Freshwater tank kind of cloudy white

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Markeydsl

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Dec 15, 2018
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Thank you, I guess I should post a picture so you can see what I see. that would probably help. I will take one tonight with the lights off in the room so that it will be easier to see the tank instead of the it's surroundings.

I'm asking questions to try to help you. You can have 40yrs of "experience" and still be doing things improperly.

If you rinsed the entire contents of your tank in chlorinated tap water, you wiped out most, if not all your beneficial bacteria. This will cause water parameter issues and can cause cloudiness. Doesn't matter if you've been doing it this way for 15yrs. It's how this works. Could you have gotten by without issues? Absolutely. But it's unlikely.

You could also have an algae or diatom bloom going on. One female guppy having a batch of fry in a 50g tank almost certainly did not cause this.

I wish you luck.
 

Markeydsl

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Dec 15, 2018
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No I am not on well water, and I normally take that into consideration by placing the water first in several 5 gallon containers and allow it to set for a couple of days. allowing the chlorine to dissipate in to the room. However I did not use such precautions when I rinsed the contents of the Tank. I just rinsed them and then allowed them to dry overnight before placing them back into the tank. I did however keep 10 gallons of water from the tank and put that back in with fresh water as mentioned above, hoping to jump start the eco system. I also did not place the fish back in the tank till I saw some algae growth. I probably did kill most of the eco system. Do you think that I could help bring it back by placing some water from my other tank, or maybe some of the gravel? it is only a 25 gallon. Just a thought. I will get a picture posted, maybe seeing it will assist.

Unless you are on a well, you likely rinsed with chlorinated water (or such) meaning that it is treated chemically to kill off any bacteria that may reside there.

certain bacteria are beneficial to the aquarium to handle the nitrogen cycle and such.

the symptom sounds like a bacterial bloom in the water, my suggestion would be to get a second opinion on your water test, and see what the readings are at a pet store or similar. Just because a test kit is new,it does not guarantee accuracy, either because of the reagents used, nor for potential operator error.
 

Markeydsl

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here are some pics of the tank, the one that appears very cloudy (image number 657 at the very bottom of the pics) and it appears you cannot see though it is from the end of the tank, the others are from the front. It almost looks like there is condensation on the tank but it is acctually the water inside.51.jpg 431.jpg 549.jpg 563.jpg 657.jpg
 

dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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No I am not on well water, and I normally take that into consideration by placing the water first in several 5 gallon containers and allow it to set for a couple of days. allowing the chlorine to dissipate in to the room. However I did not use such precautions when I rinsed the contents of the Tank. I just rinsed them and then allowed them to dry overnight before placing them back into the tank. I did however keep 10 gallons of water from the tank and put that back in with fresh water as mentioned above, hoping to jump start the eco system. I also did not place the fish back in the tank till I saw some algae growth. I probably did kill most of the eco system. Do you think that I could help bring it back by placing some water from my other tank, or maybe some of the gravel? it is only a 25 gallon. Just a thought. I will get a picture posted, maybe seeing it will assist.
Generally speaking, at least in times other than this, a very small percentage of your beneficial bacteria colony live in your water, if any at all.

The only real reason to save old aquarium water would be to avoid too much shock (osmotic for example) when moving to a new water source. There is negligible at best benefit from a cying perspective.

Aging water to remove chlorine is great, until chloramine is used, either permanently or temporarily to 'flush the system'. It may better serve you to try using a water conditioner that will handle both chloramine and chlorine.. or if you do not want to add chemicals to the aquarium maybe use reverse osmosis water that you have remineralized appropriately.

Yes, likely using all the filter media from your other tank will help kickstart the cycle, if that is what is happening. Testing you water reliably with a good quality liquid test kit is the best way to know.. frequent and large water changes until you are sure is the best way to protect your fish.
 

Markeydsl

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Dec 15, 2018
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I really was not aware of the chloramine issue. Now that I read on it, I may fell better letting that water sit out for a week or spend my day bringing it to a simmer so remove it quickly. interesting. This is something new that Denver is using. It probably did not have much of an effect on my establish tank, since I do small but frequent water changes. but this makes sense to me. I think I will start using the water from another source. potentially my Pond, this water is very well established. do you have any suggestions for water conditioners type or products?

Generally speaking, at least in times other than this, a very small percentage of your beneficial bacteria colony live in your water, if any at all.

The only real reason to save old aquarium water would be to avoid too much shock (osmotic for example) when moving to a new water source. There is negligible at best benefit from a cying perspective.

Aging water to remove chlorine is great, until chloramine is used, either permanently or temporarily to 'flush the system'. It may better serve you to try using a water conditioner that will handle both chloramine and chlorine.. or if you do not want to add chemicals to the aquarium maybe use reverse osmosis water that you have remineralized appropriately.

Yes, likely using all the filter media from your other tank will help kickstart the cycle, if that is what is happening. Testing you water reliably with a good quality liquid test kit is the best way to know.. frequent and large water changes until you are sure is the best way to protect your fish.
 

dougall

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Mar 29, 2005
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Chloramine will not 'gas off' boiling, sitting or whatever will not help remove it.

doing something like collecting rain water, or using pond water (if not filled from the tap) will work, just be aware of differences in water chemistry, and take your time switching over vs. all at once.

Personally I generally use Prime, Safe or Ultimate and water right from the tap (assuming heated to a decent temperature) as a water conditioner.
 

FreshyFresh

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I would not use pond water for your aquarium. There's chances of introducing something into the tank that these fish have not been in contact with, nor are equipped to deal with.

Like said, seachem prime, or the granular form safe are an excellent dechlor/water treatment. Initial cost is higher, but compared to others, they treat more gallons per bottle.
 

Markeydsl

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Oh boy, So the tank was getting fairly clear, I was looking at it this morning, then.... I walked by about 10 minutes ago and it was as cloudy as could be, like rolling clouds, it was so bad I could not see from front to back, now 10 minutes later it is clearing a little and I see there are a ton of new fry, I mean a hundred or more very very small, but my guppy was not enlarged, no sign of being ready to birth. but, one of the platy are hiding at the bottom of the tank and I think she is having babies. What do I do with this?....
 

wickette

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I dont know if your issue has anything to do with these but two reasons that water can become white and cloudy is micro bubbles from your filter, if the filter is splashing into the tank water, or if your intake lets less water though than the pump pushes out (like if the intake is a little clogged, or in the case of a canister filter if the intake tube is much longer than the out put...

Another cause is bacterial bloom, youll see this happen often in a new aquarium with nothing in there except dechlorinated water. No ammonia/nitrite/nitrate to cause algae to grow, so onr of thousands of kinds of tiny, weak bacteria that would die in chlorinated water or be out competed by most other kinda of bacteria are in a perfect environment to grow like crazy. In the right conditions this may happen after each water change and go away in 2-3 days as ong as you have an air stone or other method to have surface agitation/water movement.

But there are thousands of species, have yourecently added any rock/stone/wood decoration to the tank, something in those maybe tweeking the water parameters just enough to let these bacteria grow? If your confident your tank is cycled, and you have filter floss and (new) carbon in your filter but they arent doing the trick. Tetra/API/Seachem etc see products that specifically clear up the water. Its not good to have white cloudy water from bacterial bloom. But its also usually not harmful as long as your water parameters are ok, and fish arent getting sick. If you feel like shelling out $35, any UV sterilizer will be strong enough to get rid of it. Better UV sterilizers will kill water born parasites, Viruses, harmful bacteria. But all of them will get rid green water from algae bloom or cloudy water from bacterial bloom.
 

FreshyFresh

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The water parameters could be anywhere at this point. This tank only has an UGF system for filtration. The tank and entire contents was broken down and cleaned recently, as was the substrate. It's starting from scratch IMO.
 
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