Cloudy Water

[Assaye]

Cloudy water usually comes from bacteria.

There are bacteria that live in the water (not the same ones as in the filter) and if there is excess organic matter or chemicals that bacteria can eat in the tank, these bacteria will suddenly have a population explosion and make the water cloudy.

How many fish do you have? What kind of filter do you have? How many LPH does it do? Do you have a gravel vacuum or siphon? How often do you clean your gravel?

These bacterial blooms could be causing the ammonia spike, as they'll break the organics in the water down into ammonia. Do as many water changes as necessary to keep the ammonia at zero, but don't worry about the bloom too much. With good tank maintainence, it should go away eventually.

Feed a tiny amount once a day or even cut down to once every two days for a while, pull out any dead leaves/dying plants, check for dead fish and make sure you clean your gravel really well at least once a week with a gravel siphon.

Bacterial Blooms Explained

i have plants in the water if i use the siphon i would have to take them out right

No, you can use the siphon around the plants. Just be careful not to clean too thoroughly around the roots.

Don't try to use any chemicals or "quick fixes" on the cloudy water. They might remove the symptoms but these things happen for a reason. You need to understand why they are happening and change your maintainence accordingly.

 

[IONMEL]

i keep doing water changes everyday, the ammonia doesnt go to 0, what should i do

 

[Assaye]

i keep doing water changes everyday, the ammonia doesnt go to 0, what should i do

You need to keep doing them.

Assuming you have enough filtration, you just need to wait for the filter bacteria to catch up. Cycling a tank can take a month or two, and mini-cycles (when the filter can't keep up) can still take a few weeks.

Keep up with the daily water changes and just wait.

 

[fatheadminnow]

Sounds like you are either still in a fish-in cycle, or the bacterial bloom, like Assaye has mentioned, is what is making your tank act the way it is.

Assaye hit the nail on the head with the Bacterial Blooms, so I won't go into detail there.

How often, before all of this happening, were you doing water changes?

According to your other posts, it seems that you have never done a gravel vac before, which is not good...lol. Rotting debris such as left over fish food, fish waste and other matter can trigger a bacterial bloom. When this happens, these little bacteria, Heterotrophic bacteria, will produce ammonia at a very fast rate. These Heterotrophic bacteria also reproduce so fast, that in even 50%+ water changes will not stop them or eliminate them, at best it will just slow them down a bit.

Here is what to do:
I would start with a very good Thorough gravel vac to siphon up as much debris as possible. This should eliminate the bacteria bloom over the next couple of days. Once the bacteria bloom as decreased, then you should see your ammonia return to 0 ppm.

During this time, keep monitoring those water stats! If ammonia and/or nitrite are over .25 ppm, an immediate water change is in order. I would do at least a 50% water change if your ammonia and/or nitrite is at .25 ppm.

-FHM

 

[waterdrop]

Right, I agree with FHM's suggestion. I think your gravel-cleans and water changes are too "wimpy." You need to make the gravel cleans (and yes, for now, the gravel is probably a better substrate for learning on and the sand could be put off for a while as it might actually be a little harder to learn to maintain)... anyway you need to make the gravel cleans be very deep and "worked on." Don't be afraid to have 75% of the water go out of the tank while you are working around on all the gravel. Don't hesitate to move decorations to gravel vac the gravel under them. Don't miss corners. Consider repeating this difficult week more than once in the week (for now) if you can find the time.

All this should make a big difference in your tank situation after a week or two but if it doesn't and you are still seeing quite rapid ammonia returning then we should consider whether you are somehow underfiltered for your tank and bioload. It could be that you don't have enough media volume for the job in that case.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[IONMEL]

last night i did about 75% water change , cleaned the tank really good, gravel moved plants and decorations the hole 9, i tested my water after an hr it was everything was 0 except nit was 5.0, im going to test it again today and go form there, im thinking of putting another filtration system under the gravel any suggestions

 

[fatheadminnow]

A UGF (under gravel filter) is not recommended with a planed tank. If you are adding another filter all with the thought in mind of trying to keep the tank cleaner, well, there really is no reason. I know people on here with filters that move less than 1/2 turn over rate, and their tanks are flourishing.

Did you mean Nitrate by "nit?"

Also, did you use a gravel vac?

-FHM

 

[IONMEL]

i changed 75% of the water , cleaned everything thoroughly , i tested the water 1 hr later everything was fine, i will test again and go accordingly to the ammonia and nit

 

[waterdrop]

Good job IONMEL, it sounds like your gravel-cleaning technique is improving and you are getting better results from it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[IONMEL]

okay did the 75% water change, the levels were perfect, this was on friday night, this morning it starting again to get cloudy not as much though, i have 2 filters one came with the tank and i put another one on it for 55g with a bio wheel