Cloudy water

[NDsuperduty]

Decided to get back into the hobby so I setup a 40 breeder with my old pro clear 125 wet/dry. Tank has been cycling for 3-4 weeks now. The plan was to add some fish today but I have an issue with cloudy water. I added 40# of crush coral substrate on Wednesday and apparently I didn't clean it enough bc once I dumped it into the tank I couldn't see anything in the tank. If figured it would eventually settle but as of Friday there was no real change, so I did a 50% water change. It helped a little but I still can't see the background through the front glass.

My question is can I add fish to water that is cloudy like this? If not, should i do a 100% water change, and I'd so how long to recycle the tank?

[mistahoo]

Did you have the wet/dry running while it was cycling?

[sunkenmetal]

It is either a bacteria bloom or stuff from the substrate. Do you have a filter sock or filter pad on your wet dry?

[NDsuperduty]

The cloudiness is definitely from the substrate. The problem is that I didn't clean the substrate enough and dumped it straight from the bucket into the tank water causing it to stir up even more dust.

Wet/dry was off when I put crushed coral in but it was running both before and after I put it in, with the exception of Thursday for about 12 hours bc I wanted to see if that would help it settle(it didn't). There is a pre filter sponge and filter pad at top of wet/dry

[mistahoo]

It is either a bacteria bloom or stuff from the substrate. Do you have a filter sock or filter pad on your wet dry?

+1

[mistahoo]

The cloudiness is definitely from the substrate. The problem is that I didn't clean the substrate enough and dumped it straight from the bucket into the tank water causing it to stir up even more dust.

Wet/dry was off when I put crushed coral in but it was running both before and after I put it in, with the exception of Thursday for about 12 hours bc I wanted to see if that would help it settle(it didn't). There is a pre filter sponge and filter pad at top of wet/dry

It can still be a bacterial bloom. My bacteria bloom happened right after I put in substrate. Don't know why it did, but I did a 200% water change and it was still cloudy after that

[mistahoo]

A huge water change will help reduce the cloudiness. There is no need to "re-cycle" the tank because the bacteria on your bio media in your wet/dry is what matters most.

[supadave]

Easy fix NDsuperduty . Do you by any chance have a canister filter or even a HOB laying around ? If so, just pack it with filter floss a let it do it's thing . I have done this many times over the years and I it has worked every time. I have done it with canisters and AQuaClears and Emp 400 . Works like a charm .

[cichlidomaha]

Try running a large amount of charcol inside a mesh bag in your sump for a few days, it should help clear it up. Otherwise if you know anyone with access to a diatom filter that will clear it up in a few hours.

Tom

[mistahoo]

Try running a large amount of charcol inside a mesh bag in your sump for a few days, it should help clear it up. Otherwise if you know anyone with access to a diatom filter that will clear it up in a few hours.

Tom

Skip the charcoal. If you can get purigen, that'll work much better and you could keep it for prolonged use.

[mistahoo]

The wet/dry will do the same thing as the canister. Either play the waiting game, or do a large water change.

[mistahoo]

As for the fish part, I don't believe in the whole cycling mumbo jumbo. I just throw the fish in. Never had a problem

[supadave]

Skip the charcoal. If you can get purigen, that'll work much better and you could keep it for prolonged use.

+1
Purigen is a Beast !!!
Nix the charcoal . It really won't do much..if anything at all... for cloudy water . I personally would go the filter floss (quilt batting) route . Cheap and extremely effective.

[mistahoo]

+1
Purigen is a Beast !!!
Nix the charcoal . It really won't do much..if anything at all... for cloudy water . I personally would go the filter floss (quilt batting) route . Cheap and extremely effective.

Exactly! Just make sure you change out your filter floss in the drip tray if it's very dirty

[supadave]

Exactly! Just make sure you change out your filter floss in the drip tray if it's very dirty

Great minds ....think a like .