cloudy water. Sump issue?

[smellfry]

Hi, the water seems to be quite cloudy in my tank. I'm not sure if it's the glass/mirror at the back of if it's the water, but i cleaned the glass and it doesn't really solve the issue, so i'm thinking it's the water. My sump is separated into 3 compartments like in the picture. The first compartment with the sponge is really brown now because of the food that's gone into the filter inlet, but it has no fish waste. Is it meant to have fish waste? I have tried positioning power heads in the tank so that the waste gets pushed into the filter inlet but it won't work. I've decided just to let the waste settle in my tank, and every time i do a water change, i'll just siphon it all out at the same time. Is there an issue with that besides the aesthetics? Is the dirty sponge leading to the cloudiness of the water or is my filtration insufficient? Would adding a sponge filter inside my sump or the tank benefit in any way? Or could i possibly just add some fine polyester filter in one of the three compartments of the filter to catch the small particles, because the sponges i currently have, have quite large pores. Also, regarding the pump for the outlet of the sump, it uses a lot of electricity. Is there anyway around this? cheers.

[Buccal]

To many variables to get any answer.

Best to test for ammonia, before any thing.

[Must8Hacks]

Hi champ, hard to give you a 100% answer is this a new setup, by the looks of it you seem to have freshly new filter wool and noodles, if this is the case let the tank cycle over a couple of days the water will start to clear up. maybe provide a picture of the actual tank, might help people see where you're at. cheers.

[Buccal]

I'm guessing that's a pic when he first set it up.

And now it's aged,,,,, maybe ??

[smellfry]

Yes the pics when I first set it up. The sponge is very brown now because of the fish food. There's no waste on it. My ammonia and nitrite are 0. Nitrate is at 10ppm. So I don't think it's a bacteria bloom. Also, is it common for a fish to show a lot of colour in the store and then lose it when it arrives at home in my tank?

[Matthew_]

On the Fish Colour topic. In store they could have been using a colour enhancement type of food. If you do not continue with this food then the fish will go back to there natural colour for there age. I personally think it alters there hormones and is not good for the fish at all. What store did you purchase your fish from?

[Buccal]

Matt is correct,,,, but the enhancer only harms the fish over a very long term and sole use.

Using as a tool to slightly prop color on a display is the key.

If there is any intent at all to breed your fish,,, never use enhancer.

Don't get confused with all the foods,,, the best foods on packaging state color enhancers,, this is a form of false advertising,,,, it is more appropriate to state color promoters.

When we talk of the bad for health color enhancing food,,,, the true only color enhancing food, it is White Crane super G and R.

I'm a breeder of huge proportion,,, I have a 2,500 liter display Malawi tank in the living room, and my display fish get 15% of white crane first then followed by 85% premium food.

This keeps everything colored and tweaked.

Added advantages are that ripped fins heal quicker and fins grow longer.

And all those pesky unwanted fry and crosses aren't present, because super G inhibits breeding/short term fertility.

Looks like you have a display,,, and your really chasing color,,,, so I suggest you go and hunt for a jar of white crane super g and include this as 15% in your fishes diet.

Wether your fish are female, male or young, your fish will always be colored.

Most of my display fish are over 7 years old,,, so correct us of white crane does not harm.

Just adding,,, do your weekly water changes and ignore the cloud if no ammonia is present.

And really look at your fishes bellies as to how much you feed.

If your fishes bellies are still round the next day, then only feed half as much or skip a day.

Choose one day a week you don't feed at all to let your bio filter play catch up which will help with cloudy water.

[tranced]

theres not heaps of media in that sump. seems a waste to only have the white poly wool in that large section... it would be great to find some matala mat and cut it to fit that first section, so its mostly layers of matala with some poly wool just sitting on top. then i would take the bio noodles out of the bag and buy more to fill that section to the top. are the noodles smooth or grainy in texture? if theyre smooth i would just replace them with seachem matrix or something...

[smellfry]

They're grainy. As for the fish losing colour, I don't think it's the hormones because all the other fish were quite drab with one being quite lit up. But when I brought it home it lost its colour. Might be due to stress during travel? I'm also looking at raising the fish as natural as possible so not looking at adding hormones to their diet.

[Buccal]

White crane does not have hormones,, as any hormone based product is not allowed into oz.

It contains PSB which induces the fishes body to produce its own male hormones.

[Matthew_]

Fishy Peptides.

[Buccal]

Ha hah.

[smellfry]

Would adding sponge filtration make the water clearer?Or if not at least it adds biological filtration? Also, when you add new media, shouldn't the current media be holding the perfect amount of BB. So if you add new media and more BB grows on it, wouldn't there be an excess of Bb?

[swifto]

U didn't wash your noodles properly b4 putting into sump this is why the water is cloudy,it clear in time.

My sump contains Stage 1 wool 3 layers,3 layers of coarse sponge cut to size,4ltr of noodles.Stage 2 has 12ltrs of matrix.Stage 3 has 8ltrs of matrix.Its over kill but that's how I like it & I've never had an ammonia issue yet other than when it was set up as I was putting pure ammonia 5ml every 3 days to cycle my tank.Pump is a Ehiem 1260 compac.hth

[smellfry]

Are the noodles just ceramic for which the beneficial bacteria grow on? What does the matrix do and where can you get it at what price?

[crooner]

You could put a bag of purigen in the sump, tat will polish the water for you

[Buccal]

Purigen will work for sure.

But water changes every second day should clear it within a week.

If it s still cloudy, then a outlining problem is occurring.

Make sure your Definetely not over feeding,,, excess food not eaten fouls the water.

[malawi sand diver]

It looks like quite a well designed sump for your setup, I agree purigen would be a good idea and I would leave your existing noodles in there for a couple of months without touching them - to get the bacteria established in there and only rinse the muck off the filter wool section for cleaning. The bacteria would have just started to get established by now. Essential that you leave those noodles in there without touching them.

I agree seachem matrix is a good media if you want to switch in future. It is more porous, a pummace like material that houses the bacteria withing the ceramic as it has more surface area. Thats what I use in my sump, but I would make sure it is seeded with bacteria first and gradually introduce it.

Re white crane, better feeding the fish New Life spectrum, a frozen brine shrimp cube once per week and live food whenever possible. e.g. my red empress is very colourful and in great condition on that diet. He is always flaring his fins and doing dances at the females aswell.

[smellfry]

Okay I'll look into purigen. Would adding a sponge filter benefit towards the clear water

[Likoma]

Great advice

Okay I'll look into purigen. Would adding a sponge filter benefit towards the clear water

Depends if the cloudy water is a biological problem. If so then added biofiltartion can rectify the problem. Sponge filters are designed for lower flow rate giving a sufficient contact time between water and the denitrifying bacteria.

Sufficient biofiltration/regular water changes are the key to successful fishkeeping. Water quality comes first and everything else follows.

If it is a partciculates in the water problem then an added sponge filter wont change a thing. As mentioned regular water changes should rectify the problem by diluting the particulates.

The effectiveness of ceramic noodles, Matrix is dependent on the CLEAN factor of the water passing though and over it. The cleaner the water the less chance of all that micro internal surface area of the biomedia becoming blocked and inefficient.

You want the water passing through the stages of mechanical filtration (removing all particulates) and then over the bio media.

Good luck

[smellfry]

Okay many thanks

[Skippy]

Is this the tank you just added rocks and sand to?

[smellfry]

Yes it's the same one

[Skippy]

Yes it's the same one

Did the cloudy water appear shortly after you added the sand? If so, you may not have cleaned it well enough before adding it. If it doesn't clear soon, you could add a flocculant to bind the fine particles together so the filter media screens it out.

[smellfry]

I washed the sand quite thoroughly so I don't think it's the sand. Just wondering, when you guys refer to clear water, just how clear are you guys actually talking about?