klw Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 hi there,in all my many years of fishkeeping i have never had a tank that wouldnt cycle,but i have a 3ft that is staying so cloudy,i can hardly see the fish!admittedly,i have replaced all the gravel and taken off the hang on filter and put a canister filter on it.this was about 4 weeks ago.i have put cycle in and put old water from another tank in(a few buckets full),the water smells like fresh dirt as i have udo rocks in there which is i think where the smell is coming from.have done small water changes weekly and it just stays the same day after day,not clearing at all!! how much longer can it take to clear? can i leave it and eventually it will right itself or should i be doing something else? thanks klw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fongyfong Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 hi there,in all my many years of fishkeeping i have never had a tank that wouldnt cycle,but i have a 3ft that is staying so cloudy,i can hardly see the fish!admittedly,i have replaced all the gravel and taken off the hang on filter and put a canister filter on it.this was about 4 weeks ago.i have put cycle in and put old water from another tank in(a few buckets full),the water smells like fresh dirt as i have udo rocks in there which is i think where the smell is coming from.have done small water changes weekly and it just stays the same day after day,not clearing at all!! how much longer can it take to clear? can i leave it and eventually it will right itself or should i be doing something else? thanks klw if you think its the UDO rock dont use it and see what happens, did you thorougly wash the gravel? before you put it in? when i first started keeping fish i idint wash the gravel and the water was always cloudy maybe its cos you havnt rinsed the gravel out enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lonx Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 Might be worth doing a check on your ammonia levels to see if its a cycling problem or something else in the water as fongy suggested? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robfishfan Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 you could try carbon in the filter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KIMO Posted May 3, 2008 Share Posted May 3, 2008 Maybe add some more fine filter wool to your cannister or even replace any coarse filter wool for some fine wool for the time being. Load your cannister full of the fine stuff to trap and catch whatever particles you have in the water. Once it clears up, chuck this out and then balance out your cannister with fine and coarse wool. Also try a bag of "purigen" as this stuff works wonders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 5, 2008 Author Share Posted May 5, 2008 thanks for your replies,i have tried magic clear which binds particles together but this did nothing at all so i know it isnt physical bits in the water.i will check ammonia levels i think and go from there,can it stay like that or will it eventually fix itself??? thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeppry Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 hey klw few questions :- what is udo rock? :-where did you get it from? :-did the rocks have any growth on them? if so did you clean them off well? :-have you tried to cycle the tank without the rocks? :-how many fish do you have in the tank? maybe you could try boiling the rocks to remove any dead or dying organisms that might be rotting which could be clouding the tank anyways HTH and goodluck with clearing it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 I cant imagine that ammonia would keep it cloudy for three weeks. What is the substrate and what fish are you keeping. even though you have used something to bind the particles together if the fish dig then they will become waterborne again. I would be doing what Kimo suggested and adding some fine filter wool to try and remove the particles completely Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krellious Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 does teh water get direct sunlight? we had a 3ft that had rays hit it from betweenthe vertical blinds. it was a nice and cloudy green. we then moved the tank away from that area. it was perfect when we did a water change. You may just have to move the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 7, 2008 Author Share Posted May 7, 2008 udo rock is like a sandstone type of rock which i have in my other tanks with no probs,theyre all clear.udo rock is sold through aquamart aquarium stores,thats where i got mine anyway.i actually took the carbon out as it says on the cycle bottle to remove it so that could be half the problem.i have atm about 50 e.yellow fry in there only very small though.there is a little bit of brown gunk on the filter pad inside the canister,muddyish.i will try taking the rocks out anyway,even though i have so many other pieces and they are even from the same lfs but tahnks again for all your different suggestions,somethings gotta work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted May 7, 2008 Share Posted May 7, 2008 Best bet is to check water parameters in your tank to clear up some queries. You say the tank is not cycled but have you checked for ammonia and nitrite levels? The tank could be fully cycled and the cloudyness is coming from something else, such as the rock. Also how long has the canister been running without a clean? Sometimes throwing on a canister will not do much as majority are full of old filter wool and gunk. HTH, Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 8, 2008 Author Share Posted May 8, 2008 in answer to some of the questions i missed,the substrate is very clean marina gravel doesnt need rinsing at all,and no i havent tested water for anything as i dont own any test kits of any sort,i know bad,bad!! my fluval canister has only been running for a couple of weeks at the most.so frustrating to look into this heavy fog!! the lfs said no way would those rocks do that but of course they wouldnt say otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frontosa Andrew Posted May 8, 2008 Share Posted May 8, 2008 I've had some cloudyness problems, and they've usually been sorted by effective mechanical filtration. You don't say if you're using water conditioners. I've had a reaction between (cheap) lift lake salts and buffering compounds. It may be that you've got a chemical reaction from something in the water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 10, 2008 Author Share Posted May 10, 2008 i just use aquamaster water ager and thats it,its one where you have to use a fair bit of it as its not concentrated.i cant get the aquarium science brand ive always used.i took the rocks out too and made no difference so slowly through process of elimination i should get there!all the fish are happy as in there,the tank itself is very clean so the mind boggles!! klw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted May 10, 2008 Share Posted May 10, 2008 Mate only thing you can do now that'll speed things up is relocate the fish and start with new water all over again. cheers, Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 12, 2008 Author Share Posted May 12, 2008 well the latest is i've had my water checked and everything is spot on so someone told me as richard said,that i will have to take out all water and start again dont know if i should take it all out or leave some,what do you all think i should do?the canister filter is pretty new,its been running for 3.5 wks i checked the date i installed it. thanks everyone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fongyfong Posted May 13, 2008 Share Posted May 13, 2008 well the latest is i've had my water checked and everything is spot on so someone told me as richard said,that i will have to take out all water and start again dont know if i should take it all out or leave some,what do you all think i should do?the canister filter is pretty new,its been running for 3.5 wks i checked the date i installed it. thanks everyone if its been a month now then the only answer is take it all out and start agian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 15, 2008 Author Share Posted May 15, 2008 yeah i think you're right,i will probably have to take it all out but i've looked at a few different sites re cycling of tanks and they say it takes anywhere between 2 wks and 8 wks but 1 site said up to 8 months also,i was thinking,if my water parameters are all good would this mean it has finished cycling???never occured to me this could be so but i dont know. klw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 28, 2008 Author Share Posted May 28, 2008 hi all,the latest in this saga is my tank is still cloudy as ever.i took out about 90% of the water and replaced it and visibilty is about 25% better but still not right.i think i will just go into a hibernation of some sort and when i wake up it will be crystal clear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sicj Posted May 28, 2008 Share Posted May 28, 2008 1. Check your gravel to make sure it isnt dirty. 2. check the rocks in the tank make sure they are not leeching anything into the tank. Soak them in a bucket see if the water changes. 3. if you can cycle your filer on another tank then add that to you current setup. 4. Change your water every day about 25% 5. If you have fish in there move to another tank. 6. Check your filter maybe there is something in there that is causing the cloudiness. 7. Put some mature sponge or filter wool from another tank in your filter to help the filter mature. Just some stuff which may help Goodluck and keep asking questions. Does your tank have a rock backround? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted May 29, 2008 Author Share Posted May 29, 2008 its definately a bacterial bloom that just refuses to colonize just wants to float in the water!!!i have nothing in there now except 1 inch of gravel which is clean has been in there for a long while.i dont have any background on it.normally tanks are a little cloudy when first establishing but this is like the m4 on a winter morning,foggy as !!! i will have to just leave it alone and do big water changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCro Posted May 29, 2008 Share Posted May 29, 2008 its definately a bacterial bloom that just refuses to colonize just wants to float in the water!!!i have nothing in there now except 1 inch of gravel which is clean has been in there for a long while.i dont have any background on it.normally tanks are a little cloudy when first establishing but this is like the m4 on a winter morning,foggy as !!! i will have to just leave it alone and do big water changes. I'd just leave it alone & skip the big waterchange for now.Imo your tank isn't fully cycled & doing a waterchange too early will remove beneficial bacteria that is starting to colonise,thus slowing down the cycle.Throw in a BN/Goldfish or few to help speed up the cycle.cheers Tomi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaholic Posted June 2, 2008 Share Posted June 2, 2008 you could try an internal filter (if you have one) might not make any difference. I remembering seeing a similar post on another site and that person also had a fluval canister filter. I have a few and have never had any problem so me thinks it isnt your filter. (unless it isnt clean). Purigen might work. Invest in a test kit. I dont use mine all the time but they are handy to have when problems arise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MVP Posted June 3, 2008 Share Posted June 3, 2008 Are you getting any sort of residue on ornaments or anything like that? Recently i had a problem with a tank that was running for a month and wouldnt clear. Main difference is mine was like milk when squeezed out of sponges or anything like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klw Posted June 4, 2008 Author Share Posted June 4, 2008 omg i think its beginning to clear unless its a mirage i dont know? have not done a thing except do weekly 30 or so % water changes.im so excited that i have the prospect of seeing my fish again once again thankyou to all who gave me advice!!! klw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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