# just did 50 water change cloudy really cloudy



## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

so i took 50 percent the water out the tank put new water in cleaned the glass put new filters in aqua safe and salt aquarium and cloudy water and cleaned the black sponges sand is spotless on the bottom yet this dang tank will not go clear its making me really upset i cant see threw it side ways the front looks horrible when i had gravel it was beautiful but i switched to sand due to the sturgen and to make my pleco and firemouth happy and in return i got ugly looking tank :-( somebody help me plzz make it clear again i am putting a picture up with it front and side and u see for ur self and give me some solutions and iv had the sand for three weeks shouldnt be doing this maybe a month and i dont have a tester and i didnt test the water iv never used one thos in my life and all my fish are beautiful


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## cmc29 (Jan 10, 2010)

I use white marine sand in my planted aquarium, and when i do water changes i use my siphon pump to put the freshwater back into my tank, that way the sand doesn't get stirred up at all. I don't get any cloudiness at all.


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Let me take a guess...You didn't wash the sand out several times in a bucket before you added it to the tank had you?
What's going to happen there now, each time you do a water exchange you'll super slowly wash your sand out now and eventually its clear - Just takes much longer this way, cause your filter gotta work well each time to 'clean' what came out of the sand into the water (which makes it cloudy).


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Another idea: You got big rocks in there, use a watering can (that has NOT had any flower ferts or ANY chemicals in it before AT ALL) pure the water with the watering can right on to your rocks, that's gonna aviod stirring up most of the sand (so less cloudy after water exchange).


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i do always pour the water on the rocks not the sand and when i bought the sand it was aquarium sand and said on the front no need wash it first it fish store even said it didnt need to be washed just dump it in so how long before i have clear tank again weeks or months


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## cmc29 (Jan 10, 2010)

what brand of sand was it?


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## cmc29 (Jan 10, 2010)

When i was setting up my tank, i found it was easiest to work with the sand when it was wet. I could clump it up, and smooth out the sandy clay on top of my flourite. Then fill up slowly with the siphon pump.


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

the kinda he is talking about were it gets wet and turns to like clay lol its blue sand i dont knw the name anymore dont have the bag


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i feel it up using the rocks dumb big bucket water in there over and over and over till its filled


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

If you have the appropriate filter for the size tank you got there, it should be cleared up by tomorrow. If you have a bad/ small filter it can take anywhere from here to there.


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i have a whisper 60 and i have 55 gallon tank so will it be cleared up by tommorow


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

*still cloudy after three days*

its still cloudy hell im pumping 364 gallons a hour maybe i buy another filter that way i be pumping 700 something a hour idk but this cloudyness is bugging me.


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i did 70 percent water was clear last nite back to the same old cloudyness i dont knw wut do besides get another filter on friday try that theory


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## Angel079 (Feb 14, 2007)

Leave your tank alone. Measure your water make sure you have no NO2, NO3, Ammonia - If that all comes back zero, leave your tank alone. This can well be a bacteria bloom. Doing all these large w/c will just have you end up with a endless bacteria bloom and it'll never clear up.

Fiddling less is actually more in the fish world


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Angel079 said:


> This can well be a bacteria bloom.


I was just about to suggest the same thing. However, I would recommend continuing with doing large water changes. The bacteria that result in these sorts of blooms are aerobic bacteria, which means they need oxygen to survive. Huge amounts of them can seriously deplete your oxygen levels. While your cichlids especially can withstand some pretty low oxygen levels (especially for fish their size) it's best not to subject them to that. There are several reasons why blooms like this happen, probably the most common of which is a mini-cycle that results in a lot of ammonia in your water. Under normal conditions there's nowhere near enough food to support these numbers of bacteria so as your tank stabilizes the bloom will go away on its own. You might want to consider doing something to increase the surface agitation on your tank to help get more oxygen into your water. Add an air stone or lower your water level so that your filters break up the surface of the water better.

Of course, this is all assuming that your problem is definitely a bacterial bloom, but since it seems like the sand has already been in the tank for quite some time and you did your water change the same way you always do (avoiding disturbing the sand) not to mention that you said that the sand is blue (which I don't think would result in a milky looking cloudiness like you've got there) then I'm leading toward bacterial bloom.


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i have 4 air stones going at once one at each corner and two in the middle i will continue the water changes is that gonna stress the fish out continuely changing the water over and over


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i knw im over stocked i was gonna get another filter to double up the amount of waste in the tank to keep amonia levels down i was thinking another whipser 60 that would make it pump 728 a hour instead 364


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## teddyzaper (Aug 30, 2009)

dont get any more fiish, that would be a bad thing to do. you dont need another filter.... just let it do its thing and keep up on water changes.


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

k i will but one more thing i feed cichlid pellets and flakes and shrimp at sametime is that bad should i stop the flakes i cant stop the shrimp cuz the sturgeon but i could switch to i think its blood worms im not sure wut there called they look like live little worms moving about and swimming in the tank idk what they are called lol only used them once


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Cutting back on the feedings is going to reduce the overall amount of nutrients in the tank that could result in a bacterial bloom. How much do you feed your fish, usually?


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## Jill0 (Jan 8, 2010)

With cleaning it so well and changing the filters, I'm wondering if you've caused a mini cycle in the tank and are seeing a bacteria bloom?

What are your parameters (ammonia / nitrate / nitrite)?


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i feed them once in the mrning flakes and pellets and shrimp then once at usually ten which is the same alll over again flakes and pellets and shrimp and the lfs store said because i took all the water out put sand in i pretty much started the tank all over again and its gonna be cloudy for 2 he said the same thing bacteria bloom


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

and the nitro and ammonia and things i never have used the test wouldnt knw how to do one if i had one lol


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i think filter is taking a crap to its kinda grinding alittle lol and it stoped working once today and once two days ago i had to pull the tube thing out put it back in to make it work lol


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

this is the filter im getting friday hahahahah it willl be great 
Aquarium Power Filters: Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel Aquarium Power Filters at PETCO 70 gallon filter i need more gallon a hour


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

my filter i think its destroyed it isnt soundin to good lol now its gettin worse its grinding


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

The grinding sound is likely due to sand getting sucked into it. How close is the filter intake to the bottom of your tank? You'll want to fix this problem as soon as you can because the grinding sound means that the sand is causing wear on the moving parts in your filter, which will eventually lead to it not working.


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

so the fish should be ok with this cloudyness till friday mrning right i mean not like i have hard maintenace fish to keep alive two oscars a firemouth and pleco and sturgeon


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i dont about 6 inchs from the sand i cleaned the whole filter out earlier it didnt help it at all it was only 2 inchs from the sand before


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

i pulled the proper up alittle bit so it wasnt sitting so far down and its not grinding now but its not sitting they way its sopuse to sit anywayss u knw


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## Jill0 (Jan 8, 2010)

southamericancichlidguy23 said:


> this is the filter im getting friday hahahahah it willl be great
> Aquarium Power Filters: Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel Aquarium Power Filters at PETCO 70 gallon filter i need more gallon a hour


I have six of the Penguin 350B Biowheel Filters (and two of the Penguin 200B's). I really like them.

If you feel like it, though, check out the pricing on these same filters at Foster & Smith as well as Big Al's. It would save you some money to get them there!

Aquarium Power Filters: Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel Power Filters

Marineland Penguin 350B Power Filter at Big Al's Online



Additionally, I use these "SuperCartridges" in them, vs. disposable cartridges. They have TONS of space for the beneficial bacteria and carbon inserts you can use if you choose (inexpensively). These are cartridges that never need to be replaced and cost $4. I highly recommend them... with all the surface on those and the biowheels, you've got lots of space for the good bacteria to live.

Aquarium Filter Media: SuperCartridge SC5



Good luck and happy shopping


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

that would work but i cant buy it till friday and i need it by friday if i wait till they ship that in i will be in big trouble the tank is already cloudyin bad i mite already be in trouble lol i dont even knw how old the filter that came with the tank is guy said fish tank 20 years old thats scary thot how old the filter is lol


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

but thanks for showing be im getting the 350b i need atleast 330 gph oscars are dirty fish lol and so are plecos


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

I like Marineland filters, too. To be honest, though, I kind of never saw the point of the Penguin 350B. That point, why not just buy the Emperor 400?


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

wuts a emperor 400


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

dude thats expensive lol 59.99 one i was gona get was only 43


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hmm. Filter prices have been going up lately, and I guess during that time the price difference between the 350B's and the 400's has increased. The 400 used to only be about $5 more, which isn't much to pay for the 50 extra GPH and the added media capacity.

Drs. Foster and Smith has the 350B on sale for $38.39:

Aquarium Power Filters: Marineland Penguin BIO-Wheel Power Filters


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

true i dont i have to check with the gf lol im unemployed looking for job in michigan is like trying to fish with no bait lol it dont happen very often


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

but the fish will be ok with the crappy filter to friday


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

so i got the marineland 350 cant wait till turn it on when i go home tonight going to make that tank look so good


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

How is the tank looking now?


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

its all messed up ammonia at 8.0 and nitra is at .85 im usig stability and hopin all my fish dont die while i try and clear up this big mess i just started using stability today so im hoping it starts to clear in 7 days


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

How long has the tank been set up? Did you completely replace your old filter or did you just add the new one?


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## southamericancichlidguy23 (Oct 22, 2009)

ok 1 month and 3 days ago i riped out the undergravel and all the gravel i put sand in was clear for a week then went to cloudy mess then my filter broke 3 days ago so i bought a new marineland 350 b that does 364 gallons water a hour and im still cloudymess so today i had water tested lots of ammonia and nitra fish doctor were i do all my stuff said for me to use stability and put 5 cap fulls in a day and within week it will clear and you probly are gonna lose some your fish because doing water changes with how bad ur tank is right now is just gonna be taking out good bacteria that is trying to forum and just makin it worse so your gonna need to put this in and ride it out and if your lucky u wont lose ur fish and try and only feed them once a week if you can but i cant cuz i have to feed the sturgeon once a day the tank was running for 5 months before i switched to sand


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## iamntbatman (Jan 3, 2008)

It sounds like the broken filter lead to this ammonia spike. I'll address it in the other thread.


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