New filter, but water still cloudy

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lisalee2

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lisa
Hi iv had this problem before with the cloudy water, its nearly always like it and can not seem to get rid of it, so we brought a new filter its a rena filter for a 3 to four foot tank witch our tank is just over 3 foot we have only had it a week and was just wondering would the new filter clear the water up back to clear, The water reading are fine as we did have an isue with bactiria bloom but that is all sorted now but like i said its the cloudy water thats the problem. Also why im on the subject of filters how often should filters be cleaned, i have been doing it once a week is that not enough or is that a bout right.
Any help would be great about the cloudy water issue and how often to clean filter.
Thanks
Lisa
 
The filter box should tell you specificity how to clean it, depends on the media in your filter.

Having some live plants in your tank should not only help with water quality but tends to clear it up.
If you're using sand as a substrate it may be a good idea to take it all out, and rinse the hell out of it!

most filters should be cleaned once a month and the media replaces every6months or so, bt it really depends on the filter, and how much it has to deal with.

Does the water come out of the tap cloudy? or does it end up cloudy after being introduced to the tank?
Usually whenever I have a cloudy tank problem - it's sand hasn't been rinsed enough related.
 
Hi cloudy yes we do have sand but we had the cloudy water problem well before we put the sand in, The only thing i can think that causing it is the light shinning through the window and temps keep changing in the house one minuet its 19c then the next its 22c,We have had axolotls for 6yrs or so and when we lived back home with parents the tank stayed clear until we moved in this house, The tap water runs clear so don't think its that whats causing the cloudy water when i say cloudy water its more milky coulour if you no what i mean, could it be aswell that i clean my filters out every week and that could be causing the milky cloudy water, i just don't no we have had this problem on and off for a while and just want to see my axis proppley, They seem happy but i am not cause we cannot see them unless they come to front of the tank.xx
 
lisalee2 said:
could it be aswell that i clean my filters out every week and that could be causing the milky cloudy water, i just don't no we have had this problem on and off for a while and just want to see my axis proppley, They seem happy but i am not cause we cannot see them unless they come to front of the tank.xx
Click to expand...

It sounds like its in a constant state of a bacterial bloom im guessing with the weekly filter clean it keeps throwing the good bacteria levels out of whack and it is having to re-populate every time. By now any sand particles and dust should have settled i would have thought, I tend to rinse out my filter media once a month but it all depends on if its needing it really, if there is no bits and sludgy grim stuff clogging it up I would leave it until it needs cleaning! My guppy fry tank filter needs doing weekly as that gets all clogged up with fish food and fish poo but the axie filter generally stays pretty clean for a long time!

Ed
 
Hi

Bacterial bloom sounds about right with the milky cloudy water and cleaning the filter to much,
Just wondering that this can not be good for your axolotls.

Maybe you can post pic of your set up as there maybe something else going on.
What is your water temp, maybe if its high thats not helping the filter.

I have a chiller so i'm no good on the high temp, but someone else maybe able to help.

You may have to move your axolotl out of the tank while it sorts it self out, like i said bacteria sounds scarey

hope you get things sorted.

mike
 
Try to move your tank to where the light doesn't shine on it. milky - I agree with the above two posts. sounds like your bacteria bloom is back.
try only cleaning your filter every month minimum.
 
Hi all thanks for the posts The axolotls seem fine and healthy, but yes i know what you all mean that it cannot be good for them, What i have done is closed the blinds as we have no where else to put them as we only live in a small one bed house so that will keep the light out, ill check my filter then when we do water changes to see if its getting clogged up if not ill leave it until it does get messy, most people on her clean there's once a month do you guy think i should only clean the filter monthly as well and could this be why the water is a milky cloudy coulour then, i just want to no so i can sort the problem out asap.

I cannot post pics of the tank at the minuet i will try but you wont be able to see much because of the cloudy water, but ill try tonight and post them on here for you all to see so you will have a good idea whats in my axis tank.

Thank you again i really appreciate your reply's
 
hi all, i have moved the axis to the fridge now i have gave the tank a compleate clean and going to let it cycle before putting them back in the tank, as the water didnt clear up How long does it normaly take for a tank to cycle.
 
tank can take up to 6 weeks to fully cycle (my tank took that long)

are you planing on keeping your axies in the fridge that long? that can't be good for them they wont eat in there,

and if your axies are babies/young axies i wouldn't risk that long in the fridge.

maybe you should of rehomed them when you had that chance, beats being in the fridge.
 
Axolotls will eat in the fridge.

And it is possible to cycle the tank with the animals in the aquarium if you keep a close eye on the parameters.
 
Hi i have had axolotls in the fridge before and they have all eaten so that not always the case micky and my 3 ate last night. I might just keep them in the fridge for a couple of days so i can keep a close eye on them. They have the whole bottom vegtable tray to them selfs so theres plenty of room for them at the minuet. Shizeric what do i have to do to get the tank to cycle more quicker. I love my axolotls so much and just want to get it right for them asap.
 
you can cycle the tank with them in it. you just have to be extra vigilant with the water parameters and do a partial water change every day to prevent levels getting too high.

How many axies live in there and what are their sizes?
 
When you clean your filter, how do you do it? If by any chance you clean it by running tap water over it then that's going to kill off all the good bacteria because of the chlorine. To follow on from what Eric said its worth doing a 50% water change with dechlorinated tap water or bottled spring water. Don't use untreated tap water.

If you take 50% of the water out and replace it with new water for the next couple of days then your tank water should clear up.

You could put your axies back in the tank and then every day take out about a fifth of your tank water and replace it with fresh dechlorinated water for about a month. After that you should have some fairly stable good bacteria colonies and you could probably then cut back water changes to every couple of days or so. I'd leave the filter well alone in that time. Whenever you need to clean your filter you should take some water out of your tank in some sort of container and use that to clean it out.
 
Hi steve,
When we do water changes we always use tap water and declorinate it before putting the water in the tank, I havnt cleen the filter till yesterday when we changed all the tank water, so ill leave the filter now for a month or so, When i clean the filters i all ways use the old water any way from out the tank and clean pots and plants in the same water not fresh water as like you said it will remove all the bactiria that is needed.I'll do what you said and do part water changes every day for the nxt month and then every other day for a little while, Hopfully it will work out right this time, The tank looks lovely and clear now just hope it stays that way, will post pics of the tank and set up with in the nxt couple of days, will put axis back in there tank tomorrow then and keep an eye on them no point doing it tonight as i like to put them in a large bucket and keep an eye on them in the bedroom so they and the water reach room temp because as you know with being in the fridge the water will be quite cold compared to the tank temp.
 
I am constantly amazed at how eager people are on here to change things. It seems to me that stability is important and you can't achieve that if you're making frequent and major alterations to your system.

I agree that the cloud is probably bacterial in nature - and not the good nitrosomas that you want to help cycle your tank. This type of bacteria usually signals unstable water conditions and some overabundance of a suitable food source that causes the number of this bacteria to explode (thereby causing the water to appear cloudy).

Time is an excellent solution to this type of problem. Regularly performed partial water changes (20-30%) with appropriately aged or treated water is suitable strategy to help reduce the concentration of whatever the bacterial cloud is feeding on.

Your filter is performing two jobs.

1. It's removing large, particulate matter from the water. It's probably not designed to clarify the water so I wouldn't expect it to remove the cloudiness from the water.
2. It provides a suitable place for nitrosomas bacteria to live and grow and help in the break down of ammonia and other nitrogenous type of dissolved waste in the water.

You need to allow time for both of these processes to do their job properly. Cycling a tank properly is measured in weeks, so be patient.
 
OK this is from Hubby who has been keeping aquariums for 30 years and worked in the fish and aquarium industry for at least 20 of those so I will bow to the higher power and let him type :rolleyes:

Husband in....

STOP CLEANING YOUR FILTER SO MUCH and enough with the water changes for now!

OK that said
There are 3 reasons for a cloudy tank... ammonia which your tests rule out, particulate in the water like fine sand dust and bacteria. In particular bacteria that has been displaced from your filter and not given time to settle within the filter because you are constantly cleaning it. You're not giving it a chance to stick in your filter and you clean it just as it starts to get a foot hold in there so it washes back out into the tank giving you cloudy water.

Leave it alone. The bacteria will not hurt your axie and it will in time settle down and clear up perfectly you just need to give your filter a chance to do what it's supposed to. Filter the water and house the good bacteria.

It goes against reason but continuing to change the water constantly will not help the problem and gutting the tank and starting again will not eliminate it either for whatever reason it comes back.

Keep an eye on the water quality and if you need to change some water to keep ammonia, nitrate or nitrite down then obviously do that but only the usual 20% not any more.

It can take WEEKS for it to clear but if you just leave it alone it WILL clear up on it's own.

I've dealt with this dozens of times in my own tanks and seen it more times than I care to count with customers and it's always the same, leave it alone and it will be fine as long as you keep the water quality up like you normally would on any other tank.

Husband out.
 
Hi mereb, When i cleaned my axis tanks i only did 20% water changes once a week, plus tank uneaten food and poo out daily, And some people on here said do small water changes daily to get the tank back to normal and leave the filters alone which i am going to do from now on.So i don't understand do i or don't i do 20-25% water changes daily for the next month or so like others on here said as i have changed all the water now.I really need to know for exact before putting my axolotls in the tank which i was going to do today.
I have had the cloudy water for quite a while, well before putting the play sand in the tank and i gave the sand a thorough clean before it entered the tank.
I have had fish tanks since i was 10 years old and now i am 23 and never had problems with cloudy water until i moved to my new house but saying that i have a fish tank with 2 gold fish and there set up is spot on, no cloudy water, crystal clear, and i part change there water once a week and clean there filters weekly and they and the tank is fine, so don't know why my axis tank is the complete oppersit.
Confused don't no who to listen to :confused:.
 
I bow down to the expert but i was always led to believe to do a 20% water change daily while cycling to keep the levels in acceptable parameters. I was told it is easier to keep it under control rather than wait for high levels and then have to do more extreme measures.
I was also led to believe the good bacteria lives mostly on your filter, glass, sand, ornaments etc rather that the water
:confused:
 
The 20% water changes should be used to deal with the parameter spikes during the cycle. They should not be used as part of regular maintenance. I think that's where the confusion is coming in here.

Yes, 20% water changes are recommended to deal with the bacterial bloom (cloudy water) that occurs during the early part of a cycle. However, this bloom does not continue throughout the cycle.

So it is yes and no for the daily 20% changes. Yes, use them when your levels spike and to clear the bacterial bloom quicker (this will not interfere with the cycle). No, do not do them continually for the duration of the cycle.

Femme, to address your other question, yes, good bacteria cling to any surface. They especially thrive in your filter. Where lisa is having the problem is with constantly cleaning her filter. I think that has been addressed here quite effectively already.
 
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