Poor Water Condition Help

[madjoker14]

Hi everyone,so i have this problem with my tank, its a 20 gallon tank,med. plantd with 2.8wpg, no Co2 added and some drift wood, algae barely none,
Ph-6.8 to 7.6
amm- 0
nitrite-0
nitrate-about 40

dont have anymore test equipment
...

i have noticed that the water in my tank is a bit yellow but found out by a prev. post thats its the drift wood thats cousing that but the problem that im having is that the water is very foggy... if i look through one side of the tank i can barely see the middle or even the other end of the tank.

i have this sea shell in the tank that i notice that it has been dissolving away much like the 6 apple snails that i have in the tank,i have noticed the shells for about 3 weeks, as soon as the water started getting cloudy, dont really know if this is a health issue to my tank but i know the snails wont last much if this keeps up (at least i think i know)

but thanks everyone for reading this long post and any help provided is very much thankd for

P.S the tank is established for about 4 months and now is when im geting cloudy water

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

How long have you been cycling the tank for? Have you cycled the tank?

 

[madjoker14]

yup i bought the tank in april,i did a fishless cycle for about a month (all the reading where fine) then i added all my fish from the 10g, water was crystal clear then about 3 weeks ago (when i added the driftwood) noticed the yellow tint but still clear, then all of a sudden the water started getting cloudier and cloudier.

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Is the wood driftwood or bogwood? As bog wood is known to leave a yellow colour in the water. Some keepers like it.
What substrate do you have?

Sorry almost forgot do a 20% water change now!

ASAP go out and get some testing kit as this is very important as your nitrates are high. You will need to be testing every couple of days!

 

[madjoker14]

"driftwood or bogwood" well i dont know the difference, i can tell you where i found it though lol, the nice long one's i went to my park and snaped it off a tree lol and the other piece again from my local park wich i gutted out for a nice shrimp/snail home...

but do you want me to goo and test the water then do the water change, n re-test?

and the test that i have the API master kit (i think)

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Sorry if I confused you. What I think you should do is do a water change. Then when you get the test kit, test the water and if it is still high then do another water change. Wait a couple of days then do another test if it is still high then do another water change... I think you've got it now

Tom

 

[madjoker14]

ohh okay gotcha, is geting wood from your local park bad?? and in some cases does it create the fog that i have now??

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

Err I would not reccomend it. I just find that spending those exra £'s is a bit better than risking something that could wreck loads of £'s. Most risks end up fine but I done my fare share of risking

 

[waterdrop]

sounds like wood from the yard might be the problem... You can test unusual things before they go in a tank by putting them in a bucket and testing the bucket water just like you do your tank. The more time you allow of course, the more you find out.

If you decide the problem is bad enough, one approach might be to remove the wood and then add a layer of carbon to your filter to attempt to clear out the yellow (and possibly the fog, but that might not work.)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

Sea shells dissolve in freshwater and should not be kept in a freshwater tank unless a) you've sealed them with aquarium safe epoxy, or b) you're purposefully trying to alter your water chemistry.

 

[OldMan47]

The tree branches are not a good idea unless you know that they have been dead and curing / drying for at least a year. I got away with putting a branch piece from my apple tree into a tank but I knew it had been dead for 2 years when I cut it from the tree. If the wood has not been drying long enough and leaching its chemicals into the environment, you will leach any remaining sap or similar compounds into your tank water. I can't say that is your cloudy water problem but it could well be. Your pH numbers confuse me. Is the pH like 6.8 right after a water change but moves up to 7.6 after a while? That could reflect the water dissolving some of the sea shell and in the process raising pH. On the other hand, if the pH is dropping in the tank, you may have soft and unbuffered water that is being affected by the tanins in the wood and it is driving the pH down. Either way, if the tank's pH is changing from one extreme to the other it is hard on the fish and will cause them some stress from the chemical changes. The snail shells are subject to the same dissolving effect that you are seeing on the sea shells so whatever is moving the pH down needs to be stopped or the snails will not survive.