Have I made a mistake

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Ollymoran

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 19, 2013
Messages
108
Hi,

I have a 100L Tank and have some tropicals in it, few guppies, mollies and a few dollar fish. I have just changed my filters over from the usual tank ones to a filter I bought as I thought this might better clear the debris off my gravel better. Before I changed and did water changes my water used to go back to crystal clear all the time within 12 hours ( with a bit of help from treatment ) but now my water is still cloudy after nearly 24 hours. I have also installed a new bubble strip with lighting but looks awful with cloudy water.

Have I made a mistake?
 
Did you replace the filter media too? If you have all new, clean filter media in your filter, then your tank may no longer be cycled.
Do a water test to see what the ammonia and nitrite levels are. If they are above 0, do a water change to bring them down and then you may need to proceed as with a "fish in" cycle.
 
Yes I had to have all new media as my old media would not fit into the new filter. Will do a water change then check nitrates


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You probably won't see many nitrates. Since you changed your filter and filter material, you lost a very large portion of your bacteria which breaks down fish waste.

You need to keep an eye on your ammonia levels. When they start to get to about .5 ppm, you'll need to do a water change. You'll probably need to do this every couple days. Articles on fish-in cycling will help you even more.

Good luck!


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I a word, yes, you made a mistake. You should never remove/replace ALL your filter media at one time.
on top of what others have said concerning the bacteria, the filter sponge/floss takes a few days before it can trap fine particles, that is why yourtank is cloudy, but you need to be more concerned about water quality right now more than clarity.
 
Hi again, have done a 50% water change and done tests on it. Here are my results.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1410942741.419804.jpg

I am prepared to do as many water changes as it takes to get my water back to crystal clear.

This is my tank.

ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1410942856.763256.jpg


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I'm not familiar with the API tests (I use another brand) what are the numbers for those? Looks like low nitrates, at a guess?
 
Nitrite 0

Ph 7.6

Nitrate 5

Ammonia 0

I'm useless at reading these but think they are right


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Nitrite 0

Ph 7.6

Nitrate 5

Ammonia 0

I'm useless at reading these but think they are right


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Those levels are great. If you continue getting readings like that, it probably means your tank had enough beneficial bacteria in the substrate and everywhere else, and that losing the filter media wasn't a big blow to the cycle.
 
When do u think my water will go back to clear? I think it has started to clear but not back to what it was. My tank was well established before I changed filters. About a year and a half. I completely forgot about the media and would not of been able to fit it in this filter anyway


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