Dusty Water?

[snowball pleco]

my tank has been going for about one year now and the water went clear after a couple of days.It might be something to do with the slate, i would try taking it out and putting in more plants.What type of filter do u have and what mediumis in it. hope this helps!

 

[audia4]

Ive got two externals running on it with foam media, mechanical and substrat pro all eheim media and the filters are also eheim.

I have few plants in there but do not have enough lighting for them, i have some mosses as I know these can survive in low light conditions.

I have some dwarf hair grass which i found out after i bought it and knowing it has high demands for strong light, i think it is decaying, do you think this could be casuing the mirky water?

i might take the slate out and give them another rub, as i really like the look of them.

 

[waterdrop]

There are three types of cloudiness we typically diagnose in this forum:

1) Bacterial bloom: This looks exactly like a small amount of milk in water. It is a whitish gray cloudiness and very evenly disbursed. It has multiple causes, all of which basically involve some substance being present that heterotrophic bacteria can consume. There are dozens to hundreds of species of heterotrophic bacteria in small numbers in tap water. When a substance is present they can consume, they multiply so fast that they become visible as a milky white cloud in the water. Water changing does little to help a bacterial bloom but they are generally harmless and go away on their own. Nearly every new tank experiences one.

2) Green water: This is a bloom of single-celled algae in the water which causes a distinct greenish cast to the water. The largest and most common underlying factor is too much light either in the form of strength or in too many hours. A common approach to ridding a tank of green water is a 3-day or so "blackout" where the tank is unlighted and "wrapped" to keep light out. After the suspended algae are killed off, a lower light regime needs to be put in place.

3) Substrate dust: This happens in new tanks from incomplete substrate pre-washing. Beginners can often be surprised at the length of time a hose must be run in a bucket to completely rid gravel or sand of it's dust. This happens even when the bags are labeled as being pre-washed, so it always needs to be done. (It's still possible this was your problem.)

It's also possible that you have enough plant material that is breaking down to create a cloudiness, although I would have expected this to be rare if the externals are of sufficient capacity for the tank.

In standard community tank freswater fishkeeping, -more- gravel-cleaning is better than less. There are other freshwater approaches, such as the Walstad "NPT" method where thick jungle planting levels can work to allow you not to substrate-clean but this is a very specialized kind of tank and likely a bit advanced for for most beginners to want to take on without a few years experience first. Under normal beginner circumstances, frequent water changes with plenty of deep gravel cleaning (or surface cleaning in the case of sand) are one of the secrets of a successful tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[snowball pleco]

when u do your water changes do u leave the buckets sitting over night(this may sound like a silly question if u already do)u have realy good filters so there should be nothing wrong with them.oh forgot to say did u rinse out the filter sponges before u put them in.

 

[audia4]

Waterdrop: Thanks very much for your indepth reply. Sounds like its a case of all three but I think its still the gravel causing the dust issue. i did wash it out to the max, in that I took bits at a time and washed them several times, til water ran mostly clear, not enough though as when filled tank, it was murky as if i did nothing!!

On another note the tank gets no natural sunlight at all (room has no windows) but i do leave the lights on 8-9 hours, which might be too much and is casuing the 'green water' although it doesnt look green at all. doesnt look like a baterial bloom as water doesnt look milky or whiteish. The lighting is only some led lights which are not that strong. I will cut back on them and see if it helps clear the water.

I only have small amounts of plant, can the deaying plants cause cloudiness even in 350l of water?

The filters turnover a total of 2000l an hour. maybe overkill? i always thought u can never have too much filteration.

Snowball: lol ye i did rinse the sponges out, i dont get what you mean by leaving the buckets out overnight? As in do i leave the water for the water change sitting overnight? If so, no i dont. please elaborate on that, im interested.....

The dusty water issue i think is just a visual thing im trying to sort out, as i want what everyone wants, crystal clear water and a healthy setup. I think the fish are fine, as they are breeding and also the cherry shrimp have also given fry, which were soooo tiny and cute lol

 

[snowball pleco]

yea u need to leave the water for the water changes sitting in buckects overnight, so that chlorine and other chemicals evaporate.hope the water clears up

 

[audia4]

Ah yes, someone also told me this idea, the idea was to help lower the nitrates by leaving it overnight they told me, becuase the whole point of the water change is to help keep the parameters good, and no point if my tap water has 40ppm nitrates which it has when i tested it.

But my issue with leaving it overnight, is the issue of heating the water up. Plus i was also advised that i should just carry on the way I am, as leaving the water overnight and then putting in tank might be too much of a change and shock the fish? i dont know. also been told 40ppm is nothing to worry about.

Well i also hope it clears up. I did a water change today and gravel vac, and it was DIRTY and dusty so i guess its the gravel all along, i feel abit dumb now lol. think if i keep this up should clear up in a few months!

Also cleaned out the filters, wow, they were dirty and full of crap.

Thanks for the help and advice and taggging along.

 

[Skins]

You could put some polishing(pads) media in your filter if you already haven't, this should help clear it up a bit quicker.

Keith.

 

[audia4]

Hi Keith, I have some polishing pads in there already. I replaced one today, and it was nasty. so hopefully the new one will help clear up the tank. It does already look cleaner, as i cleaned the glass too, was filthy.

 

[Skins]

Hi Keith, I have some polishing pads in there already. I replaced one today, and it was nasty. so hopefully the new one will help clear up the tank. It does already look cleaner, as i cleaned the glass too, was filthy.

 

[audia4]

Just a quickie,

When you guys leave the water sitting over night, how do you warm the water back up or do you just use it as it is? As i think i need to do this, nitrates need to come down, tao water at 40ppm doesnt help at all.

 

[waterdrop]

yea u need to leave the water for the water changes sitting in buckects overnight, so that chlorine and other chemicals evaporate.hope the water clears up

Note that this is only true if your water authority uses chlorine. If they use chloramines then no amount of standing the water is likely to help, a conditioner must be used. Standing the water does give the CO2 a chance to gas out though, and that can help you to not have CO2 swings that are as large in the tank (large CO2 swings can encourage black brush algae (BBA.) Still this is a pretty minor thing and many, many experienced fishkeepers use a hose system to directly refill there tank. WD

 

[audia4]

waterdrop: So standing the water overnight or over a few nights will not help bring down the nitrates of my tap water? Is there anything else you can suggest?

 

[snowball pleco]

yea the water that i leave sitting overnight ,you just put it into the tank the way it is .the tank should only go down a couple of degrees so your heater should heat back up plus the water shouldnt be a shock to your fish (well my discus or any other of my fish have been afected).if your water starts to clear up just keep doing what your are doing.
hope this helps.

 

[audia4]

ye i think it shouldnt either, as when i do my normal water changes, sometimes its a little cooler than the tank, and the fish seem to like it, as they keep playing in the incoming flow of new water, as i introduce it slowly through a pipe, as if it was like falling rain, quite funny to watch.

I am going to test some of my tap water after 24 hours of being left out and see how it tests.

one thing i forgot to ask, do you put the conditioner in after having let it set overnight or at the same time as filling?