vaccuumed the gravel this time. Did it release more ammonia?

My procedure is as follows...

Fill sink with tank water.
Rinse filter media of one of my filters in the tank water (I alternate every week)
Drain sink and vaccuum tank, continue with a 30 -50 % WC
Dechlorinate and fill.

Thanks for inputs!
 
Drekkyk said:
My water finally got crystal clear, but after my 30% WC on Sunday it has become cloudy again. The water was clear for 2 weeks and 2 other Water Changes.

The main difference is I vaccuumed the gravel this time. Did it release more ammonia?

My procedure is as follows...

Fill sink with tank water.
Rinse filter media of one of my filters in the tank water (I alternate every week)
Drain sink and vaccuum tank, continue with a 30 -50 % WC
Dechlorinate and fill.

Thanks for inputs!
Click to expand...

You fill the sink with old water to rinse your filters? That's probably not a good idea. Most dish soap has some type of anti bacterial agent in it. Also whatever you use to clean the sink with is more than likely loaded with chemicals that are harmful to your fish. By using the sink to rinse the filters your probably introduced some pretty harmful chemicals into your tank. Which could kill off some or all of your Biofilter giving you a little mini cycle. That may be what the cloudiness is. You should probably invest in a bucket that you use only for your tank.
 
Tank is still cloudy. You may be right that I'm killing off the good bacteria by using the sink, but its hard to get anything under the python. I would always rinse the sink out first. I'll see if I cant fix that, but my parameters have remained stable before and after water changes. (0 ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 10-15 ppm Nitrate)

The other day I looked at the tank from a different angle and it appeared to me to have a greenish tint. I might have an algea bloom, but in the last few weeks it hasn't gotten worse or better.

I also have an air leak in my Flulval, which I think may be preventing the bio-colony to establish. I'm using an AC110 as well which has significantly more brown coloration in the media.
 
It seems that cleaning out a filter every week is a little excessive. Even if you are using tank water, you lose some of the bacteria each time. Maybe you want to cut back on the filter cleaning a little.

Get a small (3') piece of clear tubing and siphon out some tank water into your aquarium bucket to clean your filters. Much better than using the sink.

:thm:
 
Thanks for the advice. I normally do a different filter each week since I have 2. I could probably extend that to every 2 weeks, so each filter gets rinsed once a month.

Jeremy
 
One thought...

The cloudiness came back when I upped the temp to 81F. I had the tank at 80F at one time and got cloudiness, but when I dropped it to 78F it got crystal clear. Now I dont think I can drop the temp due to the Clowns Loaches I have. Does this point more towards Algea?
 
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