Cloudy Water

[scrappy]

Im not new to keeping tropical fish, however i am new to the new filter tech... When i used to keep fish many years ago it was all done via an undergravel system (you know the ones where you have vertical pipes at each end and a noisy pump pushing air through it)... well all that was quite a few years back now and i ended up having to sell...

Recently i bought one of those Juwel Tanks (96 litre one) with this bio filter housing already attached at the back... So i follwed all the instructions, just add sponges and heater and finally this little fan pump... Set up tank by adding gravel, lump of bogwood, few small decorative items, bit of slate and finally a few of those plastic plants... Left for a few days and as instructed by my LFS added 6 Zebra Danios & 5 White Cloud Minnows to start off the cycling of this new bio filter.

Im just 2 days into this stage and already ive noticed the water getting cloudier and tonight my fish seemed to be staying at the water line at the top of the tank. This prompted me into a panic and i did a 25% water change. This has alleviated some of the cloudiness and the fish immediatly seemed a little happier to swim deeper. What may be of note is that i live in a hard water area (Severn Trent Water) and we have a bit of lime in the water which sometimes makes even the natural tap water sometimes look a little cloudy...

So im asking all you pro's out there if you've seen this before, if you think its just the lime in the water, if you think it may be the pump (although when i did the 25% water change it looked like it was working fine as i lowered the water to the pipe outlet level) or is it something else i havent thought about... Sureley its too early to have a bacterial bloom causing the cloudiness???

Any thoughts?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Hi and welcome to TFF
How many gallons is your tank?
If the water is white and cloudy, it is probably a bacterial bloom; do lots of water changes, like a 20% one every day or two until it has gone.
I would also go out and buy a water quality testing kit/s that test for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and post us the results

 

[chishnfips]

Maybe it's just not cycling properly, my tank was like that for a whille but I used some stress zyme in the water and it speads up the beneficial bacteria.
you can buy it for about £4 in most lfs's, it worked a treat for me and the water cleared up in a few days.

 

[scrappy]

Here are my tests at 3pm 05/05/05:

ph: 7.6
ammonia: 0.50ppm
nitrite: 5.0ppm
nitrate: 40ppm (possibly 80ppm as the colours are very similar on the chart)

I did a water change Tuesday night and now i seem to have an oily film at the top of the tank with a few air bubbles sitting at the water line... Is this bad??? (going to do another water change today)

 

[chishnfips]

The nitrites are very high, have you seen the stress zyme in any lfs's near you. That would definately help to lower it.

Maybe it's to do with the hardness of your water aswell.

The water up in Inverness is very soft and easy to manage and I rarely have problems. So maybe it's to do with that.

The oilyness, is it more foamy? Because that might indicate waste lying on the bottom of the tank.

 

[scrappy]

No its just like a thin oily film, not really foamy as such, but ive now done a water change again this afternoon and it seems ok, still a little cloudy although it seems a lot better than when i originally posted this topic.

I do live in a hard water area that has a fair limestone content which is a little bit of a bummer and is a possible culprit for some of the cloudiness in the water, however looking at the water readings i got today it seems that it was a bacterial bloom as it looks like im about halfway through the cycle due to having levels of all three chemicals in the tank (tell me if im completly wrong).....

 

[chishnfips]

I am pretty sure that all the levels will spike at some point and then start to fall back to zero, you have only just started the cycle so I would just keep an eye on it.

Maybe the fact that you started the cycle with fish made it cloudy, maybe there was more waste than doing a fishless cycle.

I am not a total expert on this but I hope I have shed some light even if it is like striking a match in a dark warehouse. lol

 

[CFC]

The tank is about mid way through the cycle but is taking longer due to the fairly high ammount of fish added to start the cycle off.
The cloudy water is a bacterial bloom where the bacteria is mulitplying so quickly to use up the sudden rise in ammonia and nitrite in the water that it hasnt had time to bed into the filter media or colonise the substrate, dont feed the fish for a few days to prevent adding to the ammonia/nitrite and the bacteria will soon settle in and the water will clear.
The foam is most likely excess protein from uneaten fish food, again cut out feeding for a few days and it should clear.

 

[scrappy]

I added an airstone to help the water oxygenate and guess what the slightly oily film has dissapeared completly, i think the bubbles are moving the water at the rim of the tank towards the filter . One thing though... is it possible to get a silent airpump??? As the one my LFS sold me is far too noisy.

 

[StarOrbs]

I had that ugly oil on my surface and I just bought a surface extractor for my Eheim 2026 and boy was it worth it.

 

[scrappy]

The airpump ive currently got is an Interpet Mini (as its only to supply a 1" airstone to assist oxygenating the water). Any ideas on a quieter pump?

Thanks

 

[pjfish]

I tried several different brands of air pumps and Rena is the quietest in my opinion. A little more expensive than some, but worth it to me.