cloudy water

[bettacrazy]

i've set up my 5.5 gallon for my one girl, gypsy, for about just over a month. there's a heater set at 74F and those penn plax disposable filters in there. gypsy absolutely loves it with all her plants and oranments. what really bugs me is that no matter how much i change the water (i do 50-80% water changes every week depending on how dirty she is), the water seems to be cloudy! at first i thought it was the filter since the package says 'will experience cloudiness but water will eventually become clear' but it certainly doesn't look that way to me. any idea why the water is cloudy??

o... i always precondition the water (a bit of auqarium salt and aquaplus) at least 2 nights before the water change.

thanks!!!

here's a picture of gypsy!!

 

[GuppyDude]

my only guess is the filter, could also be ur water, i had problems with my water this weekend. i put in a new filter and it was ok again. ur fish looks great, i hope u solve ur water problem, i know its frustrateing when ur water messes up ur view of the fish!!

 

[fourplayfishy]

could also be your tank... if it is older it may have discoloured causing it to be cloudy... thats what my 2 have done

 

[AlexsDaddy]

It could just be a bacteria bloom. Try some Clear Water by Jungle. It cleared mine right up when it got cloudy.

 

[bettacrazy]

i bought the tank new... but i do notice that there is a white rim around the water level mark... i suspect that rim is from hard water but does that affect the water to be cloudy? i will go seek out the clear water by jungle stuff!! hopefully, that would work! the thing is, gypsy doesn't seemed bother by the cloudy water.

thanks!!!

 

[bettacrazy]

hmmm... i couldn't find the clear water stuff. does other clear water stuff work? i found one that is for freshwater but i wasn't sure if that's the same as for tropical fish! does anyone know???

 

[White Whale]

I had a PennPlax filter. It didn't do much but make noise and got dirty really fast. Then I tried two Red Sea nano-filters, but no cover would fit the configuration. I had a few leap-of-faith fatalities because I had no cover that fit. I switched to a Fluval Plus 1 internal filter for my 5.5g. It's REALLY quiet and it's wonderful! After the first two water changes the cloudiness was gone.

P.S. That's a nice red rainbow girl you got there!

 

[bettacrazy]

P.S. That's a nice red rainbow girl you got there!

thanks... she's a cutie!!!


thanks for the suggestion!! does anyone know the differences between filters?? i get so confused just reading the different ones.... like a sponge filter (those round, cylinder things) and the disoposable ones or the corner filters??? am i just not using the right filter? is it also true that you don't want too strong a current for the bettas because they prefer relatively still water??? thanks!!!

 

[f250fisherman]

Normally, a few days after filling a tank, the water does get cloudy. It depends on your filter as to how it clears up. I think if you want the filter to cycle the tank, then you are doing too much water change. Not knowing what type of filter you are using, and the amount of charcoal, if any, makes it hard to determine. I'm guessing here..because I don't really know how you are doing things..but it sounds like as soon as the time elapses for the water to get cloudy, you change it. Then when the time elapses again, it clouds back up. Then you are changing the water again. Just as an experiment, maybe only do a 25% water change each week, and see if it eventually clears. Normally, just before a tank cycles..it clouds back up again for a couple days. Your tank may even be trying to cycle . Like I said...I'm guessing here.

 

[bettacrazy]

so.... here's what i figured out why my water was cloudy. it wasn't the filter. there is this calcification on the glass and when i do siphone and kind of scraped it, it created the cloudy water. so my question now is, how do you get the calcification out? could you add some kind of condition to take the calcification stuff out??? i'm 100% sure that i have hard water after this experience!

p.s. i did a complete scrubbing and cleaning of the tank.... and changed the filter... now it is sparkling clean again!