Aquariums: Cloudy water problems

[Scott McD]

Trying to get my aquarium in action again, but i seem to keep on getting cloudy water after a few days. And it takes ages to go away again.

I've done everything by the book, but not sure what is causing it to happen. Unless it's the water treatment i'm using maybe?

I've had aquariums before, bigger ones that this, and can't remember such problems.

Anybody got any quick fix tips ??

[Spudstr]

Run Carbon, also try getting a bag of chemi pure or purigen run those together its like a super carbon.

I used them on my small saltwater tank and it made t hem crystal clear.

[marlboroack]

What kind of fish do you have in the tank?
I'm an animal specialist and zoo co owner.

Hit me up

[Spudstr]

water treatment stuff is crap, spend the money on a RO/DI system.

[FlowerKid]

Is the aquarium away from direct sunlight?

[Scott McD]

Originally Posted by marlboroack

What kind of fish do you have in the tank?

There's no fish in the tank yet. I'm only preparing it just now.

Originally Posted by FlowerKid

Is the aquarium away from direct sunlight?

Yes it is.

[Scott McD]

Originally Posted by Spudstr

Run Carbon, also try getting a bag of chemi pure or purigen run those together its like a super carbon.

I used them on my small saltwater tank and it made t hem crystal clear.

Hmmm, will see what i can find...

[2012]

try a new filter

[chaze]

It's all about the filter, you can have the best one but if it's not circulating and the carbon is not active you will get cloudy water. I would try to play with that a little, try to soak it in vinegar to clean out the hard water that might slow it down.

[x-rate]

put some pool chlorine

[EddyTheDog]

Put some water from the tank in a test tube or something similar put it up to the light and look closely.

Can you see fine particles in the water or is 'milky'?

[EddyTheDog]

Double post...

[Red Ezra]

the bacteria are blooming - it takes a few days sometimes

[Ayla_SquareTurtle]

When you say "And it takes ages to go away again. " does that mean that you are draining and refilling the tank each time hoping to get better results? Cause that's the opposite of what you should be doing.

Learn what "cycling" means and how it works and you'll have a much easier time of things. There are multiple ways to cycle a tank. Used (aka dirty) filter media from another healthy tank is my method of choice.

[nickutis]

Give it some time to build bacteria colony and your tank will be crystal clear in a week or so

[PornoMonster]

Yes, people usually buy VERY Cheap Fish Like guppies if it is a fresh water tank and let them die to start the bacteria. No sense in putting expensive fish in, and having the tank cycle.

Also,
make sure the PH is correct. I can not remember if that affects the carbon or not... Been to long.

Leave it ALONE for a Few days....

[facialfreak]

Originally Posted by nickutis

Give it some time to build bacteria colony and your tank will be crystal clear in a week or so

What he said ^^^

I have had aquariums from 10 gallon to 300 gallon for most of my adult life ...

NEVER change all the filter mediums at the same time ...

The same way you need yogurt to make yogurt, or you need sour dough bread to make sour dough bread .... you need aquarium bacteria present to keep it clear ...

GO to a high end aquarium store and you can get bottled "good bacterias" that you can add to the "new" water - it will tell you how much per 10 gallons on the bottle.

Be patient and get the water properly cycled before you attempt to put any fish in ...

[Ayla_SquareTurtle]

There's no reason to kill guppies when using someone else's gunky filter media works better and faster.

[NiXXiN]

https://youtube.com/watch?v=GYcOjfR0fZU

[CurrentlySober]

I'd do a poo in it... Cloudy water would then no longer be a problem...

However, as usual... YMMV...

[Dirty F]

Originally Posted by Scott McD

Trying to get my aquarium in action again, but i seem to keep on getting cloudy water after a few days. And it takes ages to go away again.

I've done everything by the book, but not sure what is causing it to happen. Unless it's the water treatment i'm using maybe?

I've had aquariums before, bigger ones that this, and can't remember such problems.

Anybody got any quick fix tips ??

Can't see shit captain.

[CurrentlySober]

Originally Posted by CurrentlySober

I'd do a poo in it... Cloudy water would then no longer be a problem...

However, as usual... YMMV...

Originally Posted by Dirty F

Can't see shit captain.

Cause he HASNT shit in yet... Please... Try and keep up ?

[Scott McD]

Originally Posted by Ayla_SquareTurtle

When you say "And it takes ages to go away again. " does that mean that you are draining and refilling the tank each time hoping to get better results? Cause that's the opposite of what you should be doing.

Learn what "cycling" means and how it works and you'll have a much easier time of things. There are multiple ways to cycle a tank. Used (aka dirty) filter media from another healthy tank is my method of choice.

No i'm not refilling the tank each time. When I set the aquarium up the first time, the water was cloudy for a good 10 days or so, then our house got flooded so we had to abandon that before we even got a chance to put fish in, since we had to move out.

It's only because I have had to start out from scratch again that I know it took a while to clear last time...

[borked]

Originally Posted by Red Ezra

the bacteria are blooming - it takes a few days sometimes

^^^ this
don't try to get it clean. It will clear itself once the bacteria colonise the filter. It takes a good 30 days to stabilise, which you can speed up by adding live bacteria, but the cloudy water should disappear in 5-7 days.

[ajrocks]

try a UV light. It might not clear it up at this point but it will help prevent it in the future.

[geedub]

3 stage canister filter, purigen and carbon.. purigen is like the key to everything.

[alias]

You have greenwater.

Massive water changes will help the most at first, as mentioned purigen and uv can hold it back too.

Purigen will actually absorb the unicellular algae that is causing the greenwater, but it will need to be recharged or replaced or the algae will return.

Try a multi pronged approach with purigen & water changes. Change 50% to 80% if you have established biological filtration [do not change filter and water together]. Then throw in some purigen.

Change 50% weekly with the purigen and see how it goes.

[L-Pink]

You're not squatting over the tank and dangling your balls in the water for the fish to nibble on are you? Because that will fuck the water up, trust me.

.

[Scott McD]

Some excellent advice on GFY !

The water isn't actually too bad at all today. Gonna give it another few days and judge if it's ready then to add some fishes.

It is only a small tank, and i'm gonna stick to just some nice guppies etc to start out with and see how i go from there.


I did own a huge aquarium years ago, and it was fine for many years. Although we did perhaps mix too many fish haha. They would all act like they got along, then when the light went off at night, Bedlam !!

[Scott McD]

Originally Posted by L-Pink

You're not squatting over the tank and dangling your balls in the water for the fish to nibble on are you? Because that will fuck the water up, trust me.

.

I did that to test the water temperature.

[francescobj]

i think it's too hot

[borked]

Originally Posted by Scott McD

Some excellent advice on GFY !

The water isn't actually too bad at all today. Gonna give it another few days and judge if it's ready then to add some fishes.

One fish, many fish

Originally Posted by Scott McD

I did own a huge aquarium years ago, and it was fine for many years. Although we did perhaps mix too many fish haha. They would all act like they got along, then when the light went off at night, Bedlam !!

haha, yeah I did that too - had a lovely Betta that really was the chief of the tank. Then introduced a dwarf gurami and man fucking all hell broke loose at night - it was then I saw the black gills of death from the betta.
You know jurassic park where those little bastard dinosaur things attack the fat guy who got stuck in the mud and lost his glasses trying to get the embryos out of the park - they showed their gill things before attacking him.... the Betta was exactly the same, except his 'cape' he drew around his head was jet black. Shit I was on the outside of the aquarium and scare as shit!!

Needless to say, I sent the betta to a better home and kept the gurami/colissa. Shit is much more peaceful these days and the gurami is now the head honcho of the tank.

[Choopa Phil]

Can you bring your tank water to your local fish/aquarium place? They would most likely be your best bet for help

[borked]

voila the Betta - looks such a harmless thing, but he was a real bastard bully. He's gone to some other home now!

(watermark still present to annoy Franck)

[borked]

Originally Posted by Scott McD

It is only a small tank, and i'm gonna stick to just some nice guppies etc to start out with and see how i go from there.

On our fourth generation of inbred guppies and cool offspring!
Finally got from the current lot 1 guppy out of 6 babies (or whatever baby fish are called) that survived the phenotype the kids were looking for - fluo-blue body with fire orange tail. Took four generations to get that crossing male fire orange tail guppies with a dull blue female (the males of hte blue were fluo). Took the males from that that were either fluo body and crappy yello tale or vivid fire orange tale and crappy blue body and crossed them with their father "fire tale". This gave females that the majority were fire tales and a dull blue body that we then crossed with and old male fluo blue body and 1 out of 6 guppies now has a fluo blue body with a fire tail.

Kids are stoked as it was their first lesson into dominant/recessive genetic alleles, shit genetics really.

My first home experiment too!

Pictures to come of that guppy once he gets out of the creche.

[EddyTheDog]

I used to have an aquarium shop in New Zealand - I had loads of Bettas - This is similar to my favorite, I was offered lots of money for him but wouldn't sell - In fact I used to hate selling any of my fish, I had to sell the shop in the end before I went bankrupt - lol

[Scott McD]

I remember our local pet shop used to have seahorses.

Incredible things to watch. Almost impossible to keep though...

[Ayla_SquareTurtle]

Suit yourself, but your fish will be healthier and the water will clear up faster if you introduce some used filter media. You need to establish a bacteria colony before adding the fish, otherwise ammonia will build up in the tank and probably kill the fish before it cycles.

[johnny o]

get biologically active water from a reputable pet shop or other source. it will save you weeks of work