Habitat - Indoor :: new tank syndrome?

[Starchick]

As usual I'm befuddled by water quality issues. It's just something I still haven't gotten a grasp on. 2 of my tanks are freaking out right now. Hercules' tank was left empty for the couple of weeks that he was in dry dock. We refilled it, and after a day or so it turned cloudy, then cleared up. I was back out there I think a week later, and tested the water, and the nitrates and nitrites were off the scale, so I did a complete water change. With Moxie, we bought her a used tank, which I scrubbed and cleaned really thoroughly, and within 4 days of setting it up, the water was so cloudy and green I couldn't even see her, so I did a water change on her too. My question is, what exactly am I supposed to be doing? Do I just keep on doing partial water changes until it levels out?

[octpusgirl8]

One thing that has worked great for me is to put some of the bio media from my established turtle tank filter in the filter of the new tank. I did this for my two fish tanks i have at my house and the one at work, and none of them got the dreaded new tank syndrome. Even if the filter isn't designed for bio media, there's usually somewhere you can stick a little.

[Starchick]

The weird thing is that both tanks had well-used filters from the old tanks. Hercules' tank seems to be leveling out a bit at least. Moxie's is all algae again already. Does the algae help? Should I leave it for a while? Would adding some plants help?

[marisa]

I wouldn't do a complete water change if the levels are high, I'd do partial changes for several days. How often do you do partial changes as a matter of course?

You used the filters with the same biomedia as was in the previous tanks? You didn't say, but did you keep the filters and biomedia from drying out (did you keep them in tankwater)? If they were allowed to dry, the beneficial bacteria are killed off.

The green water usually means the water has a high phosphate level, and partial water changes should help as well. Did the previous tanks have algae as well? What are the temps and how much light does the tank get (hours per day). Live plants are sometimes recommended to help contain algae as they compete for nutrients and can help "starve" the algae (but then you might have to contend with a messy tank if the turtles rip them apart).

[Starchick]

I typically do at least a 50% water change (depending on how much debris I'm trying to suck up) on Hercules' tank every other week. In his case, the filter was allowed to dry out, so that would explain that. His water temperature is 76, and his lights are on for about 12 hours a day.

Moxie's in a new tank, which I've been changing the water every 4 or 5 days because of the cloudiness. If the water quality was good I'd probably go about 2 weeks. In her case, the filter was in her old tank, the media got washed in tank water, and went straight into the new tank without time to dry out. Moxie's tank is also a steady 76 degrees. Her lights are on for a pretty long time, probably 14 hours? She loves basking and since she's got a lot of layers to shed I figured it was better to let her do it as long as she wants. I know that would explain extra algae, but it's not just that the walls of the tank are growing, it's that the water itself is green.

I can contend with the dreaded anacharis shreds, I'm just looking forward to getting the environment corrected!

[grey goose]

Biozyme (sold at most pet shops) will help speed things up. The best thing to do right now is water changes. Do it every day, at least 10% a day and keep an eye on the ammonia levels. That will be the first thing to start dropping. Then the nitrite levels may climb for a short period, then drop. Then you will be left with just high nitrates, which you can reduce weekly with a couple of large (50%) water changes. While this process is going on, don't do a full water change, or try to clean the filter.
Once it all levels out, you can go back to the regular routine.

[Starchick]

Great, thank you for the advice!