Cloudy water?

[Reese]

Thanks to my overcleaning my filters, I've started a mini cycle in my 30 gallon tank. (See my earlier thread on this fiasco). My ammonia spiked only to about 1.0 and I've done some water changes to keep it in check. Two days ago my nitrites jumped a little .25. Now this morning the water looks pretty cloudy. Is this a bactieria bloom that I'm seeing? And if so, should I resist doing another water change right now?

I have three fish in the tank (two false percs and a royal gramma). I understand that the cycle will catch up, but I just want to protect the livestock.

 

[Reese]

ok, so after doing some research, it turns out that it is a bacterial bloom. Now my question is, will my fish be alright riding this out without any water change? Is there anything I can do to get more oxygen in the water or is this not much of a concern?

 

[malkore]

You need to keep ammonia under .5ppm to avoid permanently damaging your fish's gills.

I don't see a link to your earlier thread on this fiasco - but to me it sounds like the tank wasn't properly cycled to begin with.

 

[Reese]

You need to keep ammonia under .5ppm to avoid permanently damaging your fish's gills.

I don't see a link to your earlier thread on this fiasco - but to me it sounds like the tank wasn't properly cycled to begin with.

Thanks. The tank was properly cycled. The problem was that I overcleaned all of my filters at the same time (dumb) and caused a mini cycle. I want to change the water to get the ammonia down. My question is, will this mess up the repopulation of beneficial bacteria? BTW I have also used ammo lock...

 

[Phyl]

I'd change the water rather than use the ammo lock. That will probably inhibit the cycle from completing more so than the water changes. Good luck getting things back under control.

 

[Reese]

thanks Phyl

 

[gooyferret]

How many water changes have you done and over how much time? Are you adding any supplements to your water? What do you mean the water is cloudy.....that dont sound like a bacterial bloom.. From what i have heard bacteria will actually deplete your nitrites....Something dont make sense. Are you adding calcium to the system?

 

[Reese]

How many water changes have you done and over how much time? Are you adding any supplements to your water? What do you mean the water is cloudy.....that dont sound like a bacterial bloom.. From what i have heard bacteria will actually deplete your nitrites....Something dont make sense. Are you adding calcium to the system?

Since the problem occured I've done two water changes (20% +) over the past week. What do you mean by supplements?

The water is hazy, uncolored, cloudy white if anything and it has already pretty much subsided (within 36 hrs.)

I'm not adding calcium.

thanks.

 

[schoeplein]

...a dead spot will allow everything to settle to the bottom of the tank.

 

[Phyl]

I had the cloudy water when my tank cycled also. That's a normal part of a cycle. Especially that it subsided so quickly.

 

[Reese]

How long does it take to get through a mini cycle? This is getting annoying. I'm doing water changes to keep the ammonia level down but the ammonia has yet to drop. I'm seeing some jump in my nitrites but not much. This kind of sucks...

 

[Phyl]

Wow. You must have kicked off one heck of a cycle! I'm surprised that it is still hanging on. Are you sure that something isn't feeding the cycle? Your bio filter should have picked back up by now, especially if you have any amount of LR in the tank.

What's in the tank? What size tank? How often are you feeding? Has anything died recently? Any new additions? How much LR?

 

[Reese]

Wow. You must have kicked off one heck of a cycle! I'm surprised that it is still hanging on. Are you sure that something isn't feeding the cycle? Your bio filter should have picked back up by now, especially if you have any amount of LR in the tank.

What's in the tank? What size tank? How often are you feeding? Has anything died recently? Any new additions? How much LR?

It's a 29 gallon tank with a good size wet/dry (rated for up to 75 gallons). All that's in the tank is a few hermit crabs, a snail or two, two false percs and a royal gramma. There's probably 20-30 lbs. of LR. I don't think anything other than a snail and a hermit crab died recently.

Also, I'm getting some green and brown algae on the rocks/glass now. Oh and I cut back on feedings. Now that the gramma is less shy I'm basically feeding them all what they'll eat. They're basically eating out of my hand.

Thanks.

 

[gooyferret]

Do you have bioballs in your wet/dry filter? That could be part of the cause....I used to have bioballs in one of my sumps and i could never get rid of the ammonia, i then took them out and it slowly went away. Overfeeding could be raising the ammonia also with then will be turned to nitrites....

 

[Reese]

Do you have bioballs in your wet/dry filter? That could be part of the cause....I used to have bioballs in one of my sumps and i could never get rid of the ammonia, i then took them out and it slowly went away. Overfeeding could be raising the ammonia also with then will be turned to nitrites....

yes, I have bioballs. Replace them with what? LR?

 

[Brenden]

I plan on replacing my bioballs with LR. Every thing I have read says it does a much better job.