Aquarium Cloudiness?? Help? New 63 Gallon with Canister Filter?

Question

HELP Anyone.. I just purchased a new 63 Gallon Aqua-Vim Lake View Aquarium. I installed my decorations, Series 60 Whisper Air pump, and a new external canister 3 bucket water filter. I also added a water dechloriantor.

Overnight I wake up to find my water in the aquarium completely cloudy and unclear. I checked the connections on the canister filter, they are fine, I also checked to see if my pump was blocked, all fine there. I'm not sure what to do?

Help? Any "respectful" advice is appreciated. I am obviously a novice in a learning stage.

Thank you..


JP

Answer 1

That's quite a tank.

Two possibilities occur to me:

1) Did you add gravel or carbon to the tank (and rinse first to remove any dust/dirt that may have been on them)? If this is your situation, the filters will remove the dust eventually. Or, you could turn off all power equiment to the tank, let the dust settle, them use a gravel vacuum to siphon out the dust.

2) Did you add fish? This will be the beginning of your cycling process, then. This is where a beneficial bacteria population is rapidly reproducing. The bacteria will convert the metabolic wastes of your fish -ammonia and nitrie, bith of which can be toxic to the fish - to nitrate, which is safe as long as the concentration is less than 40ppm (and less is even better!). This process will take a few weeks to months to sort itself out.

Be patient - your impulse will be to drain the tank and clean everything, but you'll only be prolonging the process. Get a water test kit and test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. When the ammonia and nitrites = 0 and nitrates are the only ones with a reading, the tank has a sufficient supply of the bacteria. Don't add more fish till you reach this point. Monitor the levels for the above, and do partial water changes of around 25% 1-2 times a week, whenever you notice the levels rising. You can speed this up a bit by using a refrigerated (not off the store shelf) liquid supplement containing denitrifying bacteria to "seed" the tank.

Here are a few websites with more info on the cycling process, tank maintenence, etc. for both fresh and saltwater tanks. These will have good info for someone just starting out. Also, consider a good reference book on fishkeeping. And welcome to the hobby!

http://www.fishlore.com/
http://www.firsttankguide.net/
http://www.peteducation.com/index.cfm?cls=16

Answer 2

CANISTER FILTERS: Pros: - You can use whatever filter media you want. - Since canister filters are external, you will save space inside the tank. - They are much more efficient due to the size and the fact they can hold allot more filter media. Cons: - They are kinda bulky, and you may ot like the way it looks on your kitchen counter(or wherever you have your tank), if you don't have a cabinet or other concealed place to put it. - Price. Canister filters can be a bit expensive. Not to mention the cost of maintenance(Replacing filter media,etc) HOB FILTERS: Pros: - Inexpensive. - Easy to setup and maintain. Cons: -Take up room in the tank, - Don't do such a good job, - Less filter media. - Can be noisy. If you can afford it, definitely a canister filter, but a 29 gallon tank would do fine with an Aquaclear HOB. I love these filters because they are silent and have a large space for filter media so you can choose your own. Good luck with whatever you choose!

Answer 3

Completely normal, it's called a bacterial bloom.

Have you heard of the cycling process? In the wild, and in established fish tanks there are colonies of nitrifying beneficial bacteria that convert the toxic ammonia produced by fish into toxic nitrites, and finally into less toxic nitrates. In a new tank, these bacteria don't exist, and it takes 4-6 weeks for them to develop in sufficient quantities to deal with a tankful of fish. The cloudiness you see if these bacterial populations exploding because you introduced a source of ammonia (fish) into the tank.
The ammonia levels will be high for the next few weeks, and then the nitrites will be high, so I suggest you do small daily water changes to remove some of and make it less harsh on your fish. You should also get a liquid testing kit so you can see when your cycle is done (ammonia and nitrites will be zero, and nitrates will be between 10 and 30ppm).

If you have a LOT of fish, you may want to consider bringing some back to the petstore because you may lose some in the cycle. And definitely don't get any new fish till your cycle is done.

Answer 4

If your tank has been setup for a short time or if you have been doing too thorough of water changes and tank cleanings, this may be the result of a bacterial bloom that happens in a newly setup tank or when too many tropical fish were added too soon and the tank has not been allowed to cycle. This situation will correct itself when a sufficient amount of bacteria establishes on your biological filter. You can help keep your tropical fish from getting stressed by performing 25% water changes daily and feeding them less until the nitrogen cycle has finished.

Answer 5

It takes about four weeks to cycle your aquarium, I think new aquariums are always cloudy. I woudn't mess with it unlessyou know for sure something is wrong, because you want it to be cycled for healthy fish. It will be pretty in no time:)

Sounds like a gorgeous aquarium -- what shape is it , and what fish do you have inside? I need to get a larger aquarium at my next move.

Answer 6

the nitrate in your tank would probably be high because of fish poo i would reccomend live plants it should clear up the tank in 4 days live plants are also very cheap and they dont take a lot of care to look after

Answer 7

If you already had fish in it, I would tell you to get some sucker fish to keep it clean. That did the trick for me. My daughter had problems with her large tank and it was a filter and pump issue which was quite costly to replace. Do you have a water softener for your house water? That could be a problem if you used tap water to fill.

Answer 8

PATIENCE!
THE previous answerers said it all.