Cloudy water and Bubbles/Foam

millionpit · 02-09-2007, 08:55 AM

Hello Im new to site. Nice to see there's a place to go for help for us "new aquarium owners". My tank has been set up for approx 5-6 weeks now, havent had any real problems so to speak. My only concern is the water became cloudy about 10 days ago. I went to my LFS and was told my ph and ammonia levels were off and to do a partial water change and gravel cleaning, which I did, but that only took about half of the cloudiness out. I went back and had another water sample done, water is fine with ammonia slightly high (0.5) and was told to place ammonia pads into filter system. My water is still cloudy. I recently bought Accu Clear and put the requested amount into the tank, but still cloudy. I also have some foam on top of the water. NOt covering entire top of water, but maybe 1/4 of water surface. I have a 55 gal, bio wheel filter, water temp at 76-77, 3 OB peacocks, 1 electric yellow cichlid, 1 blue johanni, 2 puffers, 1 albino cichlid, 1 red tailed albino shark, 1 midnight catfish, 2 plecos, and a blue lobster. I feed them flakes, frozen cubes (asst), shrimp pellets for the lobster mainly, and cucumber slices on a clip. Ive been reading the forums for about 2 weeks now and like what i see. Im sure someone will be able to help me out.

jesusnet2 · 02-09-2007, 09:27 AM

ok i'm new here here as well but welcome abord imo it looks like you might be haveing a cycle and the flakes will also do this to you since they will rise your amonia and it would help better if you could test your water and give us the resualts of the test and when and how much water did u change.

millionpit · 02-09-2007, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jesusnet2

ok i'm new here here as well but welcome abord imo it looks like you might be haveing a cycle and the flakes will also do this to you since they will rise your amonia and it would help better if you could test your water and give us the resualts of the test and when and how much water did u change.

I did a 20-25% water change about 5-6 days ago--and im not sure what cycling means.

I need to get a water testing kit--at the moment i am using the strips or I bring a sample to my LFS.

jesusnet2 · 02-09-2007, 11:02 AM

ok you should get your self the liquid test kit it is better then the strips
and you can refer to this link for the cycleing
http://www.fishtankforums.com/5-fres...cycle-how.html
but keep an eye on yuor levals since you do have fish in there and you might have to keep doing water changes if the amonia gets to high or you will start loseing fish fast

Tommy Gun · 02-09-2007, 05:23 PM

Welcome to the forum!

Is the cloudy water sort of white/milky or is it more of a greenish tint?

In either case, they are both pretty common in new tanks since the mini ecosystem you are trying to create is not well established. IMHO, the LFS is giving you the wrong idea here...your goal is not so much to keep ammonia out of your tank, but rather to promote and protect the growth of a benificial bacteria colony (as described in the link that jesusnet2 provided) to 'transform' ammonia first into nitrites and then into nitrates. Ammonia is generated by your fishes' wastes and from decaying organic matter. It is highly toxic to your fish and so promoting the bacteria I was talking about will allow your tank to make nitrites on its own. Nitrites are also toxic to your fish and so a second bacteria will grow which feeds upon it and make nitrates. These are not as toxic as ammonia and nitrite, but still toxic...so you do water changes to remove them and keep things healthy for your fish.

IMO, the best thing for you to do is keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels in your tank and when they get high, perhaps above 1 ppm, do a water change rather than relying on a chemical or product to remove the ammonia for you. Doing that will only inhibit the growth of the bacteria (i.e. no food for the bacteria, no bacteria will grow) and prolong your issues.

eprasinos · 02-10-2007, 07:50 PM

You have a lot of expensive fish in a brand new tank. Not the usual way to do it. The preferred method is a couple of fish- water gets cloudy- 50% water changes as soon as ammonia shows up. Try to get "used" gravel from a friends tank or a "used" filter cartridge and put it in a net bag in the tank or filter and it will "seed" your tank. Another way to "seed" a tank is a brand new tank, absolutely no fish (very hard to do when you want the aquarium because you want fish), a few drops of ammonia (the water will turn cloudy, and wait until the water is crystal clear, ammonia levels are zero, and you are all set to add any fish you want, and as many fish as the tank is supposed to hold (1"/gallon)- that is NOT a lot of fish.
Anyway, now you are in this mess, your fish are stressed out and you need to do alot fast. 50% water changes, daily. "seed" your tank from someone elses, if you can. And wait. DO NOT ADD ANY NEW FISH, ever. There should also be some aquarium salt added at the rate of a tbsp./ 15 gallons. Your fish will be less stressed out.

eprasinos · 02-10-2007, 07:56 PM

Also, you may be, probably are feeding your fish way too much. They should be fed as much as the space taken up by each fishes eyeball/day. That is about as big as their stomachs are. Cichlids are PIGs and will eat as much as you give them and will eat anytime. The tanks and fish also do better if you do not feed them every day. Skip a day often and everyone will do better. If you imagine a fish in their natural habitat, food does not come along that often, a worm or mosquito here and there, a nibble on a plant. It is not normal for fish to have a huge meal or to even eat every day. Less food means less bioload. The fish books (all the food should be eaten in 5 minutes) if bogus... the food should never hit the bottom of the tank, the fish should still be hungry. I had another point also, but I will go back and read the posts and return if it is anything worth saying...

eprasinos · 02-10-2007, 08:05 PM

Subscribe to Aquarium fish magazine. DON'T add any chemicals except dechlorinator, salt. Also make sure you have the right Ph for your fish- it is more difficult if all the fish are from different areas. Easier if you have a tank which is representative of some region of the world. You have an ambitious project ahead of you. Cichlids. and puffers are hard fish to take care of. Good luck. Ellen (75 gallon Malawi cichlid tank, 40 gallon community tank, 10 gallon guppy tank)

millionpit · 02-12-2007, 02:12 PM

OK thank you very much Ellen and everyone else who's helped here. The only chemical Ive used so far has been the Accu Clear I mentioned above. I have added salt to the tank (about a week after I set the tank up)--but my question now is how often or when do I add more salt? At the water changes? Every X amount of time? Also all of my fish came from the same store so I guess that is a plus in that dept. PH is between 7.8 and 8.0 every time Ive brought a sample in. Again--thank you all very much for all of your help. I look forward to typing with you all again soon.