Help!! Cloudy water

[bunebop]

Ok, So i've tried everything w/ my 10 gallon. It's been set up since rougly January... moved home at the beginning of may from college... and set back up... but the water is ALWAYS cloudy. I've tried frequent water changes... doesn't work. Tried rinsing small amount of gravel every once in a while... didn't worked. Changed the filter (have a wisper 10 on it, no biowheel, dunno if that's a problem, but I leave the old filter insert thing in there for at least 48 hours to take it out so I don't kill my fish w/ bacteria or anything)... did nothing. I don't know what else to do to get rid of the cloudiness. Anyone have some suggestions? I got a gravel "vac" deal that's supposed to clean the gravel. I'm gonna try doing that later and cleaning 1/2 of the gravel since I don't want to get rid of everything in it and since I don't have a biowheel... and I got a scrubber thing for the class. I only have 5 fish in it. I think it might be a little overstocked, but most are going into my 50 gallon in a weeks time anyway. Does anyone have something I can try? thanks!!!

 

[LittlePuff]

I had the same problem on my 29gal. I bought a diatom filter. It's a whisper. I got it at bigalsonline for $70. You just let it run until it's clear. Mine took about 30min. I would think it would go much faster in a 10gal.
I probably wouldn't have gotten it if I only had one tank though. Good Luck

Kim

 

[bunebop]

Thanks. That's a little more than I want to spend at the moment on this tank. I actually have 3, so it would probalby not be a bad investment, but I don't have that much right now.

 

[dsmalls]

I'm battling the cloudy water issue in my 10Gal as well.

I've got a Whisper diatomagic filter on the way from Big Al's in the next couple of days so we'll see how that goes. It was around 70$ and I can always use it in my 20G as well in case of emergency.

 

[tmurphy171]

So you moved in the beginning of May? Is it possible the bio filter is dead? Have you tested the water?

have a wisper 10 on it, no biowheel, dunno if that's a problem, but I leave the old filter insert thing in there for at least 48 hours to take it out so I don't kill my fish

I'm not sure I understand this. Your using an old filter insert from the old setup before you moved?

Was the water cloudy at school?

rinsing small amount of gravel every once in a while

Is the gravel new? Or is it the old gravel from the school setup?

 

[MANSTER]

If your water is a little hard it will sometimes do this. Adding an aquarium salt pillow to your filter chamber for 48 hrs. once a week may help.

 

[bunebop]

So you moved in the beginning of May? Is it possible the bio filter is dead? Have you tested the water?

have a wisper 10 on it, no biowheel, dunno if that's a problem, but I leave the old filter insert thing in there for at least 48 hours to take it out so I don't kill my fish

I'm not sure I understand this. Your using an old filter insert from the old setup before you moved?

Was the water cloudy at school?

rinsing small amount of gravel every once in a while

Is the gravel new? Or is it the old gravel from the school setup?

Yes I moved in the beginning of May. I do not think the biofilter is dead as there is no biofilter on this filter (i don't think) I put in a new filter insert when I got home, but left the old one in the bottom of the tank to make sure all of the bacteria on there does not leave. Like I said, it does not have a biowheel or anything, so there's no way for the bacteria to grow... and in the past when I simply changed the filter w/o leaving the old one float for a couple of days I had massive fish dieoffs. Yes the water was cloudy at school, but not to this extent. And no, the gravel is not new. It is the gravel from the old school set up. Everything in it is exactly the same as I had at school, so the gravel and everything have been up since about January.

 

[bunebop]

If your water is a little hard it will sometimes do this. Adding an aquarium salt pillow to your filter chamber for 48 hrs. once a week may help.

I also have incredibly soft water. I've checked that before. So hard water is not the problem. I have well water w/ a really good softener on it, and I've had it checked out at the lfs and even they were surprised how soft the water was.

Where do you live in MI? If you don't mind me asking.