did I clean to much?

grannylvsfish

grannylvsfish

have you been bad this year ??
Dec 6, 2006
3,124
1
0
Montana
Yesterday I took out 30% of the water from my tank, cleaned the gravel and rinsed al the filters ( all 3 of them ) in the water from the tank. this is a 55 gallon tank and has 7 fish in it.
This morning the tank is a bit cloudy, not much but I can see it.
did I do to much cleaning of the filters? what is the rule when doing filters? some one week and the others the next? maybe I am not suposed to clean all the filters in the tank all at once? that tank is now 8 months old. I have never lost fish, and my other tank is 2 years old. thanks for any advice.
 
With 3 filters I'd just clean one a week and 1 week without filter cleaning.

How did you clean them? Best way is to rinse them in old tank water. I have a dechlorinated well so I'm lucky enough to rinse from the tap.

You might want to check your parameters,ammonia and nitrite. Might have set off a minicycle.
 
I always rinse them in the tank water I took out, but your right I bet I set off a mini cycle. I have not done that before .my tanks are always so clean that I never expected to set one off. From here on out only 1 filter a week! thanks.
 
hakunamakarla said:
Yesterday I took out 30% of the water from my tank, cleaned the gravel and rinsed al the filters ( all 3 of them ) in the water from the tank. this is a 55 gallon tank and has 7 fish in it.
This morning the tank is a bit cloudy, not much but I can see it.
did I do to much cleaning of the filters? what is the rule when doing filters? some one week and the others the next? maybe I am not suposed to clean all the filters in the tank all at once? that tank is now 8 months old. I have never lost fish, and my other tank is 2 years old. thanks for any advice.
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When you say you cleaned "all 3 filters", do you mean 3 separate filters like Aqua clear filters or cannister filters etc.? or do you mean "all 3" filter pads/bags from just one filter? You having a little bit of cloudy water don't necessarily mean you are going through a mini cycle. It could be just debris or mulm that is free floating still from the gravel vacuuming. Depending on how well you cleaned the filters will determine if you will have a mini-cycle. Beneficial bacteria multiplies pretty quickly so you may not see one at all. Cleaning filter pads/media in tank water will not kill the bacteria. You will lose some depending on how well you cleaned it. Running filter media/pads under tap water (that has chlorine in it) will kill the bacteria. Testing your water is the only way to really know whether your going through a mini-cycle or not. Here's a good article on cleaning/changing filter contents.... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108685
 
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Reddog80p said:
When you say you cleaned "all 3 filters", do you mean 3 separate filters like Aqua clear filters or cannister filters etc.? or do you mean "all 3" filter pads/bags from just one filter? You having a little bit of cloudy water don't necessarily mean you are going through a mini cycle. It could be just debris or mulm that is free floating still from the gravel vacuuming. Depending on how well you cleaned the filters will determine if you will have a mini-cycle. Beneficial bacteria multiplies pretty quickly so you may not see one at all. Cleaning filter pads/media in tank water will not kill the bacteria. You will lose some depending on how well you cleaned it. Running filter media/pads under tap water (that has chlorine in it) will kill the bacteria. Testing your water is the only way to really know whether your going through a mini-cycle or not. Here's a good article on cleaning/changing filter contents.... http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=108685
Click to expand...
thank you I am off to read it now.
I meant that I swished all three filter bags in the water from the tank. ( there is a large back filter on the tank and one a bit smaller so thats the three white bags.

it looks better already, but I did do my tanks last night and noticed the one a slight cloudy, not really that noticable . but I can tell.
 
IceH2O said:
With 3 filters I'd just clean one a week and 1 week without filter cleaning.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. My fluval has two media slots, so I can rinse one side and then do the other side later.
 
I'm still not sure exactaly what the OP has for a filter or filters. If you have one HOB (hang on back filter). I would not clean the bio media (ceramic rings,bio balls, pot scrubbies whatever it may be). I would take the sponge and only swoosh it a couple times in tank water taken from a water change/gravel Vaccuming to remove bigger particles and gunk. Same with the Carbon. The carbon if not changed often (every 2 weeks)is pretty much acting as bio media anyways, and has lost its purifying properties. If the OP has mutiple HOB filters then more cleaning can be done, just alternate filter cleaning. Many ppl dont even touch the filter until filter flow is reduced, and then only do a sponge filter squeeze.
 
I've had my water turn cloudy after a 50% water change. The tank is established and the fish are healthy so it didn't hurt anything and the water was clear again the next day. I run 2 hob filters on a 55 g and I do one each time. I only take the filter off and give it a good rinse if the water isn't running properly or if the tank water has a fishy odour otherwise I just dump out the dirty water. When I clean the filter media from 1 filter I'll take the intake tube and clean that as well. I do the intake tube under tap water with an old toothbrush. If you do this pay attention to the area around the propeller as hair and gunk gets stuck there and affects the operation of the filter. On tanks with only one filter I use polyester floss (stuffing for pillows etc...) and sponge for media and will alternate rinsing the floss and sponge. I also clean the inside of the glass when I do my water changes.
 
It somewhat depends on the type of filter you run. On a bio wheel filter most of the bacteria is on the biowheel thus anything you do to the cartridges shouldnt affect anything. I personally clean all 5 filters at once on my 125 right before doing a 70% w/c with no problems. But as I said my bacteria are on the bio wheels. Rinsing them in tank water should prevent any bacteria die off though. You may have just had a bateria bloom from knocking fish poo out of the cartridges into the tanks water column when you pulled them from the filter. Otherwise try cleaning with that same method again in a couple weeks and test the ammonia the next day when its cloudy to make sure your not setting off a mini cycle.
 
I have just had a problem like that, I was going to diatom, but I might get some startup juice from my LFS, it has bacteria and all things necessary to jumpstart a tank. My tank has been up for 3 months now with the new setup.

I'll see how it goes once I get the new stuff.
 
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