Help Please

[chelski]

ive just moved into a pub in reading.ive inhereted a 6 foot tank.in this tank is a clown knife fish,oscar,shovelnose cat and 2 plecos.it was in a state when we got here so i eptied the tank,bought a new ehiem filter,cleaned the filters that came with the tank ,put the new gravel and water in,(i treated the water before puttingin)
the water is extremley cloudey and the man at maidenhead aquatics advised me to change 10%water everyday for a week.
still no joy,still cloudey
help please

 

[Curiosity101]

What exactly did you do with all the media from the old filter?
(please tell me you only swished it around in some old tank water)

If you 'cleaned' the old filter media in tap water, or if you replaced it etc then this could've killed off enough bacteria to put the tank back into a cycle.
The ammonia could then have caused a bacterial bloom which makes the tank cloudy.

Are you running the filters alongside eachother?

 

[chelski]

the exte

the exteternal tank as i say is new,as you say i only swished the internal filters with tank water.all 3 filters are running together
so it looks like if restarted the cylce.what can i or should i do

 

[Curiosity101]

Ah right, if you haven't damaged the bacteria colonies in the filters then that is good.

My other theory would be that there was enough bacteria on the gravel you removed to cause a mini ammonia spike and therefore bacterial bloom.

What was it before? Gravel or Sand?

And did you thoroughly want the new gravel? (Was it aquarium gravel or DIY gravel?)

 

[chelski]

Ah right, if you haven't damaged the bacteria colonies in the filters then that is good.

My other theory would be that there was enough bacteria on the gravel you removed to cause a mini ammonia spike and therefore bacterial bloom.

What was it before? Gravel or Sand?

And did you thoroughly want the new gravel? (Was it aquarium gravel or DIY gravel?)

i gave the gravel a good clean,its aquaruim gravel.is there an alternative to gravel?small gravel.large fish,seems wrong

 

[OldMan47]

There are lots of other substrates that can be used in a tank but there is nothing wrong with standard aquarium gravel if you like the look. One of the factors that you may be dealing with is the amount of time the light is on each day to make a nice display in the pub. A lot of light for a long time each day can definitely get algae growth going. That would give the water a slight greenish tint and would definitely look cloudy. Another thing that can give a bit of a cloudy look is very fine particles floating around in the water. That is most easily dealt with by having a very fine filter pad right before the water in the filter returns to the tank. Good circulation with a very fine filter usually means a quick clean up of small particles but can also mean frequent cleaning to keep the flow going.

 

[chelski]

i put 3 barbon pads and some filter wool in the filter,alternsting if you get me,this morning the tank is 50%clearer,so fingers crossed

 

[timmystood]

I would imagine that with time and using the filter wool, you should get it clear.
I would be quite careful though and be a little lighter with feeding for a week or two and maybe do two water changes a week, just incase you have a got a mini-cycle.
Also, make sure people aren't pouring their drinks into the tank!! This would definatly make it cloudy!!!

 

[chelski]

I would imagine that with time and using the filter wool, you should get it clear.
I would be quite careful though and be a little lighter with feeding for a week or two and maybe do two water changes a week, just incase you have a got a mini-cycle.
Also, make sure people aren't pouring their drinks into the tank!! This would definatly make it cloudy!!!

cheers.padlock on the tank stops the pikies

 

[chelski]

after adding carbon pads to the filter.the tank is crystal clear.been that way for 3 days
cheers all