Faulty_Ground
Aquarium Advice Newbie
Hey all, first post greetings, Howdy from Texas and all that.
I'm a bit concerned as well as frustrated with my tank right now.
It's a pretty basic 10 gal. Just the Aquatec starter kit from PetCo, a few fake plants and two bags of gravel. I have a 420 Coral fluorescent bulb in it.
The current tenants in the tank are 3 Glo-Fish, 4 tetras and a plecostumus.
I've had this tank running for about a year now, and everything was going great until about.... October. It had... 9 Glo-Fish, a couple Albino catfish on the bottom, and a (different) Pleco when I started. They were all healthy and happy until one day I noticed the tank starting to cloud a bit. I decided to check in with the local PetCo noob, as she had seemed pretty passionate and knowledgeable, but as it turns out, shes also wrong >.<
Anyhow, she suggested that the clouding was likely just an algae bloom of some sort, and that it should clear itself up in a week or two. Well by the end of two weeks it had gone from cloudy to downright murky, so I decided to do some google-fu. I discovered that most groups recommend changing the water to treat a bloom like that, but as I was moving in a matter of weeks, I decided to wait until then, as the fish didn't seem to be having any trouble with it. As a shot in the dark, I tried a "Jungle" brand "Water Clear" tab, but to no avail.
SO, moving day comes, everyone goes in their travel tank (5 Glo-Fish, 4 Tetras) where they would stay until the main tank had been moved and cleaned.
While I had the tank drained, I removed everything, hot-watered it, scrubbed it, soaked it overnight in about a 1/100 bleach solution (Not my idea, I was very nervous when my significant other told me she had done that) this includes the filter and heater as well. Re rinsed everything about a million times, then re-filled it and treated the water. Once I was satisfied the temperature was stable and the water treatment had settled its business with the local tap-water, I transferred everyone back home (By net, just to be sure no cloudy water made its way to the fresh tank).
AH, crystal clear water full of beautiful fish... GORGEOUS!
So, here we are, less than two weeks later, and once more I find my tank is so murky that I can't see the filter intake on the back wall. (Yeck.) I need help!
Whats going on here?
I'm a bit concerned as well as frustrated with my tank right now.
It's a pretty basic 10 gal. Just the Aquatec starter kit from PetCo, a few fake plants and two bags of gravel. I have a 420 Coral fluorescent bulb in it.
The current tenants in the tank are 3 Glo-Fish, 4 tetras and a plecostumus.
I've had this tank running for about a year now, and everything was going great until about.... October. It had... 9 Glo-Fish, a couple Albino catfish on the bottom, and a (different) Pleco when I started. They were all healthy and happy until one day I noticed the tank starting to cloud a bit. I decided to check in with the local PetCo noob, as she had seemed pretty passionate and knowledgeable, but as it turns out, shes also wrong >.<
Anyhow, she suggested that the clouding was likely just an algae bloom of some sort, and that it should clear itself up in a week or two. Well by the end of two weeks it had gone from cloudy to downright murky, so I decided to do some google-fu. I discovered that most groups recommend changing the water to treat a bloom like that, but as I was moving in a matter of weeks, I decided to wait until then, as the fish didn't seem to be having any trouble with it. As a shot in the dark, I tried a "Jungle" brand "Water Clear" tab, but to no avail.
SO, moving day comes, everyone goes in their travel tank (5 Glo-Fish, 4 Tetras) where they would stay until the main tank had been moved and cleaned.
While I had the tank drained, I removed everything, hot-watered it, scrubbed it, soaked it overnight in about a 1/100 bleach solution (Not my idea, I was very nervous when my significant other told me she had done that) this includes the filter and heater as well. Re rinsed everything about a million times, then re-filled it and treated the water. Once I was satisfied the temperature was stable and the water treatment had settled its business with the local tap-water, I transferred everyone back home (By net, just to be sure no cloudy water made its way to the fresh tank).
AH, crystal clear water full of beautiful fish... GORGEOUS!
So, here we are, less than two weeks later, and once more I find my tank is so murky that I can't see the filter intake on the back wall. (Yeck.) I need help!
Whats going on here?