Headache!

I noticed a bit cloudiness the past 2 days
it was perfectly clear
but 2 days ago I switched to omega one cichlid pellets
I feed once a day sometimes skip my morning feeding to do it in the afternoon
I just did a 50% water change put all 4 airstones on full blast
was that smart?

 

Its not going to hurt anything. Cloudy water can be caused by a lot of things. Has anything changed except for the type of food you are using?

 

No just the food

 

What are your current water parameters? Did you do filter maintenance recently?

Could be start of a mini-cycle.

 

Ya I took out the filter cartridges and rinsed them off and I cleaned out the inside the filter a
but today it's clear so no more trouble

 

Ya I took out the filter cartridges and rinsed them off and I cleaned out the inside the filter a
but today it's clear so no more trouble

That would constitute a change, and is an example of what people are asking when they ask if anything has changed

Glad it's worked out!

 

if you cleaned out the cartridges with ta water, you just killed all the benificial bacteria that breaks down on toxic substances, harm full to your fish, by cleaning them with tap water you kinda did a minI cycle and the cloudy water indicates that it was most likely a bacterial bloom.
what are you exact water parameters?

 

if you cleaned out the cartridges with ta water, you just killed all the benificial bacteria that breaks down on toxic substances, harm full to your fish, by cleaning them with tap water you kinda did a minI cycle and the cloudy water indicates that it was most likely a bacterial bloom.
what are you exact water parameters?

That's not necessarily true. I always wash my media in tap water and I never have minicycles. If the cartridge was the only media in the filter, and they washed it until it was in like new condition, then yes it's likely they did some significant damage. However, if there is dedicated biomedia in the filter, then you can clean the cartridge to any degree you want and it doesn't matter since you can change it out for a new one and not have a problem.......

 

The OP says that he cleaned out the filter, and the cartridges. prior to his problem with the water conditions, indicating that he introduced harmful chemicals, to filter bacteria, including chlorine, and chloramine. these additives are in our water to make it safe for human consumtion and from extended research on this particular subject, I have come to the conclusion that any amount chlorine will harm, and can potentially kill the bacteria in our filters. due to the fact of it not being able to withstand them. perhaps you don't have lots of chlorine on your water were you live, as when I cleaned out my filter cartridges with water from my sink, my water wen cloudy, ammonia, and nirtites rised, fish died, and my tank was all out of sorts for months. it took me while to figure out what exactly happened that day. I later found out from years of fishkeeping that it was a result of the filter bacteria dieing from vast amounts of harmful chemicals that are in our tap.

soooo, once again. what are your exact water parameters.
ammonia, and nirtites should be 0
nitrates should be 5-10+ unless you have live plants

 

In the relatively short exposure of cleaning (compared with the very long time of exposure with the water coming to your house), the media isn't sterilized.

Perhaps I have a normal amount of chlors and you have an abnormally high amount Were you washing your biomedia as well as the cartridge??

if you cleaned out the cartridges with ta water, you just killed all the benificial bacteria

I'm only taking issue with your absolute statement, as in most cases it is incorrect. Well, I'm assuming most filters have dedicated biomedia, which the OP may or may not have. If they don't, they ought to get some.

 

I was washing just my cartridge.

 

My water parameters are good and normal I put stress coat in the treated water, chill your bones, I've been doing this almost 1.5 years Now it's normal