Cloudy water after buffer

[Narny]

Hi all,

Have a weird problem. I'm setting up a tank for a breeding pair of discus i'm recieving, a friend of mine is scaling down, so i said i'd take them , as i allready keep 6 of them in my four foot tank.

The tank i'm setting up us a Juwel Rekord 96 and has previously been used to keep community tropicals. So, here goes....

I filled tank with tap water (dechlorinated of course) and left to cycle.

Ammonia now 0, nitrite now 0, nitrate 20 ppm.

I added my usual 6.5 buffer (proper ph 6.5) and waited, the water turned cloudy, odd as i've never seen this before, and i use the same product in my other tanks.

So, i decided that i'd do a massive water change (no fish anyway) and did a huge 50 litres with RO water (i added Ro Right from kent). This normally should have shifted anything, as the change was about 80 %.

Waited another 24 hours. The water is still cloudy???

All other stat's are correct. I did not add proper ph after the huge RO change.

What is going on?? I've added 1 bala shark just to see if the water is toxix, it's not, the bala is quite happy, allthough in cloudy water. He's feeding and has been in there stress free for 48 hours now.

The ph is 7 (odd as RO is sposed to be 6.5)

Can anyone help me???


Ade

 

[Nidge]

The only thing i can think it might be is a bacterial bloom whick happened to me once. Eventually it will clear up with water changes. Sorry thats the only thing i can think of.

 

[Narny]

I think i know what's done it. The proper ph has failed to dissolve, the water hardness is a little too much even with RO. Reason :

Crushed shell on bottom DOH!!!

Now changed over to inert pebbles.

We will see what happens

Ade

 

[Narny]

Still cloudy, gravel not made any change so far. Did a 20% RO change too.


HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What can i do?

 

[maestro]

If you just changed the substrate it will be a bit cloudy still, have you got another internal you could fill with floss?

 

[Narny]

Sorted... Took a few days to settle down. I now have a 6" pair of breeding Tangerine discus in there !!!!

Ade

 

[enchanted]

Narny just for your information RO water when everything is removed is not PH 6.5. It does not go alkaline but goes base to 7.0.

 

[Narny]

For your information RO water comes out at 6 - 6.5... Do the maths, your removing hard metals etc. Water ends up slightly acidic by nature.

This is somthing i've done a lot of research of, and i also now have my own RO unit. My tap is 7, RO comes out at 6.5