Water Polishing Question

[hbailly77]

Good morning,

My husband and I just bought a 120 gallon aquarium and filled it and started it up 4 days ago. We added what we needed to in order to make our tap water safe, etc.

We have 2 Penguin dual Bio Wheel filters running and we figured it must not be enough because our water started to get a bit cloudy yesterday morning. I took a trip down to a specialty fish store yesterday and ended up coming home with a Marineland Maxum 350 Cannister polisher/filter.

My question is, we followed the instructions to polish the water (added 3/4 cup of diatom powder) filled the cannister to the level the instructions said and turned it on. It did everything the guy at the store told me it would (blow a puff of white powder into the tank, which would last about 20 minutes). However, it's been about 15 hours now since we started it up and the water doesn't look any better than it did before we hooked it up.

I also noticed when I turned it off to make sure everything was running the way it should, that the special filter thing that is supposed to be used for the polishing function had accumulated a lot of diatom powder that fell off and to the bottom of the cannister once the machine was shut off and the water stopped moving.

Is something not working right here or do I need to give it much more time? At what point do we put the regular filter (filled with charcoal) back in?

I apologize for my lack of proper terminology, as I said, I'm new to this. Any and all information (in simpleman terms if possible please!) is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[littlecich]

The cloudiness sounds like bacteria bloom.

A couple of questions answered will help to answer your questions.

1. Did you add fish right away?

2. Do you have a test kit to check water parameters?

 

[brutus]

your 2 penguin filters should be enough for your tank if they are the 350 gph or 400 gph filters.Not sure what size you have.The magnum was sold too you so the fish store can make more money.Like littlecich asked did you add fish right away?

 

[jsoong]

Cloudiness in a new tank is likely bacterial bloom ... esp. if you did not cycle the tank before hand. It is more important to get the cycle established than clear the water. Please read up on cycling in the articles section (esp. if you already have fish) & maintain good water parameters during the process. Once the cycle is done, the water will clear on its own.

The Magnum is good for larger stuff (like algae bloom) but not really useful for bacteria. <I wouldn't bother with it during cycling.> I also just use the water polishing filter on its own (no diatom powder) & it does a good job. You need to clean out the filter once it gets clogged (maybe a couple hours if I have stirred up a lot of stuff) or it won't work at all.

 

[hbailly77]

The cloudiness sounds like bacteria bloom.

A couple of questions answered will help to answer your questions.

1. Did you add fish right away?

2. Do you have a test kit to check water parameters?

We have not added fish yet, no. We are waiting until we are 100% sure the tank is stable and ready for fish before we subject the fish to possible unhealthy waters thus causing fish to suffer and/or die.

The only thing we have to test the waters are test strips which give us readings on nitrate, nitrite, water hardness, ph and alkalinity. Is there something else we should be using?

 

[littlecich]

A new aquarium needs to be cycled before adding fish and this involves more than just letting it sit with water in it. Please take a look at this http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/fishless-cycling-for-dummies-103339.html
A liquid test kit is best. I use the API test kits. They are much more accurate than the strips.

If you can, I would take the Marineland Maxum 350 Cannister polisher/filter back to the store. You really don't need it.

 

[brutus]

nice big tank cant wait to see....read as much as you can on cycling a tank and how important it is to have a good biological filter.And how to maintain it once you have it.Lots here will help you through it.