Water Cloudy / Clear

[nccj]

Hi, I've had my tank approx 6 weeks now, just a starter 40 litre set up.

I'm finding after feeding (only a very small amount)about 6pm the water goes cloudy all night but then is clear by the morning.

I use standard tropical flakes and drop in 1 plec pellet for the pleco (what the others enjoy!)

Any ideas to stop the clouding please?

Thanks

 

[Liquid skills]

Could be something in your substrate try syphoning it to see if something comes out

 

[nccj]

I'll be honest, I don't understand what you mean, i'm only a beginer.

 

[soybean]

Did you do anything to cycle your filter, by which I mean adding a source of ammonia in order to grow a colony of bacteria in the filter, which in turn remove nasties from the water?

If you don't know what I'm talking about, then no you didn't, and you are now going through what we call a 'fish-in cycle' (as opposed to a fishless cycle done before adding fish, by using pure ammonia).

This could explain the cloudiness you are seeing, called a bacterial bloom.

Even though it had been running six weeks, your filter may still not be able to cope with the level of ammonia your fish are producing. The bacteria in the filter convert the ammonia into nitrite, which is also bad for fish, but then they turn the nitrite into nitrate, which isn't too bad, and you remove that when you do water changes. The problem is, any exposure to ammonia and nitrite is really,really bad news for your fish and it can do damage you can't even see.

So, a few questions to answer please:

1. How many fish do you have, what are they? The fact you say you have a plec in a 40 litre is a bit of a worry.
2. Do you have a water test kit? If not I recommend the API Freshwater Master Kit, available on eBay for around £20, an absolutely essential bit of kit for any fish keeper.
3. How often do you change any water, how much do you change?
4. Do you ever clean the filter sponges? Because you shouldn't! Very rarely, anyway.
5. Do you ever clean the gravel?

There is a link in my signature saying Beginners Click Here - it will take you to the newbie section and has lots of information on fish in cycling, which I urge you to read.

 

[nccj]

Hi,

1, 3 x Pllaty, 3 x neon, 3 x Guppy, 1 x plec

2, Yes I have and the pet shop passed all my water tests before I was allowed any fish

3. 20% each week as the pet shop said

4. I haven't , again as instructed

5, cleaned gravel with a gravel vacuum twice

The pet shop advised me what fish to buy, like I said I'm new to this game and asked their advice.

Thanks

 

[soybean]

Do you know what kind of plec? Your tank simply isn't big enough for one. Depending on the species they can grow about a foot long and produce a LOT of waste. Can you post a photo?

Neons need to be in shoals, we recommend 6 at the very least but I personally say more like 12+. Your tank can't house that many though. They're also really picky about water and are not recommended for new setups.

Which test kit do you have? Strips are NOT accurate compared to drop test kits. With respect to your pet shop, very few of them understand the cycling process and it's unlikely your tank was ready. If you could test your water and repost YOUR results, the exact figures, that would be helpful.

20% a week is ok for a fully cycled tank, but until we've established whether or not yours is cycled, you need to be doing far more than that. More like 50% a few times a week at least. Like I said, any trace of ammonia or nitrite is deadly for fish and can do unseen damage to gills etc, causing them long term problems. So we really need to see those water test results.

Good to hear you're not washing your filter sponges. They don't need replacing either, until they're falling apart.

You should be doing gravel vacs every time you do a water change, especially if you have a poo-machine in there, ie the plec. The waste build up will also cause ammonia spikes.

In the nicest way possible, from now on, take everything a pet shop says with a large pinch of salt. Some are good, many are not, and are a business after all.

 

[nccj]

Thanks for that. I will now do as you said, when I get a chance I'll post a pic of the plec.

Thanks again