Cloudy Water

[storm45]

Hi, i have just got a new tank, its the Juwel Rio 125L. I have read most of this forum and i understand the cycling process. I actually bought the tank off some other person, when i bought it he left some water in the tank and said that its bacteria and the fish will need it. So i went home added new water with the existing water, and waited for the temperature to get to the correct level, then after a couple of days i collected the fish from the same person, they are cichlids. The tank is now very dirty, with poop everywhere (this has only been a few hours....) and the water is very clooudy too. The tank came with sand at the bottom but i don't know what the best way to clean it is, i know for gravel you would use a siphon, but not sure about sand. What would be the best way to clean the water so it is not cloudy? i am beginner and any help would be much appreciated, thanks

 

[FWFishLover]

Simply Replace The Water But Keep 20% Of The Water In There Now.

 

[drobbyb]

Do you have a test kit for ammonia? Testing would be the first thing I would do. Usually when there is a whiteish cloudy conditions it is bacteria feeding on the organics present in the water. Now that the chlorine has gone they are free to multiply. Usually it will clear up on it's own, but you need to keep a watch on the ammonia to make sure it stays below .25ppm.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, you need a good testing kit and a siphon hose. With sand it takes some practice. Once you get the siphon going into your catch bucket you clamp your thumb over the end of the hose in the tank to stop the flow. Then position the hose some distance above the sand and wave the last few fingers of the same hand at the sand to stir up any debris you see. move the hose around and unclamp your thumb to use it to vacuum the debris. You'll want to do a number of these and you want about 50% of the water to be taken out of the tank each time. Don't run your ammonia, nitrite(NO2) and pH tests until at least 20 minutes after these water changes so that the water has time to mix. You're watching for traces of either of these toxins that might be happening from all the disturbance of the change.

The return water should be treated with good condition (like Seachem Prime) at 1.5x recommended dose (but not over 2x) and the water should be roughly temperature matched (your hand is good enough for this.)

You want to keep up the testing for a week or so, even on a fairly mature tank because of the potential disturbance to the biofilms by a move.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Squid]

Hi, i have just got a new tank, its the Juwel Rio 125L. I have read most of this forum and i understand the cycling process. I actually bought the tank off some other person, when i bought it he left some water in the tank and said that its bacteria and the fish will need it.

What filter did he provide you with? was it the built in Juwel filter? The bacteria is found in the media in the filter. You can change nearly all the water and still be ok. BUT.. the filter would need to be cycled.

So i went home added new water with the existing water, and waited for the temperature to get to the correct level,

I take it you added water safe to dechlorinate the water? Otherwise the tap water can kill off the bateria.

then after a couple of days i collected the fish from the same person, they are cichlids.

Bacteria can seriously die back in a 48 hours. I was always lead to believe that fish should be added to a cycled tank/filter in 24 hours.

The tank is now very dirty, with poop everywhere (this has only been a few hours....) and the water is very clooudy too.

Cloudy water could be due to the tank cycling/bacteria blooms. Large water changes will be required whilst it is cycling as recommended. So, get the test kit and see what is happening with Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate.

What cichlids are they? Some of them are notoriously messy fish, and require very good filtration. Standard Juwel filters are not known for their outstanding filtering capability.

The tank came with sand at the bottom but i don't know what the best way to clean it is, i know for gravel you would use a siphon, but not sure about sand. What would be the best way to clean the water so it is not cloudy? i am beginner and any help would be much appreciated, thanks

See tips below for using syphon. Cleaning sand I just used thick tubing to syphon the mess off the top of the sand as described above. A stir of the sand avery now and then can stop any pockets of unwated gases/debris build up.


Squid

 

[storm45]

thanks alot for your replies, i am going to buy the testing kit and run some tests. I will do the water changes as you guys have suggested too, hopefully i will be able to clear up all the sand too. thanks once again, i will keep you guys updated

 

[storm45]

hi, i have bought the API master water testing kit and will carry out the tests soon. I just wanted to know what to set my heater at in the tank because i can't identify what type of cichlids i have.



Thats a pic of one of the fish, would really help if someone could identify, thanks

 

[drobbyb]

Those appear to be african cichlids. I think they like their water between 75F and 84F (24-28C)

 

[storm45]

hi, some of my cichlids are eating sand then spitting it out, and swimming sideways in the sand very fast, what does this mean? i am pretty sure they are well fed, however some are no eating the food its jus laying there on the floor...

ps. thanks for the reply drobbyb, i have set the temperature correctly now

 

[erk628]

Cichlids like to get mouthfuls of sand and spit it out at least mine do. You really need to test your water and post the stats so we can see them because without that were pretty much just guessing!

 

[drobbyb]

Yeah, it's totally normal for them to "eat" sand

 

[storm45]

i did a pH level test using the kit and it was around 7.4, what is the best way to increase the pH level? please i need reply fast so i can quickly go buy something from the shop, thank you

EDIT: just as i was writing this message i noticed your link drobbyb

 

[erk628]

Watch how fast and how much your raise the ph at once. To much to fast can shock the fish!

 

[waterdrop]

Right, once you have fish, pH and the "water hardness" that drives it should only be changed extremely slowly. Even the act of deciding to artificially make a pH change is considered a "big deal" decision and should not be made lightly. Robby is quite good with all this and has articles and all.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[drobbyb]

Yes, it's certainly a big deal. An adjustment of .5 would put you in their acceptable range, and in your case, a crushed coral or other marine type substrate will fit the bill nicely. What that substrate will do for you is to buffer your water. It does it's work slowly enough to be safe for your fish. You do want to keep a watch on your pH and hardness if you have a kit for that to make sure that it doesn't buffer it too high. I think you would be fine though.

If you don't want to do the substrate route. you could also get results from adding crushed coral to your filter. Check the link in my signature for how to do it and what to watch out for. Also, there are diminishing returns the higher you take the pH. What I mean by that is a pH of 7.0 will be raised a fair amount, and a pH of 7.4, using the same method, will see a lessened effect and will result in a slower climb of hardness and pH.