aecw

Okay so I'm new to the freshwater aquarium hobby but also VERY new to the forum thing so bear with me if I'm doing this wrong.
Here's my story:
My son got a 20 gallon long this past August and proceeded to make every beginner mistake like too many fish, not cleaning it enough or properly. I then knew nothing about aquariums so I just watched in disgust until a disastrous water change in which he removed too much water and didn't treat it properly.
Of course many fish died. At this point on I took over due to my surprising enjoyment of watching these fish and the fact that if it lived under my roof I felt it deserved the best care it could get - I looked everything up online, in books and I annoyed every person at the fish stores with my questions. This tank is now thriving and my fishies are very happy.
So here's part two - for this past xmas my younger son got a 10 gallon tank which was cycled properly and fish are living happily but the water has gotton cloudy (at the 3rd month mark) and I can't clear it. FYI ammonia levels reading 0, Nitrite 0 Nitrate 20, PH 7 I don't think it's an overfeeding issue - I put very little in and they eat it all within 2-4 minutes (twice a day). It may be overstocked which is why I'm currently cycling a 20 gallon for a new home. Population 3 panda corys (still babies 1" and under), 1 pepper cory 1.5, 1 snail ("Gary" I love him he's so much fun to watch!) 3 small pristella tetras and 4 baby Platys( born into tank - mothers died - don't completely know why - had them for about 1 month and they came from big chain pet store already prego) babies are thriving but will be too big for ten gallon in about 1-2 months thus the 20 gallon that is cycling. I'm trying not to be impatient and rush the important cycling in the new 20 gallon but the 10 gallon is so cloudy it's scaring me.
the fish are active and healthy, eating voraciously when I feed them. i've tried extra floss in the filter, not feeding, blocking daylight, even accu clear - nothing seems to work - Is it just that 10 gallons SUCK or am I missing something?!
Everything I've read online or in books talks about frequent water changes yet when I talk to the "experts" at the pet stores they say they have had tanks for decades and that too many water changes are the problem. Am I causing the problem by doing 10-20% water changes weekly? And another thing - which are more reliable for chemical testing - stick or liquid (store guy says dry stick but I seem to get more reliable from liquid)
Please help - I love my little fishies

sirdarksol

Welcome to Fishlore!
Yes, that tank is overstocked (or will be when its inhabitants grow up), so it's good that you're setting up another tank.
Liquid tests are better.
How long has the water been cloudy?
What color? (cloudy white, cloudy green?)
20% weekly water changes are good.
Are you changing out the filter media frequently? (Doing so can send the tank into a mini-cycle which can cause the water to be cloudy). Most of us don't use carbon in our filters, and just periodically swish the media in a bucket of tank water to clean it off.

angelfish220

The petstore guy was wrong, freqent water changes are the best, 20-25% weekly.

The 'cloudyness', what color is it? Is the tank like a white yellow or green cloudy? Each is caused from different things.

Around here we seem to agree that liquid is way better than stick. The best testing kit award here is given to the API master liquid test kit.

and one last thing...

WELCOME TO FISHLORE

Barbrella

Hi and welcome.

I'm sure some people very knowledgeable about water chemisty will come along to advise, but your 10 gallon tank is quite overcrowded. The livebearers and snail (what kind?) are big waste producers. This will continue to be a problem, since platies breed non-stop. You need to have a plan about what to do with all the babies, or keep one sex only.

The fact that the tank is 10 gals. is not the problem. The size of the tank doesn't matter, but you must not overstock them. I like to keep my tanks slightly understocked.

10 - 20% water changes may not be enough, and I would do 30%.

Your 20 gallon is also crowded. What kind of pleco did you get? Only a small species like a bristlenose can live in 20 gallons.

Anyway, the liquid testers are much more accurate than strips, so I would use that. It would be very helpful if you could get the liquid test, do the testing then report the results back here!

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore. I'd say the same as SDS and yea, I never got good advice at the stores.

aecw

thanx so much for all the replies
I know the 10 gallon is overstocked thus the new 20 which is still cycling
cloudiness is whitish in 10 gallon and has been for a couple of weeks

As for my sons 20 gallon - the pleco is the common one that can grow to 18"
right now he's only 3" when he gets bigger he's probably gonna have to go live
in my husbands 150 gallon at work.
Most of my tests are liquid - I just need to get a nitrite one

So the consensus is don't listen to the old farts in the pet store that tell me my water changes are causing the problem - and take carbon out of filter and rinse it out in old tank water (Last filter change was a month ago) why no carbon? and why do they sell it if it's not good?

Lucy

Hie aecw,
Welcome to Fish Lore
The carbon expires and when it does, it can release the toxins it has trapped back into the water.

Good luck with your tank.

sirdarksol

There's a lot of stuff out there that is sold for aquariums that isn't good.
Carbon actually does have several uses, but most of us don't feel like changing it often enough to make it useful. It's good to have around, though, as it can be used in an emergency to help clean the water (if something was spilled in the water, or if a kid were to "help" by pouring a whole bottle of antibiotics in the water), and to pull meds out of the water after dosing the tank.
Good on the pleco going into a 150.

As far as the original question, white cloudiness is usually a bacterial bloom (not as bad as it sounds. We're talking about the nitrifying bacteria usually). I'm guessing that it's a combination of excess waste and the advice of your LFS keeping the tank in a continued mini-cycle. Try doing weekly water changes but don't change the filter media out. You might even want to do a few smaller water changes over the next few days, just to lower the nitrites a bit more in the tank. Don't gravel vac in these, just pull out 10% of the water. The cloudiness should go away in a week or so (usually quicker)

aecw

okay - but what about the ammonia removing pellets
The 10 gallon's filter doesn't use them (it's those weird cartridges) but both the 20 gallon's filter systems come with the ammonia remover pellets - should I use them or not?

sirdarksol

I wouldn't bother unless you are having a short-term ammonia crisis (in which case, every little bit helps). Just make sure, if you do use them, that they get changed out regularly. I don't know that the resin can break down like charcoal does, but it's not something I'd want to take chance on.