Underwater City
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2011
- Messages
- 12
Ok, on September 09, 2011, I got a 40 gallon tank and then bought a whole bunch of "trimmings".
Brought it home, rinsed the tank, rinsed the gravel, (yes, really well), put the gravel in the tank, put the heater in, put the thermometer in, put the rinsed decorations in, put in some of the plants, (five to start), put in the air stone, hung the filter, (Aqua Clear 200), and started it up.
Obviously the water was nice and clear for about two weeks.
On week two, the water clouded up. Great! I'm going through the cycling! Fabulous!
Waited.
Eventually added in a piece of driftwood and some more plants.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited.
Turned off the air stone for a few weeks. Water got even worse cloudy.
Towards the beginning or middle of November, turned the air stone back on. Water cleared up a lot.
In the meantime, I ran tests. I ran tests at all different times of the day, different days of the week, just random test running.
I then started adding fish. Had a bit of a fiasco in the beginning, me being stupid, but have calmed down and the fish are surviving.
I have three panda platys, 4 danios and a pleco. I also have a snail that hitched a ride on one of the plants.
It is now November 25th. That is 11 weeks of having this tank up. While turning the airstone back on about 3-4 weeks ago did clear up the water quite a bit, since week 2, I have never again seen crystal clear water.
What is going on? I'm 11 weeks in and I still do not have crystal clear water, the cloudiness has never fully disappeared.
I do not overfeed the fish. I turn the lights off at 8 hours or sometimes if I'm working longer, no more than 12 hours. (I have to have some light, I have about 10 plants now.)
My test readings always come out the same:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5ppm
PH: 7.4-7.6 (hard to tell with the different shades of blue)
Temp: 74-76 F
Again, fish are doing well, the plants are THRIVING but the water is still cloudy. It's not horribly cloudy like it was but it is still a little cloudy.
I do water changes every single week, 25%. I thought it might be my water so I started using reserve water from a fish store. Nope, even though readings are the same, (even the PH, unbelievably), the water is still a little cloudy.
When the heck am I ever going to have crystal clear water?
I keep being told it's a bacterial bloom. Well? For 9 weeks I have a bacterial bloom? If all tests come back as they should...what is going on?
Would one of those UV light things work? Those small ones you put in the tank to "kill" bacteria?
I keep reading other people getting cloudy water and then it clearing up in a few days. Mine has been cloudy for 9 weeks. This is frustrating.
Brought it home, rinsed the tank, rinsed the gravel, (yes, really well), put the gravel in the tank, put the heater in, put the thermometer in, put the rinsed decorations in, put in some of the plants, (five to start), put in the air stone, hung the filter, (Aqua Clear 200), and started it up.
Obviously the water was nice and clear for about two weeks.
On week two, the water clouded up. Great! I'm going through the cycling! Fabulous!
Waited.
Eventually added in a piece of driftwood and some more plants.
Waited.
Waited.
Waited.
Turned off the air stone for a few weeks. Water got even worse cloudy.
Towards the beginning or middle of November, turned the air stone back on. Water cleared up a lot.
In the meantime, I ran tests. I ran tests at all different times of the day, different days of the week, just random test running.
I then started adding fish. Had a bit of a fiasco in the beginning, me being stupid, but have calmed down and the fish are surviving.
I have three panda platys, 4 danios and a pleco. I also have a snail that hitched a ride on one of the plants.
It is now November 25th. That is 11 weeks of having this tank up. While turning the airstone back on about 3-4 weeks ago did clear up the water quite a bit, since week 2, I have never again seen crystal clear water.
What is going on? I'm 11 weeks in and I still do not have crystal clear water, the cloudiness has never fully disappeared.
I do not overfeed the fish. I turn the lights off at 8 hours or sometimes if I'm working longer, no more than 12 hours. (I have to have some light, I have about 10 plants now.)
My test readings always come out the same:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5ppm
PH: 7.4-7.6 (hard to tell with the different shades of blue)
Temp: 74-76 F
Again, fish are doing well, the plants are THRIVING but the water is still cloudy. It's not horribly cloudy like it was but it is still a little cloudy.
I do water changes every single week, 25%. I thought it might be my water so I started using reserve water from a fish store. Nope, even though readings are the same, (even the PH, unbelievably), the water is still a little cloudy.
When the heck am I ever going to have crystal clear water?
I keep being told it's a bacterial bloom. Well? For 9 weeks I have a bacterial bloom? If all tests come back as they should...what is going on?
Would one of those UV light things work? Those small ones you put in the tank to "kill" bacteria?
I keep reading other people getting cloudy water and then it clearing up in a few days. Mine has been cloudy for 9 weeks. This is frustrating.