deff sounds like an algae bloom to me, run your lights around 5 hours a day, turn your heat down just a tad and make sure the tank is not in any way shape or form in contact with direct sunlight, clean your filter, and change out the carbon and change out some of the bio filtration. this should help you curb the algae from continuous bloom. something is causing it and 99% of the time it's light.
hope this helps,
Brandon
what makes my tank couldy? help
21 posts • Page 2 of 3
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milky648 - Posts: 194
- Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:41 am
ok so i did a 50% water change clind pump put carobon in and water clear now my tank is clearin up but that stuff is making it couldy its better i guess ill take a coupel of days , so sould i change the biomax have onf them i also have pre filter in ther to sould i change thoes 50%??? they toled me i never have to change thoes??? it says here maintenace for pre filter sould ber cleaned during filter maintenace. rinse using non chlorinated water or aqaurium water i always use tank water to clean that??? so am i saposto use tab water and treat it and then clean them?????
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spongebob4460 - Posts: 603
- Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am
I don't believe there is anything that should be cleaned under tap water... ever. Either it gets cleaned under tank water or changed... but if it holds beneficial bacteria you don't want to change it. I would keep doing the water changes if its helping, and be patient, it might go away in a few days on its own.
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Peterkarig3210 - Posts: 1980
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am
I'm wondering what you mean by a pre-filter. Is this a cylindrical or some other shape sponge you have over the intake of your Fluval filter? If you have one of these that should be cleaned more often than the Fluval. If you have a sponge pre-filter it will keep your Fluval clean longer by trapping most of the particulates before they get to the Fluval, and as the sponge will be the place where most of the particulates gets caught, it should be well cleaned quite often.
You can usually tell when the sponge pre-filter needs cleaning because the water flow through the fluval will slow down. In my opinion, if you have a healthy colony of bacteria in the fluval it's OK to rinse the sponge pre-filter under tap water.
In my experience, these sponges are actually pretty hard to effectively rinse, so I personally would use tap water. If the sponge was the only filter you had you would be knocking out the bacteria in the tank possibly too much, but since you have the Fluval which has lots of places for bacteria to colonise, I'd just make sure you've rinsed the pre-filter sponge really well.
Is the pre-filter I'm describing what you have? Please explain.
Peter
You can usually tell when the sponge pre-filter needs cleaning because the water flow through the fluval will slow down. In my opinion, if you have a healthy colony of bacteria in the fluval it's OK to rinse the sponge pre-filter under tap water.
In my experience, these sponges are actually pretty hard to effectively rinse, so I personally would use tap water. If the sponge was the only filter you had you would be knocking out the bacteria in the tank possibly too much, but since you have the Fluval which has lots of places for bacteria to colonise, I'd just make sure you've rinsed the pre-filter sponge really well.
Is the pre-filter I'm describing what you have? Please explain.
Peter
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Peterkarig3210 - Posts: 1980
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am
Sorry Spongbob. I see no reason to throw away a sponge filter if it's clogged, and within a system where the sponge collects the majority of the gunk as a pre-filter, it leaves all the sponges in the Fluval to stay open and clear enough to colonise healthy bacteria. The pre-filter sponge will get so clogged that it's biological effectiveness becomes pretty poor. You need to hold it under running water and squeeze, let it fill, squeeze, let it fill, squeeze over and over and over. I actually sometimes fill the sponge with water and throw it hard against the bottom of a deep sink. It's amazing how much more gunk you can get out of it that way.
I now have a Fluval filter myself! I bought it for $5 at a garage sale. Sweeeeeeeet!
I now have a Fluval filter myself! I bought it for $5 at a garage sale. Sweeeeeeeet!
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spongebob4460 - Posts: 603
- Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2008 8:37 am
why can't he run the sponge, if this is what he has, under running water change water? I change about 5 gallons of water during a change, which isn't much, and I get about one minute of fast gushing water out of the bucket. If he has a 55 gallon, that should be plenty of water in a water change to clean any media he has. I dunno, i shy away from tap water whenever possible, why kill off any bacteria if you don't have to.
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Peterkarig3210 - Posts: 1980
- Joined: Wed Oct 24, 2007 3:04 am
I guess he could, but I rinse mine every 2-3 days, much more often than I do a water change. Yes, It would be better to always use dechlorinated water, but if the Fluval is being kept free of particulates you may not have to clean that for many months, and the Fluval if kept free of gunk should hold plenty of bacteria to cycle the tank. I was thinking that since cleaning a pre-filter sponge often needs to be done quite frequently, I would think much more frequently than water changes, that for simplicity using tap water on the pre-filter sponge would be fine.
If there are problems with the cycle, like ammonia and nitrites, I guess it would be best to maintain every bit of bacteria colonising material filled with live bacteria, but nobody in my opinion should be working with a bacterial load that is anywhere close to the minimum a tank will cycle with. That's why I use so many filters, so I always have plenty of bacteria when I rinse out my sponges.
If there are problems with the cycle, like ammonia and nitrites, I guess it would be best to maintain every bit of bacteria colonising material filled with live bacteria, but nobody in my opinion should be working with a bacterial load that is anywhere close to the minimum a tank will cycle with. That's why I use so many filters, so I always have plenty of bacteria when I rinse out my sponges.
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milky648 - Posts: 194
- Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2007 4:41 am
hi what i ment the pre filter its not the spange its thoes while littel things the the biomax ther called pre filter i never rince anything under tap water no more last time i didt that i lost milky he was my 14" albino oscar and lost other 7 fish , it took all the good bacteria out and put ammonia a nitrate in they toled me ther was nothing i could of done but i think i could of saved his live this was last march :( but my tank is claer now changed 50% cleand pump and put carbon in and water clerifier
