Bill Dog

i need help with my cloudy water . tank cycled 0 anmonia 0 nitrites and 5 nitrates. started in july of this year. tank was clear until changed the charcoal then cloudy since. did about 65% h20 change today but still cloudy.

COBettaCouple

welcome to fishlore.. we've learned it's generally best to not have charcoal in the filter unless you're cleaning up meds or something like that.

you may have a bacterial bloom happening and should just continue with the water changes daily.

Mike

Hmm, I'd think by now that the tank would be cycled. Maybe not though, what are your maintenance routines like? Could it be that the new water you added was cloudy out of the tap? Sometimes I get that with my tap water, but it's pretty rare. It should subside in a day or so if thats the case.

What size tank do you have and what is the bio-load (how many fish)? Did you change out all of the filter media along with the activated carbon? What's kind of filter are you running? Details, details, please.

Bill Dog

How Long Does A Bacteria Bloom Last And How Do Get Rid Of It ?

Bill Dog

HOW LONG DOES A BACTERIA BLOOM LAST AND HOW DO YOU GET RID OF IT ?

capekate

One question that I would ask you about that cloudy water. Did you rinse the carbon packet really really well first before putting it into the filter? If you didnt, it would cause a lot of cloudiness in the water. You should rinse out new carbon cartridges under running water to get all the dust out before using.
~ kate

Allie

I don't know what type of cichlids you have...but when I had my african/malawi cichlids, the tank was always cloudy. I had double the filtration on the 80g they were in too. I figured it was the fact I had too many fish in the tank, and that they were constantly digging.

Bill Dog

You mentioned way back you don't run carbon in your filter. May I asked why not and what do you use in your filter? Is it cool to use just the bio rings in my filter? Water still a little cloudy but much better after I took out that carbon. It' something about that filter (fluval 305) and what I put in the trays. I know I'm on to something ,I'm learning but I need a few more secrets that the lfs are'nt willing to share.