help! cloudy tank

thederek

Member
My tank just finished cycling a few days ago, so last night I added 2 hermits, 2 snails, a peppermint shrimp, and a few fragments of LR...When I woke up this morning the tank was extremely cloudy and has yet to clear up after a few hours...I cant account for everything but I know for sure that the shrimp and at least one of the snails are still alive so I cant figure out what happened....I put a small amount of food in the tank last night, but I dont think that would be enough to make it this cloudy....Any help would be appreciated...Thanks :help:
 

thederek

Member
No, I havent done any cleaning and I have sand as my substrate...I dont think its sand though, It looks different than sand and It has stayed cloudy a lot longer than sand usually does..
 

leona

Member
maybe filtration needs cleaning. Try adding NEW carbon see if that helps. Does it smell? I've heard of some smells.
Leona
 

thederek

Member
The carbon filter is new and still pretty clean....It has a slight smell, a little worse than usualy, but not too bad...I'm gonna do a water change pretty soon.
 

thederek

Member
Did a 15ish% water change a few hours ago and its just as cloudy as before, smell seems worse...how long should I wait to do another water change?
 

leona

Member
what kind of water are you using? Rodi? Tap?
Is everything working ok?
Skimmer? PHeads? Filtration system.
There's something that causing the cloudiness. Are you sure someone's not kicking up sand?
Our blenny's kick up a little sand here and there.
Our Tomato really kicked up sand until we took him to LFS
 

diddley

Member
arnie, what's the basis of the 10 percent water change rationale?
derek, it's a very young tank, check nitrites and nitrates. quality source water is a must. good quality carbon will clear up the cloudy water. if the live rock "fragments" weren't from an existing aquarium, that's probably the source of algae or bacteria bloom causing the cloudy water. just use the carbon and leave everything else (excluding top-offs) alone for 2-3 days. don't feed.
hope this helps,
diddley
 

bigarn

Active Member

Originally posted by bigarn
If the ammonia and nitrites are 0 do a 10% water change with RO/DI water. :D

diddley-
I was thinking perhaps nitrates could be high since it is newly cycled, and could be causeing cloudiness. :D
 

fulofcharm

Member
first,what size is your tank?? and what filter system do you have??? see!! if your tank is to large for the filter you are using? then you will have problems clearing. also,live sand that you have on the bottom of your tank?? if you move things around like the live rock? you will get alot of cloudeness!! also when you do a water change?? do not pour the water all at once. just pour a little at a time so you do not disturb the sand!! okay???? get back to me!!!
 

thederek

Member
Thanks for the help you guys...Everything has cleared up and is back to almost normal...The fragments of LR I put in there must have done something becuase they caused the nitrates to go up when they were at zero before adding it, they were supposedly fully cured, but who knows...
 

fulofcharm

Member
i am happy for you that your tank is cleared and back to normal!! you should do a water change 25% every week!!! good luck!! :happy:
 
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