Foggy Water

[Averagesocalgirl]

My new aquarium's water looks like a thick foggy morning or evening in London.

It's only 2 weeks old and I haven't changed the filtering system but I have changed the required 20% water last weekend. I check the water for all the typical chemical readings twice a week and it all looked good.

It's 150 gallons and has only 33 small fish in it. I feed them as much as they can eat in 30 seconds twice a day.

I added partical remover to the tank but it made it worse!

How can I prevent the water from turning into fog?

Thank you,

Kelly
San Diego, Ca.

 

[Durbkat]

What kind of fish? What are the water stats? How long did you wait before you added fish? Did you let the tank cycle? Why did you add chemicals? You need to cut back to once a day on feeding. How much and what kind of food do you use? Thier is nothing you can do to prevent the foggyness it is normal with new tanks and maybe you shoudn't have added that many fish.

And maybe you shoudn't have started with a 150g maybe you should have started with a 10g because begginners aren't really good with huge tanks.

 

[Bryan1957]

OK, it sounds like you are having a bacteria bloom. Your tank hasn't cycled yet and you will need to change about 20 to 30% of the water daily until the tank cycles. Do you have a test kit? You should test the water regularly, daily in a new tank. Basically the fish's pee and poop is being decomposed by the bacteria, this is the first stage of the nitrogen cycle. Search for nitrogen cycle on TFF, there is a boat load of information.
You can start with this pinned topic http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=10099
HTH
Bryan

 

[Fish_Mike]

And maybe you shoudn't have started with a 150g maybe you should have started with a 10g because begginners aren't really good with huge tanks.

It's actually GREAT that they started off with such a large tank. Larger tanks, stabler water conditions.
Don't you read ANYONE'S posts?

I congratulate you, averagesocalgirl, for actually starting off with a large tank, as so many others start off with a 10g thinking it will be easier to care for; however, longer-term, it won't be.

 

[Averagesocalgirl]

What kind of fish? What are the water stats? How long did you wait before you added fish? Did you let the tank cycle? Why did you add chemicals? You need to cut back to once a day on feeding. How much and what kind of food do you use? Thier is nothing you can do to prevent the foggyness it is normal with new tanks and maybe you shoudn't have added that many fish.

And maybe you shoudn't have started with a 150g maybe you should have started with a 10g because begginners aren't really good with huge tanks.

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From my introduction post:

Greetings from San Diego, CA, Intro Options

Newbie


Group: Members
Posts: 1
Joined: 26-September 05
From: San Diego, CA
Member No.: 16110



Hello Everyone!

I'm new here

I have a brand new 150 gallon aquarium and 33 small fish calling it home.

12 neon tetras
8 tiger barbs
4 rosy tetras
4 mollies
2 catfish
2 sucker fish (plecto<something>
1 betta

and it still looks empty!

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I started with a 1 gallon Spongebob Squarepants aquarium with an under gravel filter.

Then I progressed to a 2.5 gallon of the same kind.

Then I went on to a 10 gallon with a paddle wheel bio filter and a hang on the side small powered filter pack.

Then after my mother's wake I had a big empty space along one side of my living room that needed filling. I had considered a 330 gallon wall unit aquarium but then I would have had to move my wall hanging plasma television and my 6.5 foot tall oak stereo cabinet. So I opted for the 150 gallon glass casket on a slab type aquarium because I liked it as an alternative to my mother's casket.

Each one of my 33 fish average 1 to 2 inches in length. Is that too much for a 150 gallon tank? The "Aquariums for Dummies" book said cycle the aquarium for 24 hours with proper chemicals and bacteria starter before adding fish, and I did. I use standard flaky fish food and they love it. How can you keep an aquarium without chemicals? That wasn't mentioned in "Aquariums for Dummies".

My aquarium has 5 foot trough over the back of the hood through which water is pumped up and over 3 layers of filtering; bio, chemical, and mechanical, and falls back into the tank.

The book also says foggy water is a result of bacteria blooms and says to add water clearing chemicals to clearing it up. I did and it didn't work.

Now maybe you could be so kind and tell me what you use to clear up foggy water?

Thank you

Kelly

 

[Bryan1957]

Kelly,
A bacteria bloom is necessary in the cycle. You have fish in the tank that produce waste, the bacteria need to grow to eat the waste. It will clear up in a few days with regular water changes. Don't add any more chemicals, there is a natural, physical process taking place, chemicals will disrupt the natural process of the nitrogen cycle. It is a royal pain in the rear end to cycle with fish. Do you have some way to introduce the beneficial bacteria from another cycled tank? I saw you have other tanks. If they are still running with fish, and have been running for a few months or more you will have the bacteria in those tanks. If you can, remove some of the substrate from another tank, place it in an old stocking and put it on the bottom of the new tank. This will introduce the bacteria quicker. Filter media from another tank will also hasten the process since the bacteria you want live in the filter media. I used a large rock decoration from my 55 gallon with some filter media to clone my 90 gallon. I've done the same thing with all my tanks. If you have a friend with a cycled tank you might be able to borrow something from their tank and speed up the cycle. I also took some water from my 90 gallon tank and replaced it with water from my 55 gallon tank to help, since there were nitrates in the 55 gallon tank that would assist with the bacteria bloom. It took about one week from start to finish to clone my 90 gallon tank using media and water from my 55 gallon.
You really can't do anything with chemicals that isn't dangerous to the fish or won't ultimately delay the nitrogen cycle. Patience and 20 or 30% daily water changes are the only real stable way for you to cycle your tank at this point..
Sorry for the misinformation you got. There are quite a few fish that suffer from the same information you had.
I just checked the fish you have in your tank and found this information about tiger barbs http/www.aquazoo.co.uk/page.cfm/Type=Fish/ID=228
Neons are very weak fish that like a mature tank.
You should be able to add more fish after your tank has cycled. Research and find fish that are compatable with what you have, find something you like and stock your tank slowly so you don't have a mini cycle resulting from a sudden increase in the bio load.
HTH and welcome to TFF
Bryan

 

[Apop]

I had the cloudy water problem in my tank for about 3 days. I didnt introduce any fish into it for about 2 weeks. When I did I only introduced 2 small fish. This is when the cloud came on.

The advice that was given to me is not to introduce too many fish in one go... As others have said above, the good bacteria has to build up to cope with the amount of waste the fish are giving off. If you introduce too many fish into a tank that isnt ready to cope with that amount of waste the environment will become pretty nasty for its inhabitants. If you introduce a few fish and do frequent water changes the bacteria will build up in no time and you can then add more and more fish safely.

As you already have lots of fish try asking you local fish shop for some used water and maybe some old filter medium to plonk in your tank for a few days. Should do the trick!

I wish you the best of luck

 

[Averagesocalgirl]

Thank you kind folks for your helpful answers

sincerely yours,

Kelly

 

[Durbkat]

I have a question. When I set up my long 20g I waited maybe a week or two after setting it up because ammonia was high then I added fish but it never turned cloudy, is that possible because that happened in my 10g before but not in my long 20g?

 

[SkiFletch]

Yeah, cloudiness from bacterial bloom does not happen in all tanks. I've actually never had a tank personally have one so your mileage may varry

 

[dwarfgourami]

I had the cloudy water problem in my tank for about 3 days. I didnt introduce any fish into it for about 2 weeks. When I did I only introduced 2 small fish. This is when the cloud came on.

The advice that was given to me is not to introduce too many fish in one go... As others have said above, the good bacteria has to build up to cope with the amount of waste the fish are giving off. If you introduce too many fish into a tank that isnt ready to cope with that amount of waste the environment will become pretty nasty for its inhabitants. If you introduce a few fish and do frequent water changes the bacteria will build up in no time and you can then add more and more fish safely.

As you already have lots of fish try asking you local fish shop for some used water and maybe some old filter medium to plonk in your tank for a few days. Should do the trick!

I wish you the best of luck

Note that the poster has a pretty enormous tank. 2 small fish is not going to kick off the cycle in a tank that size. Two small fish would be about right for cycling a 10 gallon tank.

Also, letting the tank sit empty for 2 weeks has absolutely no beneficial effect; the cycle cannot start until ammonia is introduced. There are pinned topics on how the cycle works, Apop.

Used water isn't going to do a lot for cycling the tank either, as most of the bacteria lives in the filter media. Old filter media is fine, as long as you trust your lfs (I wouldn't trust my nearest one not to give me every disease under the sun).

As already said, bacteria blooms are common in cycling tanks and usually nothing to worry about.