Any advice on how to keep my fish tank water crystal clear?

Question

Even though I frequently change my freshwater fishtank's filter once a month, the water never gets back to that crystal clear clairity it was when I first added the water- It seems to have a permanant haze-Any advice? HOW do i keep the water crystal clear? The filter must not be enough- how often should I change the water and wash/replace the gravel?
I have a 10 gallon tank with fresh water goldfish...

Answer 1

Goldfish can be very dirty and your diet also will make a difference.
You did not mention your filter make or model or if you have more than one, so I will give you basic advice and point out that these points taken as a whole is great, however following as many as possible within your budget is fine.

*Proper Water changes; change water using a gravel vacuum up to 50% per week.
*Rinse filter media in used tank water, never tap and again as regularly as possible.
*Make sure ammonia, nitrites are 0
*Make sure you have a KH and GH of at least 100 ppm for goldfish
*A larger tank is better for goldfish; if possible a 40 or bigger would help
*More than one filters for redundancy.
*consider a good bio filter including the often misunderstood Sponge Filter (one of the best here according to side by side bio studies)
*consider the Redox Potential, lesser known parameter that affects water quality and clarity
*UV Sterilization, no cost effective for your size aquarium, however 90% effective for your problem in larger more cost effective aquariums.
*Better feeding procedures; Use foods with quality ingredients such as Sanyu or Hikari and avoid cheap foods like TetraFin that mostly "pass right on thru"
Also feed what the fish will consume in under three minutes twice per day.

Read these basic articles:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Basic_Aquarium_Principles.html
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Goldfish_disease.html
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/AquariumKH.html

Good luck!

Answer 2

a 50% water change is too much and can cause your tank to have a bacterial bloom, and thus your cloudy water. As you've been told, you have too many fish for tank this size. Those goldfish can grow over 12" long each. 2 fish would be the max for your tank. Weekly water changes should stay between 15-20% of your tank volume, unless you have a catastrophic event that requires you to change out more (like you drop a bottle of some cleanser in the tank or something) When you pull out 50% of the water, you are removing the ammonia that is needed to feed the good bacteria. When they don't have food, they die off, and then as the ammonia is replaced in the water, the good bacteria have to grow again, thus your cloudy water, bacterial bloom.

Answer 3

i have had my fish tank up for over 7 years and i have yet to wash the gravel or break it down . because a well maintained fish tank should never need broken down

normally cloudy water is a common issue with new setup . that has yet to achive the correct bio . also to much feeding is also a leading cause .

also changing your filter once a month is far to often , you want the filter to grow bacteria . for the fish . i know sounds gross but trust me on this . i pull my filter out ounce a month , rinse it and put it back , i have been using the same filter for about 9 months now . and my water is still crystal clear ..

Answer 4

Well the reason that your tank is never clear is because you have goldfish in a 10 gallon tank. Goldfish are dirty fish that produce a lot of waste. One goldfish needs 10 gallons to him self.

To help reduce this problem (aside from getting rid of fish) is to buy a gravel suction. This works wonderfully for cleaning the gravel and removing about 25% of the water which is what you should be changing weekly. Never remove all of the water as that is hard on the fish and you lose beneficial bacteria. Also it can actually make things worse because it will cause a bacterial bloom.

My favortie filter is the aqua clear. It keeps my tank so clean. For your tank you will want the Aqua Clear 30.

Good luck

Answer 5

Every goldfish needs 10 gallons of space as a baby, and 20 as an adult. If you have more than one fish in your tank, that is your first problem. Goldfish are DIRTY fish, and need a lot of water to dilute their waste products.

You should also get a filter more powerful than you need. If you have one that's made for 10-20 gallons, get the 20-30 gallon filter.

Finally, use lots and lots of bacteria supplement liquid. You can find it at any petstore in the fish section. Follow the directions and use it with every single water change.

You should never clean the gravel at the same time you replace the filter. I suggest you replace the filter, wait 2 weeks, and gravel vac the bottom of the tank. Then wait 2 more weeks and replace the filter again. Put more bacteria in when you do both, and also with every water change. You should also be using a tap water conditioner with every water change.

Try to avoid using water clearing chemicals or ammonia neutralizers- those make the water worse, more often than not. Also, make sure you keep your tank at goldfish temperatures. Goldfish like it in the 50-65 degree range- NOT in the 70s like tropical fish!

Answer 6

I have heard that if you keep the tank out of sunlight it will keep it from getting as dirty as sun breeds bacteria. Have you also tried the addative from the pet store that I think is called crystal clear. Or something along that nature.