Hi I have a 10 gallon tank and 2 small fish a beta and a mari gold swordtail and just changed my water cleaned tank and changed filter and inspected the whole filter unit and like 3 days later my tank looks like crap and green what gives please help???
Tank Water Real Dirty Checked Everything
- Thread starter bambam83
- Start date
ridewake210
Fish Crazy
Aquarium in front of or near any windows where it receives light from a window?
Just a thought.....when you say you changed the filter did you totally renew the media inside it or maybe washed the existing media in tap water? Either would cause your tank to have to start it's cycle all over again.
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Yes, good question Mo. BamBam may have never cycled to begin with or may have exchanged all the media for new media and lost the bacteria. Other questions are to what extent the gravel-cleaning-siphon skill is understood - this always takes some getting used to as a beginner.. and how many hours the tank light is on and what wattage it is over the 10g tank.
Welcome to TFF BamBam,
~~waterdrop~~
Welcome to TFF BamBam,
~~waterdrop~~
when i changed the water i changed over half and put water condisioner in i did not change the rocks this is driving me crazy cant figure out why tank is so dirty with 2 small fish and when i just cleaned everything grr??
Jenste
Resurrecting the Passion of Fishkeeping
like asked above...when you say you cleaned the filter, what exactly did you do?
did you replace the filter media? run it under tap water? or swish off the extra debris in old tank water?
if you did either of the first two things then you are essentially starting to cycle your tank all over...tap water has chlorine in it and that kills the beneficial filter bacteria that we work so hard to grow inside our filters. (which is why we use water conditioner and dechlorinator) or if you just replaced the filter media and threw the old media away, you through away your beneficial bacteria and now need to grow it all over.
if you did either of these things then your tank is no longer cycled and you need to do daily water changes for the next few weeks while your filter regrows its bacteria colony
did you replace the filter media? run it under tap water? or swish off the extra debris in old tank water?
if you did either of the first two things then you are essentially starting to cycle your tank all over...tap water has chlorine in it and that kills the beneficial filter bacteria that we work so hard to grow inside our filters. (which is why we use water conditioner and dechlorinator) or if you just replaced the filter media and threw the old media away, you through away your beneficial bacteria and now need to grow it all over.
if you did either of these things then your tank is no longer cycled and you need to do daily water changes for the next few weeks while your filter regrows its bacteria colony
Hi, I changed the filter cartridge and inspected it never ran the filter itself under water..So any ideas on how to fix this problem?
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Sometimes this comes as a shock but the advice/instructions to "replace" the media in your filter is/are something dreamed up by the marketing side of the filter manufacturers and unfortunately goes completely against the functioning of the filter as used by hobbyists outside the world of retailing.
We get dozens of problems like this each month and are used to seeing all the ways that new hobbyists manage to get here to our beginners section with tanks stocked with fish but no access to any real information about what biofilters really are or how to maintain them. Its not your fault, the manufacturers see no gain in tipping you off and the information is kind of obscure at first.
What I believe you may be seeing is not debris that can be trapped by a filter but the reactions that are going on in your tank related to the tank environment trying to get itself started up but being hindered by the media change. If the "dirty water" could be described as a whitish or grayish cloudiness (truly looks as if some milk got diluted in there) then you may be seeing a "bacterial bloom", a common thing in new tanks. Is that the way it looks?
What you are actually seeing in a bacterial bloom are the millions of bacterial cells that have rapidly divided while feeding on organics that are left over from the sealants of a new tank and from other organics related to tank startup. These bacteria are heterotrophs (they eat other organic material).. not the same type as the autotrophs that we need to grow in the filter before it becomes a biofilter and is ready to support fish. It takes about a month or two of work before a biofilter is actually functional.
~~waterdrop~~
We get dozens of problems like this each month and are used to seeing all the ways that new hobbyists manage to get here to our beginners section with tanks stocked with fish but no access to any real information about what biofilters really are or how to maintain them. Its not your fault, the manufacturers see no gain in tipping you off and the information is kind of obscure at first.
What I believe you may be seeing is not debris that can be trapped by a filter but the reactions that are going on in your tank related to the tank environment trying to get itself started up but being hindered by the media change. If the "dirty water" could be described as a whitish or grayish cloudiness (truly looks as if some milk got diluted in there) then you may be seeing a "bacterial bloom", a common thing in new tanks. Is that the way it looks?
What you are actually seeing in a bacterial bloom are the millions of bacterial cells that have rapidly divided while feeding on organics that are left over from the sealants of a new tank and from other organics related to tank startup. These bacteria are heterotrophs (they eat other organic material).. not the same type as the autotrophs that we need to grow in the filter before it becomes a biofilter and is ready to support fish. It takes about a month or two of work before a biofilter is actually functional.
~~waterdrop~~
You lost me on most of that but the water is like really green and clouldy, cant even see through the side of the tank..Thinking of buying a 55 gallon tank so i dont have to deal with this what do you think??
Jenste
Resurrecting the Passion of Fishkeeping
as we have told you - - it is a result from you cleaning the filter wrong. you are seeing a bacteria/algae bloom.
a larger tank won't help if you don't understand how filters work. go back and re-read what the users have posted. also, google the nitrogen cycle
a larger tank won't help if you don't understand how filters work. go back and re-read what the users have posted. also, google the nitrogen cycle
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Its OK, its totally weird when you're new to it.
One of the problems is that we're all familiar with things like sponges catching little bits of dirt. That makes sense to us. That's called "mechanical filtration" and its one of the jobs of our filter, but its not the main job.
The main job of our filter is the really weird part: We grow live bacteria in it (it takes a couple of months(!) to grow) and it forms brown stains on the sponge (or whatever media we've got.) So a lot of the "brown muck" we see in an aquarium filter is actually very important stuff and we work hard not to lose it or throw it away.
This bacteria processes the main two poisons out of our fish water (ammonia and nitrite(NO2)) and turns it into some stuff that's not so bad but that we remove via water changes each week. We keep our bacteria and our sponges for years and years, until the sponges themselves begin to tear and break down, then we use them to "seed" new sponges with bacteria.
I'll let other members help. Did any of that make any sense?
~~waterdrop~~
One of the problems is that we're all familiar with things like sponges catching little bits of dirt. That makes sense to us. That's called "mechanical filtration" and its one of the jobs of our filter, but its not the main job.
The main job of our filter is the really weird part: We grow live bacteria in it (it takes a couple of months(!) to grow) and it forms brown stains on the sponge (or whatever media we've got.) So a lot of the "brown muck" we see in an aquarium filter is actually very important stuff and we work hard not to lose it or throw it away.
This bacteria processes the main two poisons out of our fish water (ammonia and nitrite(NO2)) and turns it into some stuff that's not so bad but that we remove via water changes each week. We keep our bacteria and our sponges for years and years, until the sponges themselves begin to tear and break down, then we use them to "seed" new sponges with bacteria.
I'll let other members help. Did any of that make any sense?
~~waterdrop~~
Yes i see your point thank you, so what if the water stays dirty even after i change the it? because the tank looks like #105### again 2 days after i changed the water?
waterdrop
Enthusiastic "Re-Beginner"
Changing water usually doesn't help with a bacterial bloom because the microscopic bacteria just pick back up right where they left off and multiply very rapidly, graying out the water. You just have to wait it out. It might last days or weeks, not months.
Meanwhile, the much more important thing is somehow keeping your fish alive while you are growing new bacteria in the filter. What is your plan for that?
~~waterdrop~~
Meanwhile, the much more important thing is somehow keeping your fish alive while you are growing new bacteria in the filter. What is your plan for that?
~~waterdrop~~
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