Cloudy Water

[Dominick]

Ok need some help here this is my first 80 Gal tank i had a 55 about 2 years ago but when i moved had to leave it behind with my wifes father. And he now uses it for a oscar. Anyways this tank has been up for about 2 - 2 1/2 weeks
I have clean black moon sand in the bottom and 2 large filters.
When i first set it up obviously the water got cloudy then shortly cleared up
crystal clear But some time today i bumped on of the filters and it filled
the tank wit this white stuff it kinda looks like i took a 1/4 glass of milk and filled it the rest of the way with water anyone have a clue what this might be and how i can get ride of it with out to much water changing?

--Dom

 

[Lonewolfblue]

What filters are they? Can you turn the one off and check the inside to see if there's any build-up that shouldn't be there? Might need to clean out that one filter.

As for the tank, it should clear up on it's own. Another thing that may help is to add activated carbon to your filters til everything clears up, then remove the carbon. That is probably the easiest way. Also might want to add some filter floss as well, to help with the polishing of the water. Other than that, I think it will be ok. Let us know how the filters are looking internally if you can, and what type of filters they are.

 

[Dominick]

one is a penguin bio-wheel 350 and the other is an aquaclear 110
its the aquaclear that let out all its load lol so i took it apart cleaned up everything and am now having it filter the tank and yes it has carbon in it
the other one needs new filters when the tank clears up how can i shut the pump off so it dosent syphon back into the tank so i can remove all thats been filtered?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

You shouldn't have to worry about back-siphon from the Penguin. It's a very good filter.

 

[Dominick]

yeah but what about the aquaclear 110 lol thats where all of this white stuff came from and where was ALOT

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I wouldn't worry about it. If you cleaned it out, it shouldn't repeat itself. Not sure what it could have been, but maybe someone else will have a better idea of what it was.

 

[Dominick]

kool kool thanks think i will clean the filters again after the water
clears



--Dom

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Since it's only been 2 1/2 weeks, are you cycling the tank with fish or doing a fishless cycle? For the biowheel, leave the biowheel alone. Don't clean it off. But you can rinse out the pads in tank water in a bucket, and rinse the filter case itself under the sink. Just keep the biowheel moist at all times, or the bacteria will start dying off.

 

[Dominick]

Was going to go with the fishless way but what "other than shrimp"
can i use?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

You can dose straight ammonia. Just make sure when you look for it, to get ammonia with no detergents or perfumes. I got mine at Safeway here. It's the Pacific Brand, and has a red, white, and yellow label. Says on the bottle No Detergents. You just dose a small bit at a time, let sit for 15-20 minutes, and test. Get the ammonia level up to 3-5ppm. Then once you see the ammonia drop and nitrites start to rise, then only dose up to 1-2ppm when the ammonia reaches 0ppm. Keep dosing the 1-2ppm until both ammonia and nitrites drop to 0ppm in less than 24 hours, which at that time you are cycled, and should dose 1-2ppm daily until you are ready to add fish. Stop the dosing the day before you get the fish, and make sure everything is 0ppm when you get the fish.

You should read through the Stickies in the forum on Cycling. there's a ton of excellent information in the Stickies.

 

[dont155]

yeah but what about the aquaclear 110 lol thats where all of this white stuff came from and where was ALOT

I'm jumping in here late, but about that AquaClear filter. If you put in the bio-boosting media cartridge in without rinsing it first, then thats most likely what all that white stuff was.: Dust from the bio-booster media. That stuff is very fine and will take quite a while to clear fully, but generally shouldn't hurt anything. Water changes would be the best bet to get the water to clear up faster.

 

[Dominick]

Only thing that sucks is i havent put the bio-boosting media in yet
i just now started the cycle today