Why is my water cloudy/yellow?

[AmyKieran]

I have attached a photo of my water. It has a yellow tinge and is cloudy when looking at it. I have a Malawi tank with ocean rock.

Water parameters -

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Nitrate - 10
Ph - 7.4

Any reason and how to fix?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Does the water smell off?

Yellowy/cloudy water is often due to excess waste or rotting somethings or algae that is sitting in the water (algae can be more yellow than green if it is in water suspension.

I suspect the recent change in feeding might have something to do with this. More food into the fish, more waste out of the fish and more food probably wasted/uneaten

When did you last service the filter(s) - especially floss changes?

I would water change at least 50% for two/three days and fast the fish for 3-4 days...make sure that you give the substrate a going over and as much of the rock as you can safely reach (since waste food can lodge in nooks and crannies)

Feeding is a very delicate balance to get right, it looks like there might be a build up of excess food and fish waste to me....but I do stand to be corrected on that.

 

[AmyKieran]

Does the water smell off?

Yellowy/cloudy water is often due to excess waste or rotting somethings or algae that is sitting in the water (algae can be more yellow than green if it is in water suspension.

I suspect the recent change in feeding might have something to do with this. More food into the fish, more waste out of the fish and more food probably wasted/uneaten

When did you last service the filter(s) - especially floss changes?

I would water change at least 50% for two/three days and fast the fish for 3-4 days...make sure that you give the substrate a going over and as much of the rock as you can safely reach (since waste food can lodge in nooks and crannies)

Feeding is a very delicate balance to get right, it looks like there might be a build up of excess food and fish waste to me....but I do stand to be corrected on that.

It does smell slightly off, it may be the change in feeding habits. I’ll follow your advice and see if this helps, from here should I then only feed once a day? Am I feeding too much?

 

[AmyKieran]

Does the water smell off?

Yellowy/cloudy water is often due to excess waste or rotting somethings or algae that is sitting in the water (algae can be more yellow than green if it is in water suspension.

I suspect the recent change in feeding might have something to do with this. More food into the fish, more waste out of the fish and more food probably wasted/uneaten

When did you last service the filter(s) - especially floss changes?

I would water change at least 50% for two/three days and fast the fish for 3-4 days...make sure that you give the substrate a going over and as much of the rock as you can safely reach (since waste food can lodge in nooks and crannies)

Feeding is a very delicate balance to get right, it looks like there might be a build up of excess food and fish waste to me....but I do stand to be corrected on that.

And honestly i haven’t changed the filter floss since ur running, should I change out the filter floss? Is filter floss entirely necessary? I have another filter that doesn’t use filter floss

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I would do once a day feeds with two days fasting...I do Wednesday and Sunday fasting due to those days being my maintenance days but you can choose whatever day that suits you and your routine

Floss is really essential tbh as it polishes the water, thus removing any minute suspended particles missed by the rest of your media that might cause fogging or blooming of the water. Floss should be changed weekly as it is not really suited to being rinsed in aquarium water. It will definitely help keep the water clear. Floss should be placed last in the filter so it can act as a final cleaning stage before the water goes back into the aquarium.

 

[AmyKieran]

I would do once a day feeds with two days fasting...I do Wednesday and Sunday fasting due to those days being my maintenance days but you can choose whatever day that suits you and your routine

Floss is really essential tbh as it polishes the water, thus removing any minute suspended particles missed by the rest of your media that might cause fogging or blooming of the water. Floss should be changed weekly as it is not really suited to being rinsed in aquarium water. It will definitely help keep the water clear. Floss should be placed last in the filter so it can act as a final cleaning stage before the water goes back into the aquarium.

Okay Thankyou for the advice, while I’m checking on my filter floss, should I give the filter a clean out? Or leave it?

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Okay Thankyou for the advice, while I’m checking on my filter floss, should I give the filter a clean out? Or leave it?

Give the other media a rinse in used aquarium water by all means, other media should not be replaced til it disintegrates. The filter canister and any inlet/outlet, media containers etc can be rinsed out also, again using old aquarium water. You can do a service like this once every 8-12 weeks unless the water tells you otherwise either by smell, bad chemistry or colouration or foggy appearance. Floss changed weekly at the same time as a normal water change will be fine..

 

[AmyKieran]

Give the other media a rinse in used aquarium water by all means, other media should not be replaced til it disintegrates. The filter canister and any inlet/outlet, media containers etc can be rinsed out also, again using old aquarium water. You can do a service like this once every 8-12 weeks unless the water tells you otherwise either by smell, bad chemistry or colouration or foggy appearance. Floss changed weekly at the same time as a normal water change will be fine..

Okay , slightly difficult for me with the way my filters are situated but I’ll try my best lol

Thanks

 

[AmyKieran]

Update-

Rinsed out filters in aquariums water, poly pads were very dirty. I didn’t have any replacement so I have ordered some more. Done water changes yesterday and today and water already starting to look a lot more clear. I’ve ordered some poly pads, bio filtration and zeolite to all help with this as my filters were very poorly stocked I’ll be honest.

Thanks for advice

 

[Essjay]

I wouldn't use zeolite. That will remove ammonia resulting in starved bacteria. It'll also remove any medication you may add to the tank in the future.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

For future reference, I use this...and it lasts for many many months....far cheaper than the "official" version and just as good. Just have to tear some off, shape it in your hands and bung it into the filter...

Superfish White Filter Wool - Filter Fllece 500g

Synthetic filter wool fleece for aquarium filters

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk

500g of floss for under a tenner.

 

[AmyKieran]

I wouldn't use zeolite. That will remove ammonia resulting in starved bacteria. It'll also remove any medication you may add to the tank in the future.

I’ve heard lots of good things about zeolite being better than carbon and lasts longer. Would you reccomend I use carbon instead?

 

[AmyKieran]

For future reference, I use this...and it lasts for many many months....far cheaper than the "official" version and just as good. Just have to tear some off, shape it in your hands and bung it into the filter...

Superfish White Filter Wool - Filter Fllece 500g

Synthetic filter wool fleece for aquarium filters

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk

500g of floss for under a tenner.

I’ll keep this in mind for the future I’ve already ordered the poly pads from allpondsollutions for the 1000ef. Will these be okay to rinse every month? Just I really can’t take my filters out every week

 

[Deleted member 149562]

I’ll keep this in mind for the future I’ve already ordered the poly pads from allpondsollutions for the 1000ef. Will these be okay to rinse every month? Just I really can’t take my filters out every week

With your number of fish I would recommend that the floss be replaced 7-10 days. The floss is the only part of the media that shouldn't be rinsed/reused as it clogs so quickly and never really loses all of the muck when rinsed...it is the last stage of the filtration and there to collect everything that the other media misses due to being too fine. The fact that it clogs quickly will affect the flow from the filter and it will also affect the cleanliness of the water exiting the filter too...hence the clouding/yellowy tint that you have experienced.

Sponges, noodles etc can be rinsed til they fall apart before replacing...the floss...its the throwaway media as it is the last defense media.

I don't understand why the filters are hard to get to for maintenance, they should be underneath the aquarium and accessible.

 

[Essjay]

Zeolite absorbs things including ammonia and medication. It removes the ammonia before the bacteria have chance to use it. With no food, the bacterial colonies will decrease in number. The danger then is that the zeolite gets full and stops working, and the bacteria numbers have dropped too low to cope so the tank goes through a mini spike while the bacteria increase again. If zeolite is used, it must be replaced before it gets full, forever. Using bacteria to remove ammonia is a lot cheaper.

I wouldn't use carbon either. Carbon's only use is to remove medication after treatment has finished. It is better to use the space in the filter for sponge or ceramic media.