Auuuugh! Overdid it! Clouded water!

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Christmasfish

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Jan 11, 2004
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The South-SOoTHWEsT that is
Yesterday I was cleaning and moving things around in the 18 gallon to make it easier for my knife fish to move about and eat. While getting the excess gravel(large gravel) out I hit a deep spot and threw brown algae aaalll over the tank! Auugh! For now I put one of the extra corner type filter on the tank (it is UGF). Is there anything else I can do? The clarity had just started improving with the addition of the big snails and the loaches. The bamboo will finish some of it off (I threw two more in)
i used rinsed silk nylon to get a large potion of it out..but now its cloudy with ick! The water parameters are okay...it just brought the nitrAtes up by .02. They are dropping today so far. I did a quick 50% change and poured the new in carefully in with a seive. Bleh! This is like the stuff I suck up through the uptake tube of the UGF sometimes. Big dust bunnies of fluffy muck!
How long before it settles? And will the sponge filter take most of it away?
 
Ewwww, that's why I got rid of my UGF. They trap gross stuff like that, heh. When I gravel vac I push my python down to the base of the gravel and shake it a big getting all the gunk that's in between the rocks. So at this point there isn't too much yuck down in there.
 
I had an ugf for less than two weeks when I saw what had built up after such a short time, with cleaning, I got rid of it fast. That whole mess happened to me when I ripped it out. I had to drain half of the water and it still took a little while before things were as clear as I like. I had put on two small hob filters to help out. Now they are replaced with a Emperor 400. Which really has worked for me.
 
I think that a diatom filter should be included in your bag of aquarium tricks. I run mine about 1 to 2 hours per week/tank and the water looks polished.

Dust bunnies: I believe this is a natural slime produced by the fish. A sponge filter will not clean this up.
 
Watch your water parameters carefully, and test several times a day until it clears up. I started a mini-cycle this way once, with over-zealous gravel vaccing. You can also rent a diatom filter, if you don't have one, from better LFS's.
 
Hmmm, Diatom filter...~sigh~
Prolly will.
It had to be the fishy fish and not anabantids that could hack it a day or so.
I 've done 4 water changes now and put a new filter on the little filter...it filled up fast. Now it looks like water almost again. The NitrAtes are still yo-yo ing went up to 1.0 once. Now the drops are going down steady without any wavering. Bleh! The fish were a little excited but now the tetras are coming under the seive instead of panicking. I was afraid they'd stress. Nope, a single survived repeat and they are bold as brass. Cheeky devils!
During minor holidays all I have is Petsmart. Or a 20 mile trek to Petco.
 
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