Habitat - Indoor :: Cloudy water

[JayBee]

I have 100 plus gallons of water in my tank for a 7 inch female. I have a Fluval FX6 filter. It was running for about 4 months and then The water got cloudy so I cleaned out the filter. The water was clear for about a week then went cloudy again. I tested the water and the only thing that was off was the nitrate levels were slightly elevated. I re-cleaned the filter and did a 3/4 water change. This time it was clear for 2 weeks and is now cloudy again. I use pool sand at the bottom and have some artifical plants in it. She only gets enough food that she can eat right away. What am I doing wrong? The filter is put together right. I can't figure out how to post a picture here but will, if someone tells me how.

[ShellC104]

This is exactly the situation I'm having!! I'll be following for answers too, so thanks for asking the question for me!

[OtisDriftwood]

imgur.com is free. Just register for an account, upload your pictures there, and then copy the bbc code directly into your post.

Cloudy water can be several things, but the first thing that comes to mind is a bacteria bloom. When you cleaned your filter, did you clean the bio media with tap water, or let it dry out? If so, you may have killed the nitrifying bacteria, and it's going through a new cycle. How often do you do water changes? When you re-fill the tank, are you using dechlorinated water?

Best practice is to do weekly water changes and clean your filter once a month. The only cleaning you need to do for your bio media gentle rinsing with aquarium water. When you take it out of it's tray, just toss it in a bucket with enough aquarium water to cover it, when you're done cleaning the rest of the filter, put it back in. Easy peasy.

[steve]

What kind of media are you using?

Posting a pic.. click on full editor to attach one. Or email em to me. Imgur is great too.

[YonkasTone]

imgur.com is free. Just register for an account, upload your pictures there, and then copy the bbc code directly into your post.

Cloudy water can be several things, but the first thing that comes to mind is a bacteria bloom. When you cleaned your filter, did you clean the bio media with tap water, or let it dry out? If so, you may have killed the nitrifying bacteria, and it's going through a new cycle. How often do you do water changes? When you re-fill the tank, are you using dechlorinated water?

Best practice is to do weekly water changes and clean your filter once a month. The only cleaning you need to do for your bio media gentle rinsing with aquarium water. When you take it out of it's tray, just toss it in a bucket with enough aquarium water to cover it, when you're done cleaning the rest of the filter, put it back in. Easy peasy.

i made the mistake of rinsing my ceramic media with tap water and now the water is cloudy. is there anything i can do or do i just have to deal with it until it clears itself up?

[steve]

Just wait. There should still be some bacteria on there and in the tank to speed things up. I usually rinse my bio media in tap media as well.