Cloudy Water Has Returned - At My Wits' End...Is Purigen the Answer?

[Khalix]

A lot of them seem to be. Mine isn't threaded or I'd have one.

 

[MartinBlank]

They are pricey but in my experience effective for cloudy water:

Ever think about a UV Sterilizer?

 

[summit]

Surprised a syphon isn't working, after all it's just a plastic tube! In fact any plastic tube will do!

I'd love to have a python, but they are seemingly impossible to buy in the UK. JBL do a python rip-off but seemingly you can't buy that either! I'm not sure it would fit my tap anyway, are all taps threaded in the USA or something?

Python does make an accessory for non threaded faucets (universal adapter part 69A, it should work with the others as well.
Aquarium Accessories - Python Products
Is shipping really high to get stuff shipped over there? I ordered some stuff from the UK before and found the S/H to be not to bad so you could always try to order is from this side of the world and ship it over PM me if you would like a really cheap place to get it from.

As for the OP, yes having 125 feet of tubing running up the stairs in my house is a pain, but its only there during the water change, it gets removed and wound up on the hose real when I am done so its only out for about 25 min. I just wanted to clarify that in case you were under the impression the hose needs to stay there permanently. I am sure you will come up with something! Do you have a window close by you could at least help with the drainage of the tank to drain out the window?

It sounds like its a bacterial bloom to me, how did you cycle your tank? If its a bacterial bloom, it will clear up once your filter establishes itself, its going to take patience, your tank will look worse before it gets better.

Purigen is also a great product in my opinion to use once its established, I use purigen and filter floss for my water clarity and do water changes of 30% once per week on a heavy bioload and its always sparkling.

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I believe you, it's just that we're not prepared to run hundreds of feet of tubing down our stairs and through the house; I need to find another way.

Not to harp on you here, but which is better - hauling 5g buckets of water back and forth between the tank/toilet/drain/sink or having a hose running through the house for 30 minutes once a week? Just trying to help you to see the light on this one. The reason everyone here is saying the same thing is because they have one.

I did the hand siphon and bucket for almost 20 years. I was resistant to getting a Python or a knock-off for various reasons. I finally went ahead and got one. I will never, EVER go back. I drain into the toilet or into the yard, then go upstairs (I have a 50 footer) and connect to the sink, and fill up. I can do 50% PWC on 55g + 10g in less than 30 minutes, all inclusive.

As for Purigen solving your issue, it definitely cannot hurt for $10-12, but let's see how your water test results come back first. There may be other issues at hand.

Also, do you occasionally take your filter apart and clean the impeller assembly and all that? Flow rate drops pretty fast in my HOBs, I have to do a thorough cleaning once a month on my Tetra EX20 on my 10g planted fry grow-out tank.

 

[mellowyellow]

Well, here I go again boosting UV sterilizers but the UV is the only thing that worked for me. Sometimes when I'm doing a PWC I move things around stirring up a lot of dust or whatever. I always had cloudy water no matter what I did. Now, my water clears to crystal within an hour after the PWC. I know they're pricey but I'm hooked on them. Hope this helps.

 

[Khalix]

My only question about pythons is.. do you treat the water after it's been pumped back into your tank? I've always treated the bucket to minimize the contact with the chlorine. Just unsure of how this works with a python.

 

[mudraker]

I don't know for sure about dechlorinator, but I do know many people put it in the tank before adding the fresh water.

Keeping the water clean and frequent PWC is absolutely essential to keep goldies.

Could the food you feed the goldies be causing the clouding?

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

I do a 50% PWC and add 1/2 of a full tank dose when I start filling and the other 1/2 dose when it's 1/2 way back to full (at 75% full). You can just dose it all at once. It's really the only way to do it. That was one of my main holdups but I haven't noticed any problems whatsoever.

Your fish/bacteria won't die instantly upon contact with chlorinated water, they are fine as long as it's treated quickly.

 

[becrac16]

Just wondering, how often do you normally do water changes? Goldfish are quite messy, and you may have to sacrifice to the point of 2-3 water changes per week. I had 3 (small-obviously) koi in a 55 gal last year, and 2 water changes a week wasn't even enough to keep up with their poop load. If water changes aren't a thing that you're able to do frequently, I would suggest not keeping goldfish.

Of course, test results will tell us a lot.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Surprised a syphon isn't working, after all it's just a plastic tube! In fact any plastic tube will do!

We just can't just get it to work...

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

Maybe you should try getting a squeeze siphon starter? I had issues starting my vac, so I just got one. You squeeze it like twice and it just goes. Just an idea...

 

[Osage_Winter]

As for the OP, yes having 125 feet of tubing running up the stairs in my house is a pain, but its only there during the water change, it gets removed and wound up on the hose real when I am done so its only out for about 25 min. I just wanted to clarify that in case you were under the impression the hose needs to stay there permanently. I am sure you will come up with something! Do you have a window close by you could at least help with the drainage of the tank to drain out the window?

I realize the tubing wouldn't be left on the stairs or in the house when it's not being used; it's still something we don't want to do.

The bucket method would be fine -- IF we could get the syphon and vac to WORK. What we DON'T want to do is use a vase or jar to physically remove the water from the tank and dump it into a bucket and keep doing it like that to change the water because it takes FOREVER, is BACKBREAKING and gets water EVERYWHERE on our new carpets.

It sounds like its a bacterial bloom to me, how did you cycle your tank? If its a bacterial bloom, it will clear up once your filter establishes itself, its going to take patience, your tank will look worse before it gets better.

Oh boy...I don't even know where to start with regard to the cycle -- basically, we did a fish-in cycle without any products other than water conditioner, so it's like the tank is being cycled for the first time now with treatments of Stability. BUT, we just installed this new AquaClear last night, so I don't know how this is going to mesh with the cycle...

Purigen is also a great product in my opinion to use once its established, I use purigen and filter floss for my water clarity and do water changes of 30% once per week on a heavy bioload and its always sparkling.

Nice to know and why I want to use it.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Not to harp on you here, but which is better - hauling 5g buckets of water back and forth between the tank/toilet/drain/sink or having a hose running through the house for 30 minutes once a week? Just trying to help you to see the light on this one. The reason everyone here is saying the same thing is because they have one.

I understand. But we still don't want to do it that way -- as I said in a reply above, we WOULD do the syphon/gravel vac thing with a bucket, but we cannot make it work. What we DON'T want to do anymore is the vase/bucket thing because it is RIDICULOUSLY time consuming and BACKBREAKING.

I did the hand siphon and bucket for almost 20 years. I was resistant to getting a Python or a knock-off for various reasons. I finally went ahead and got one. I will never, EVER go back. I drain into the toilet or into the yard, then go upstairs (I have a 50 footer) and connect to the sink, and fill up. I can do 50% PWC on 55g + 10g in less than 30 minutes, all inclusive.

Interesting, but not a method I am going to trust myself with.

As for Purigen solving your issue, it definitely cannot hurt for $10-12, but let's see how your water test results come back first. There may be other issues at hand.

I need to get that API test kit...

Should I do the strip test right now just to see and report back?

Also, do you occasionally take your filter apart and clean the impeller assembly and all that? Flow rate drops pretty fast in my HOBs, I have to do a thorough cleaning once a month on my Tetra EX20 on my 10g planted fry grow-out tank.

My tank hasn't even been running that long...

 

[becrac16]

How are you having troubles with your siphon? Does it have a hole in it? Or do you have trouble getting it started?

 

[Osage_Winter]

I don't know for sure about dechlorinator, but I do know many people put it in the tank before adding the fresh water.

I always wondered about this -- is the tap water supposed to be treated BEFORE it enters the tank or can it be done once it's in the tank, so the whole tank is treated?

Keeping the water clean and frequent PWC is absolutely essential to keep goldies.

I understand; I'm TRYING to obtain very clear water but cannot (hence the reason for the thread) but the water changes are way too daunting for us, so perhaps I need to rethink keeping these types of fish...

Could the food you feed the goldies be causing the clouding?

I don't know; possibly? I use the Aqueon Goldfish flakes:

Aqueon » Products » Goldfish Flakes

 

[Osage_Winter]

Just wondering, how often do you normally do water changes?

If you've been following any of my countless frustation-riddled threads, not many at all because of our difficulties with the syphon tube/gravel vac.

Goldfish are quite messy, and you may have to sacrifice to the point of 2-3 water changes per week. I had 3 (small-obviously) koi in a 55 gal last year, and 2 water changes a week wasn't even enough to keep up with their poop load. If water changes aren't a thing that you're able to do frequently, I would suggest not keeping goldfish.

I do not think we will be able to keep up with those kinds of water changes -- so rethinking keeping these fish may be in order. I was hoping the AquaClear 110 filter ALONG WITH my Aqueon would help do the trick, but alas, the water is STILL filthy...

Of course, test results will tell us a lot.

I only have the strip type kits...

 

[Osage_Winter]

How are you having troubles with your siphon? Does it have a hole in it? Or do you have trouble getting it started?

We have this one, becrac, and we can't seem to get it started and flowing into a bucket:

Top Fin® Gravel Vacuums - Aquarium Maintenance - Fish - PetSmart

 

[becrac16]

Ah yes. I have that one too, and mine works fine.

Here are the steps I go about doing it.

1. (especially if you are doing it yourself without another person's help) get a large bucket. Mine is huge, so there's no chance the hose will flip out of the bucket. I use more of like a storage bin.

2. Fill up the siphon in the sink. Have one hand on the vac, one hand on the end of the tube. Start filling up the siphon end. If water doesn't go through into the tube, sometimes tilting it will release air bubbles and water will start to move into the tubing.

3. As the tube begins to fill up, balance the siphon end above the tube end so water reaches all the way through the tube. Once it gets to the end, put your finger over the tube to cap it. Then fill up the rest, keep in mind you may have to tilt the siphon end vertically a little bit to release oxygen and get the water into the tube.

4. You will end up with your finger on the end of the tube filled up with water, and the siphon end not all the way filled up but only leaving a little air at the top.

5. Walk the siphon over to the tank and the bucket.

6. To get the water flowing, you will need to fill up the entire siphon. This is the difficult part sometimes. I place the entire siphon in the tank (along with a bit of tube because it won't fit otherwise. Keep the siphon vertical so that water can fill up the empty space. You now have the entire siphon part and tubing full of water. This is when you can start the flow.

7. Remove your finger from the end of the tube. The flow should work, unless there was a bit of air still in the tube or siphon.

Hopefully that helps. I always fill mine up at the sink, instead of doing it that crazy way of dunking it and such. For the flow to start, the only thing that needs to happen is that the tube and siphon are full of water to begin with. The flow will stop if there is a bubble somewhere in the tubing.

It may take some time to get the filling up part down right, it took me a while but you learn real quick what kinds of angles are best for filling up problem spots. Just remember that you can fill up the rest of the tubing by raising the height of the siphon end, then water will flow to the lower end.

I hope this isn't too confusing, and that it helped a little. If your siphon has a hole in it, that's another issue though.

 

[Osage_Winter]

Thanks for the outline; let me look into it...

 

[Floyd R Turbo]

Have you tried sucking on the tube to start the siphon? That's the real sure-fire way to do it. Just gotta be quick to get it out or your mouth.

If I remember right, that siphon has a ball valve inside the blue part so you're supposed to be able to stick it underwater, lift it out, the water will stay in the large part, and you shake it up an down to get the water in the line.

Sucking always works. If it doesn't, you have a defective ball valve. Get a plain old one without the ball valve.

I guess I'm having a difficult time understanding why your vac isn't working. If there is a break in the blue plastic then it will break the siphon and you will never get it to work.