New Tank

[natnats]

hi all, new to the site and have a question i cant seem to resolve! just bought a second hand ocean free 3ft tank with eheim 2224 external filter. to be honest (sorry for the bluntness, its getting very frustrating) its either rubbish or faulty. i had set up the new tank and it looked lovely, then after a while the water went cloudy,re-cleaned all pipes, replaced filter media with brand new ones etc. but by the time this happened i had already added the fish so local shop recommended filter aid. it worked well but a few days later my tank is full of little particles/bits and is very cloudy again. all pipes are clean, no kinks in them, doesnt appear to be any blockages, water quality is all good . i have never used an external filter before and have no idea what else could be the problem. many thanks x

 

[MegaZerino]

hi all, new to the site and have a question i cant seem to resolve! just bought a second hand ocean free 3ft tank with eheim 2224 external filter. to be honest (sorry for the bluntness, its getting very frustrating) its either rubbish or faulty. i had set up the new tank and it looked lovely, then after a while the water went cloudy,re-cleaned all pipes, replaced filter media with brand new ones etc. but by the time this happened i had already added the fish so local shop recommended filter aid. it worked well but a few days later my tank is full of little particles/bits and is very cloudy again. all pipes are clean, no kinks in them, doesnt appear to be any blockages, water quality is all good . i have never used an external filter before and have no idea what else could be the problem. many thanks x

hi, i have no idea how experienced you are so im sorry if i seem patronising. its probably a bacterial bloom, theyre very common in newly set up tanks, what you can do is do a 25% water change weekly and make sure all your water parameters are as perfect as possible, other than that i think all you can do is wait

 

[Jammiedodger]

Cloudy water is normal It generally happens within the first month of putting water in a tank, it's a bacterial bloom which means the tank is starting to mature... If it's a recurring problem then try posting a picture, somebody on here will know what to do

 

[natnats]

hi, thanks, will continue to do the water changes as dont like the idea of using filter aid to often, i have had tanks for several years now (so would definitely say not hugely experienced lol) but have never come across this before, we had a aqua one 980 prior to this one and all was fab with that. but this is puzzling me ta

hi jammiedodger, cheers will sit tight and hope it clears up, i am assuming this wont be harmful to the fish ta

 

[Jammiedodger]

The fish should be fine, just watch out for nitrate/nitrite/ammonia spikes whilst the bacteria develop. You may find you have to change the water quite frequently if there are already fish in.

 

[natnats]

cheers guys, would this also be the explanation for all the little particles that are floating in the water ta

 

[Jammiedodger]

Am I right in thinking ocean free tanks are usually the open topped ones?

 

[natnats]

yeah its the open topped ones

its full of tiny little particles floating around

 

[Jammiedodger]

Simple answer would probably just be dust then, I had an open topped fluval nano tank which had some bother with floating particles...just a minor drawback of the tanks. Could also be bacterial build up but given time it should disappear. Either way it's nothing to worry about, filtration will take care of it.

 

[natnats]

thank you, guessing it must be a mixture of dust and bacteria. will continue regular water changes and update in a week or two many thanks again its been really bugging us

 

[natnats]

well to say i feel like a fool is an understatement!!! got to the problem of my cloudy water and it was nothing to do with the eheim 2224 filter, infact thats pretty good as it goes. the problem was...my TUMBLE DRYER having explained my thread to the hubby and telling him of the advice, he so kindly pointed out that my tumble dryer is sat right next to my open top tank! so i place a towel over the top of the tank when i turn it on and its all good, infact with doing this it cleared with in a day. thanks all

 

[Xraymark]

Doh.

 

[the_lock_man]

hi all, new to the site and have a question i cant seem to resolve! just bought a second hand ocean free 3ft tank with eheim 2224 external filter. to be honest (sorry for the bluntness, its getting very frustrating) its either rubbish or faulty. i had set up the new tank and it looked lovely, then after a while the water went cloudy,re-cleaned all pipes, replaced filter media with brand new ones etc. but by the time this happened i had already added the fish so local shop recommended filter aid. it worked well but a few days later my tank is full of little particles/bits and is very cloudy again. all pipes are clean, no kinks in them, doesnt appear to be any blockages, water quality is all good . i have never used an external filter before and have no idea what else could be the problem. many thanks x

hi, i have no idea how experienced you are so im sorry if i seem patronising. its probably a bacterial bloom, theyre very common in newly set up tanks, what you can do is do a 25% water change weekly and make sure all your water parameters are as perfect as possible, other than that i think all you can do is wait

THis would be fine advice if your filter was mature. Given that you have fish in the tank, and the filter is immature, you will need to be doing daily water changes until your bacteria colonies grow. And probably, the water changes will be bigger than 25%. Have a quick read of the article linked in my signature.

 

[natnats]

thanks xraymark, feel like an idiot but at least alls ok lol, cheers the lock man will have a read when i get 5 mins, natalie