Help 55 Gallon Established Tank Cycyling Again

[BrooklynCichlids]

I have had my tank for a little over 6 months stocked with 14 African Cichlids, a week ago my filter a 55/75 Aqueon burned out I replaced it with a fluval 40-70 filter and did a %60 water change a my water started to become very cloudy. my warranty Aqueon pump just arrived 2 days ago so I rinshed my filters under tap water and proceeded to put back in my 55/75 filter and water is even more cloudy what should I do worried here?

 

[Akasha72]

Hi, it certainly sounds like you've crashed the cycle. The worst thing you can do is to rinse filter media under the tap - always rinse things in old tank water not under the tap. Tap water contains bacteria killing metals which is why we use dechlorinators.
 
Do you have a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If you do can you please test for these three and let us know what the results are. If you don't have a test kit your local fish store will normally test your water for free or a for a very small charge. If you get it tested at the lfs please ask them what the result figures are - too often new members go and get it tested and come back here and say 'they said it was fine' only for us to find later it's far from fine.
 
In the meantime keep an eye on the fish. If they start gasping at the surface, show any signs of red gills or start hanging around in corners then consider that ammonia and nitrite may be the isssue and do a fairly large water change

 

[Byron]

I'm going to suggest a slightly different approach.  First, a bacterial bloom is common whenever canister filters are cleaned, or replaced.  We are not talking nitrifying bacteria here, but other species that live in the filter.  Water changes can also cause mild and temporary cloudiness, for the same reason; I see this every water change.  What you are seeing is not a loss of bacteria, but a rapid increase.  The tap water is full of organics, and this causes the microscopic bacteria to suddenly multiply because of the increased food available, and this creates the cloudiness.  The filter replacement also unbalanced things.
 
As for the nitrifying bacteria, these on their own do not affect water clarity, at least not to my knowledge.  But I second Akasha's suggestion to test ammonia and nitrite for a few days.  And observe fish behaviours.
 
I just re-set my 70g last week, with new sand, all new filter media, but using wood and plants from the previous tank or other tanks.  The fish all went in on Monday.  I am dealing with mild cloudiness, as I would expect from new tanks/new filter media, but ammonia and nitrite are zero, nitrate at 5 ppm, and remaining so.  I did another partial water change this morning.  Now, my live plants obviously help, but there are also the nitrifiers living on the plants and wood, and they multiply very rapidly.  Chlorinated water does not kill nitrifiers completely, depending upon the level of chlorine and the exposure time.  For 20 years I have cleaned my filters under the tap, and I have never had issues connected to the nitrification.  And there are more nitrifying bacteria in the substrate than in the filter to begin with.  Things have to be kept in perspective.
 
Byron.

 

[BrooklynCichlids]

Thank you guys very much so today I took the filter media from my breeding 10 gallon tank and put one in each of my HOB filters the Aqueon 55/75 and the 40/70 Fluval I'm headed to the store now to test my water will give you a update soon!
Is there anyway I can post photos of my tank?

 

[Byron]

Thank you guys very much so today I took the filter media from my breeding 10 gallon tank and put one in each of my HOB filters the Aqueon 55/75 and the 40/70 Fluval I'm headed to the store now to test my water will give you a update soon!
Is there anyway I can post photos of my tank?

 
You need to have a certain number of posts before the system will allow you to upload photos.  Sorry I can't remember how many.  Some members suggest using Photobucket and providing the link.  I know nothing about Photobucket so can't say more.
 
When you take water to a store for tests, always demand they give you the number.  So often members come back with "looks OK," "a little bit high," and this tells us absolutely nothing.  They see numbers (if they are doing reliable testing), so write them down.
 
And it would be worth having a kit yourself.  The API Master Combo contains pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate which are the basic tests.  Being able to do your own tests is a blessing.  The liquid (as opposed to test strip) kits are much better and worth the money.
 
Byron.

 

[BrooklynCichlids]

So here's the results from my latest test Ammonia 3ppm nitrite 0 ppm nitrate 20ppm

 

[Byron]

So here's the results from my latest test Ammonia 3ppm nitrite 0 ppm nitrate 20ppm

 
Was this the store's test, or your own?  What is the pH?  If it is above 7.0, you need to do water changes to get the ammonia down to zero.  Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia will also help.
 
You mentioned cichlids earlier...African rift lake, or other?  Any live plants?

 

[BrooklynCichlids]

So here's the results from my latest test Ammonia 3ppm nitrite 0 ppm nitrate 20ppm

 
Was this the store's test, or your own?  What is the pH?  If it is above 7.0, you need to do water changes to get the ammonia down to zero.  Using a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia will also help.
 
You mentioned cichlids earlier...African rift lake, or other?  Any live plants?

Yes that was the in store test highly inadequate a lot of yeah everything seems OK and this and that, so I asked him for exact numbers and he was like I'm sorry I gave you some wrong info, so I decided to buy my own API at home test as of this morning my ammonia is 0 my nitirite is 0 and my nitrate looks about 20ppm also my PH is at 7.0... I have 11 African Cichlids And ONE Red Devil and a breeding pair of red jewels all around 2-4 inches. I bought some acurel F this morning and followed directions adding two drops per gallon my tank looks amazing the cloudy greenish water is gone and my fish seem so happy

 

[BrooklynCichlids]

From this whole experience I would say that the cloudiness started from washing my media under the tap not once but twice two weeks in a row, which caused a disruption in the balance of how my filters carried out filtering the bio load of my tank also other factors including cleaning my decorations and doing a %60 water change which was too heavy a clean. After all this I decide to syphon my substrate and kick up a a enormous cloud of organic matter from months ago, and it was just too much bacteria and organic matter floating around. I put two old filter pads in my two filters, did a %25 water change, and then added acurel and suddenly all the cloudy gunk began to bind together creating thick sludge that was then sucked into the filters leaving me with a beautiful tank clear as the day I started. I will carry out weekly 25-35% water changes, and substrate cleaning, and remember not to rinse my filter media under tap but in a bucket of its own tank water...thanks a lot for the help
If anyone would like to see results I could email or post results on my FB page

 

[Byron]

At least you are now where frankly I would have expected. and there was/is no real problem, concerning the nitrifying bacteria.
 
With respect to the nitrates, you should up the volume of water changes.  You have some messy fish compared to others (by which I mean their impact on the system), and (I assume) no live plants.  Nitrate is thus more likely to rise, and cichlids are now known to be very sensitive to nitrates.  And 20 ppm is the maximum you want, so I would work to get it down to 10 ppm.  Change 50-60% of the tank volume once weekly, and vacuum into the substrate during this change.  You shouldn't need to clean the filter media every week, but at the same time you want to keep it sufficiently clean so the water flow is not impeded and sludge does not build up such that nitrates rise from it.
 
Byron.