Murky Water

[neon]

How long should it take for a new tank to clear up?  Its been running about a month and a half, with a new Eihem filter, I havn't changed anything in the filter yet except the floss at the top once.  I've done weekly water changes, about a third, added carbon to the filter, been adding a product called Clarify, all to no avail.  Its cloudy, swampy and murky.  If I just leave it, it just gets worse.

[babblefish1960]

Every time you do a water change, you interrupt the establishment of the balancing of the bacteria developing during the cycle. Forget the clarify product, save your money, and this is only a guess, as you don't mention any specifics such as fish and such.

Have you been able to test the water parameters to see if the nitrates and nitrites along with the ammonia have followed their respective paths?

What colour is your murk?  I am guessing that you just need to be patient and let the thing finish establishing itself.

[neon]

It has fish in it, I transferred the fish I had in my old tank (33 Gallon) and the water, into the new one (54 Gallon).  My water parameters are good, I test it once a week.  I have a large piece of Malaysian driftwood in it, which I know colours the water a tea like colour, but this is a murky greenish colour, and cloudy.  Are you saying I shouldn't do any more water changes unless my water paremeters are measuring in the danger zone for amonia or nitrates? 

[babblefish1960]

You say that it has been running for about a month and a half, you transferred your fish into it with their previous water. Moving the water bacterially is a generally useless act other than for pH and temperature. If you have tested it once a week, you will have noted a number of changes in your readings, and what have you been testing for?

The primary concern is to get the newness of the tank to die down and to create a balanced system with respect to the nitrogen process.  You will start out with ammonia spikes, then nitrate spikes, and finally nitrate spikes, this nitrite spike is when you want to be changing your water and not before.

The murky greenness of your water is indicative of an algae bloom, this is normal during this process, and of course amplified by overfeeding, too much available light in either intensity or duration, and so on.

What I am suggesting is that you test your water for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite, and have a look at where in the scheme of things your tank is currently presiding.  If you have nitrites, change some water for sure, ammonia is a little trickier, because you need it to be converted, so if you change the water before it has had the opportunity to help develop the bacteria that eats it, you start the process over each and every time.

Final thought, test your water and expect some readings other than just good.

[PaleoFishGirl]

If you could post your test results, that would be great!

[neon]

I'll test my water when I get home tonight and post the levels here.  Thanks.

[babblefish1960]

That would be great, then we could be more helpful rather than just guessing at what you are having trouble with.

[neon]

OK.  My nitrate level shows as the lowest on the strip, which is 5, my nitrite is also the lowest, 0.1, but I don't know my ammonia level.  I have another bottle of test solution labeled NH3, but no instructions with it.  Is this the ammonia tester?  If it is, how many drops do I add to the test water sample?

[babblefish1960]

I personally am not fond of strips for testing, they only give you a range rather than a reading, however, at least it is something. Under normal circumstances, nitrite NO2-, is a bad thing, but a necessary component in the development of the nitrogen cycle by converting to nitrate NO3-, which you have been interrupting.


NH3 is ammonia, as for your test kit, without knowing the brand of test kit, can't really tell you how to read it or use it.

For a clear explanation of what you are going through right now, have a look at this . The krib has a lot of good information that is well written.

Let us know how it goes with your fish.

[neon]

Thanks, I read through it and it certainly makes sense.  I'll bring in a water sample to have it tested, and just leave it for now, not do anymore water changes.

[babblefish1960]

That sounds good, along with some patience now, everything should fall into place depending of course the types and number of fish and the feeding regimen. Have you any other things in there such as plants?  This should all settle soon, depending upon the lighting situation you have as well.

[neon]

I have plants, I have  coralife 96 watt double strip light, and I feed my fish once a day. I do not run any CO2, my plants do fine without it.

[babblefish1960]

Sounds good, as for the green murk, don't have your lights on more than 12 hours maximum per day, excessive duration will only contribute to more algae, however, you are in an algae balancing act now anyway, so enjoy, shouldn't be too long.

[neon]

My water in my tank was cloudy, greenish and murky.  Water changes didn't help.  Went to LFS and was sold a product called BioZorb.  In less than 48 hours, crystal clear!!  Its an amazing product.