Pea soup water???

[jamesH]

So about a week ago I cleaned both of my filters which I now understand is a no no!! All me fish are eating and as active as normal but my water went cloudy I've tried a water change no good. Just come home from work and my tank is like pea soup what is going on ??
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
pH 8.2

 

[carey]

What are your nitrates? You left that one out...I can't think of anything that could cause that to happen overnight like that..You havent done a pwc or anything? cause thats just odd....Wish I could be of more assistance...

 

[puffballurchin]

Do a massive water change...clean all your rocks with a power head...if you don't have a filter sock get one because blowing off your rocks will be useless if you don't have a filter sock to catch all the excess waste from the rocks...green water is usually caused by algae which explodes in high nitrate water...DO MASSIVE WATER CHANGE!!!! if you have high nitrates you will need to do a 30% every 4 to 5 days to stabilize nitrates... after you remove the water ADD ONE BUCKET every half hour because if you lower the nitrates too quickly the fish can die...

 

[jamesH]

Could this stem from cleaning both filters as I haven't had problems like this with my water before

 

[puffballurchin]

Did you put in new carbon? I would suggest checking your nitrates asap

 

[jamesH]

Yes when my water went cloudy my lfs suggested to switch my normal carbon pads for api crystal so not sure if that has anything to do with it :$ checking nitrate now I guessing it's going to be sky high then..... I've done a 25% water change and hasn't touched it

 

[jamesH]

What is the procedure for nitrate testing as I've lost my card i.e add 10 drops sake then add 10 drops from second bottle?

 

[puffballurchin]

Carbon is MUCH MUCH better at cleaning the water. I would suggest switch back to carbon. Since, you did the water change a week ago you can do another water change without any problems. Do either a 30% or even better a 3rd of the tank. Like I said if nitrates are high you have to slowly add in new water every 30mins.

 

[jamesH]

Yea u guys are spot on as usual! Nitrate is between 20 and 40 how harmful is this to my fish?

 

[puffballurchin]

Very very bad, basically nitrates is created by fish poop, don't worry fishies are tough ^^. Do a 3rd of your tank water change asap and get carbon and throwout that crystal stuff...call up any water filter company and they will tell you they use carbon to filter their water...

I know I said this already but I will say it again...YOU MUST ADD YOUR NEW SALTERWATER IN SLOWLY!!! every 30mins...i am stressing this because you must slowly lower the nitrates or else it can shock the fish

 

[jamesH]

This the stuff the said to use! Right I've got my filter apart now shall I take that out n put the pads I was using back in because I still have them?

 

[puffballurchin]

That is fine that is carbon sorry I didn't recognize the name right away I just read crystal. Don't worry API uses a carbon/chemical to clean aquarium water...sorry...Unfortunately for you that leaves the problem of where the nitrates come from...have you every used a power head to blow off fishy waste from your rocks?

 

[jamesH]

No but I don't have live rock so I could pull them out and clean them if you think that would help

 

[puffballurchin]

That will help just give them a rinse nothing special and a water change

How is your skimmer?

 

[jamesH]

My lion fish has got a lot larger lately maybe he's the cause! I have never used a skimmer. Do u think there make the weekend? Ive done a 10 pwc used my emergency salt could do another one 2mora morning if I start mixing some up now... Then Saturday I can go and get 100 litres of pre mixed salt from my lfs dose this sound ok? I like to check to make sure no school boy errors are made!

 

[puffballurchin]

the nitrates are still low so they should be ok...you need a skimmer...like you really really need a skimmer...the skimmer removes fish poop from the water...you should always get a larger skimmer than you need...i have a 200 gallon tank with a 400 gallon skimmer...never hurts to get larger for a skimmer since it removes fishy poop and all other waste from the tank...that will solve your nitrate problem

 

[David S]

go with a skimmer rated for 1 1/2 times your total volume,trates of 40 wont do no harm to a fowlr tank.but try to get them lower.Your lionfish is a messy eater so get the skimmer asap.

 

[jamesH]

Ok I'll try and get one tomorrow could you recommend a brand? Do you leave your skimmer on all day and night? Thanks for all your help I really do appreciate it!!

 

[jamesH]

go with a skimmer rated for 1 1/2 times your total volume,trates of 40 wont do no harm to a fowlr tank.but try to get them lower.Your lionfish is a messy eater so get the skimmer asap.

Where would be the best place to get one as your from Oxford goldfish bowl?

 

[hackteck]

40 nitrate isnt really harmful at all to fish but you should try to lower it ideally you want nitrates to be below 10