cloudy water - the ongoing battle!!!

[jessfish]

I have a 46gal goldfish tank (5 smallish, 1 medium size)
1 sailfin pleco (yes i know - don't worry they're all getting a bigger home soon!!)
Since I am planning on getting a bigger tank that will properly house all the fish I don't want to get rid of ANY!!

I have a constant battle with cloudy water...it goes cloudy a day after i change (10-20%) of the water, i used to clean the filter same day as water but found out that was terrible & no longer do it!!
It can take anywhere from 3 days to a full week for the cloudy water to disapear & by then i have to do another water change!


I have wondered if there is a bacteria bloom every week? Which i didnt think could happen if i am only changing water & not the filter at the same time?

Or if my filter can't handle the overstocked tank & type of fish (the filter is the eheim 2213 for up to 65gal tank) I have heard that with goldfish it is best to have a filter double the recomended size in order to control their huge amount of waste & the pleco also produces quite a bit of waste

i dont over feed the fish - they eat everything in sight & the pleco usually skims around the bottom eating what he can find & i buy the omega one flakes & the pellets that are not supposed to cloud the water

At this point i am competly at a loss as to what could be causing my water problems...

has anyone else had this problem & do you have any tips/adivice (that don't include getting rid of fish!!) for me to help stop the cloudy water????!!!!!!!!!

thank you, thank you, thank you!! :1luvu:

btw - my plan is to get a 2217 eheim filter, meant for a 160gal tank (hopefully for christmas!) i am hoping that this will help with the bioload & also that this will continue to help when i upgrade the tank size.

[jessfish]

I have another question that I only hinted at above...

Will the bigger filter that i plan to get (eheim 2217 for 160gal tank) help with this cloudy water problem????

I can see particles floating in the water which is making me wonder if it ultimatly comes down to the filter not being able to handle the load???

[simonyee]

I have a 46gal goldfish tank (5 smallish, 1 medium size)
1 sailfin pleco (yes i know - don't worry they're all getting a bigger home soon!!)
Since I am planning on getting a bigger tank that will properly house all the fish I don't want to get rid of ANY!!

I have a constant battle with cloudy water...it goes cloudy a day after i change (10-20%) of the water, i used to clean the filter same day as water but found out that was terrible & no longer do it!!
It can take anywhere from 3 days to a full week for the cloudy water to disapear & by then i have to do another water change!


I have wondered if there is a bacteria bloom every week? Which i didnt think could happen if i am only changing water & not the filter at the same time?

Or if my filter can't handle the overstocked tank & type of fish (the filter is the eheim 2213 for up to 65gal tank) I have heard that with goldfish it is best to have a filter double the recomended size in order to control their huge amount of waste & the pleco also produces quite a bit of waste

i dont over feed the fish - they eat everything in sight & the pleco usually skims around the bottom eating what he can find & i buy the omega one flakes & the pellets that are not supposed to cloud the water

At this point i am competly at a loss as to what could be causing my water problems...

has anyone else had this problem & do you have any tips/adivice (that don't include getting rid of fish!!) for me to help stop the cloudy water????!!!!!!!!!

thank you, thank you, thank you!! :1luvu:

btw - my plan is to get a 2217 eheim filter, meant for a 160gal tank (hopefully for christmas!) i am hoping that this will help with the bioload & also that this will continue to help when i upgrade the tank size.

Hi,
I think you have hard water in your area.
perhaps you can keep the water in a plastic bucket for 5 days.
then put in a better and bigger filter.
Mine is a DIY filter for Goldfish.

[jessfish]

i ended up getting another bigger filter so i am running two, then shortly after i had that up & running realized my danios were getting sucked into it!! so from what i can figure the cloudy water was from a combination of not big enough filter & 3 danios getting sucked in & dying - not going to happen anymore!

[Lady Hobbs]

Danio's don't get sucked into filters but they may die and the filter sucks them to the strainer.

On your cloudy water, your current filter is stated to be effective for "up to" 65 gallon which means it's adaquate for half that and then not a tank that is heavily stocked or stockied with goldies and pleco which are all known to be big produces of waste. You are simply under-filtered and there is not enough room in that filter for good bacteria to grow to support your stock.

[Goes to 11!]

+111 to LH
Overstocked & under-filtered indeed.

The Pleco, The goldies, Even the snail has issues.

The fact that you are constantly battling one issue after another should be a major heads up that they are not in suitable conditions.

You need to understand the you will continue to fight issue after issue after issue until you provide conditions the fish find acceptable [And 'acceptable' is the minimal condition].

[Lady Hobbs]

simonyee

Why are you quoting someone elses question then adding your own? Please start your own thread if you have a problem that needs addressed.