Cloudy water

[Jasoncwrd2002]

So my tank has been going good for a month now. Doing weekly water changes on Mondays. Woke up today and my water is really cloudy. For past day or two one of my damsels has stayed black but the other one is white. Figure later on I'm gonna take a sample of water to petco to get tested since I don't really trust my testing strips. But any ideas,

 

[Dimdim]

Running carbon?

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

Yep. Did a filter change last week

 

[Dimdim]

How often are you feeding?

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

Usually 3 times A day. Yesterday only twice but my wife also said when she feed them this new type of food it was alot more then usual in the cube and the 2 damsels and 2 clownfish really didn't eat it but the crab was going to town on it

 

[Liberty]

I'd cut the feeding down to every three days. Fish look hungry all the time.
Test strips are no good At All.

 

[Dimdim]

Yea your over feeding way to much. Seriously just feed once or twice a week. And do some large water changes cause its probably a bacterial bloom reacting to the uneaten food in the tank. I only spot feed everything in my tnk, that way i literally control who gets how much of what to be aatisfied and my water quality never suffers. Get some nassarius snails and add them to your CUC as well.

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

Yea I have one turbo snail, had two but crab ate one. Could my crab changing shells have been a part it also? Do I need to remove his old shell and clean it when he changes I guess would be my question.

 

[Shirtlessbill]

Respectfully I disagree about the feeding. Now it very well could be that you are putting too much food in the tank. However, to have a blanket statement that feeding three times a day is wrong is just incorrect. There are many of us who do feed that much ( I am one of them). You just have to be very aware of the amount you are putting in. I am of the belief that from a nutritional stand point feeding VERY small amounts two to three times a day will keep up a fishes metabolism (except for slow a metabolism fish like a Lionfish) A fish's stomach is often associated to be about the size of their eye. So try to keep that in mind when you are feeding.

How long are your lights on for?

 

[Jasoncwrd2002]

I feed them using the cubes. Maybe go thru one cube a day if that.

One thing I have seen at petco that I haven't invested in yet that I may do today is a hand vacuum. I have rock substrate and it was getting pretty dirty awhile back before I got my crabs and snails. IMO they cleaned it up. Had some Alge develop on the glass this week tho and had to clean that up. My snail hardly gets on it. What would a recommended amount of snails be for a 20 gallon?

 

[Shirtlessbill]

Kind of depends on the load your system has on it. My lfs recommended 1 snail per 2 or 3 gallons. However, I am way below that and have noticed no algae blooms. Another piece to look at is a UV filter. It is a fairly expensive component however, I associate the clarity of my water with it. I have it on a timer and run it a few hours a day.

 

[Shirtlessbill]

Sorry. I meant 1 hermit crab per 1-3 gallons and a snail for every 10. But like I said I am running a much smaller clean up crew and it seems I be fine

 

[Ingy]

Although there is much debate on feeding schedules, I think you are feeding too much. 1 cube per day for 2 damsels and 2 clowns is too much. When I had my 30 gal tank with 2 damsels, a Clarkii clown and a large BSwatchman goby, I'd only go thru about 1/3 of a cube per day that I fed them that.

 

[jeffaquarius]

New tank goes into a nitrogen cycling process for at least several months and it will always pass a stage where they become cloudy for a brief period. Some people install UV sterilizer to get rid of the diatoms and they notice it clears for a couple of days. Some change water while some just waited for several days and they have same results.