hello i am new here so be gentle. i am having problems with a cloudy tank. its a 55g tank with cruched shells for the bottom . the tank has been around and established for 2 years. only the last month it has been on and off cloudy. i do water change 2-3 weeks 10g at a time. last change the water was clear for 2days after. this water change still cloudy. am i not changing enough waterat a time? plus we have a hard time keeping fish alive for a period of time. any help would be apreciated thanks.

If the cloudiness is white then it is what we call a bacterial bloom. This often happens when tanks are new or they are re-cycling. The cycle is the process by which fish waste is turned into less dangerous chemicals, bacteria does this.

Do you use a water conditioner when you do water changes?

How often do you do water changes and how much water do you chnge?

What filters are you using?

What are you doing to clean the media in the filters, replacing, washing? If washing what are you washing with?

A lot of questions I know, however if you answer these questions we should know what is going on and what you can do to change it.


glaive

thank you. the water is white cloudy. i am only adding dechloinating chemical. i change the water every 2weeks sometimes 3 weeks. i remove about 10gallons from 55g tank. the filters are aqua tech with carbon. i wash them with hot water the first time, then replace the second time. hope this helps

There's your problem, try rinsing them in old tank water.

You should be changing at least 20% of your tank water each week and rinsing out the filter in the old tank water only. You don't need to change out the filter media that often. Only when they get so bad that they are falling apart. I have only changed my media once in 3 years.

If you provide us with the fish you have we can help you out with maintenence suggestions. It would also be good to have a test kit so you wil know where you are at in cycling.

What kind of fish are you trying to keep in the tank? The crushed shell substrata may be keeping your Ph too high for the fish you are trying to keep, and high Ph can cause some of the naturally occuring chemicals to be more deadly.

thanks for the advice on the filters i will try. we have 2 clown fish, one blue cromis.all others died. we want tangs and angels. the ones we tried didn't last. i do have a test kit for nitrate. what else should i have? should i switch the crushed shell to something else? if so what do you recomend.. thanks for helping

Tangs and angels really don't like the same water, you would do better picking one.

You should have a kit for Ph, Nitrite, Nitrate, and Ammonia. They are very helpfull with determining how often to do your water changes, as well as helping to determine exactly what the issue is when you loose a fish.
I will let the cichlid experts answer the stocking question, they do well on my questions. :laugh:

Yep, need all of those test kits

i had it happen too but was told it was just the cycling process and it went away after a few weeks...I've not changed my filter medium or cleaned it in 6 months in my cannister. water is ALL spot on with the test kits, the bacteria is doing its job breaking up the bad stuff.

I would probably suggest people service a cannister monthly to be safe.

Tank water in a bucket is a good way.

just stick the new cartrige on the tank glass, for a week before changing

thank you for all the ideas. i will get the test kits.