3800 Need aquarium help.....

dole21

TCG Elite Member
Nov 9, 2008
2,620
0
South Carolina
Ok...I've got a 20gallon aquarium. It was really dirty and hadn't been 100% cleaned in a long time. I've cleaned like 70% of it several times just never like new.


So I take out the fish and put em in a small aquarium for a day.

I set up the new aquarium going to a undergravel filter with a powerhead this time. I have all new rocks/gravel in there.

All new plants and decorations.


The only old thing i used was a thermometer and the heater.


I waited 24 hours then put the fish in using less than a gallon of water form the other tank..(I put them in a plastic bag with the old water and let em sit in the new water for a half hour.)

Today I come home and the water is already getting reallllly cloudy. Almost like it was before.


Any ideas why or anything I can do.



Thanks.
 
I

imported_GraFFix

Guest
How many fish did you add? You basically added fish to a tank that has no filtration. the undergravel filter needs time for it to start really working.

My guess is that youve added fish to the new tank but the filters cannot keep up with the waste that the fish are producing..causing cloudy water..this is known as cycling

Cycling a tank is basically getting the filters working correctly...when you set up a new tank even if you have the best filters the water is still not really ready for fish. you need some type of biological filtration going on..there area few ways to do this...

1. the way you are. Adding fish and a undergravel filter..is a biological filter. the water flows thru the gravel and back up the tubes..left over food, fish poop :p , etc..get trapped in the gravel causing bacteria to grow..this same bacteria actually cleans the water..to much gunk in the gravel can kill the bacteria. this is why people use the syphon thing to clean the gravel..usually once a month is good.
this is a good method, but can cause the death of some fish..since the water gets very dirty during this cycle..not as much visually dirty, but chemical wise..ammonia, P.H., nitrates.

2. Pet stores sell liquid and powder bacteria and enzimes that help speed up the filters

3. if you have a friend that has a established tank ask him if you can have a handfull of gravel from his tank..treat is as you would a fish..keeping it in the same water untill putting it in your tank..if you take it out and let it dry or rinse it under tap water you will kill any bacteria living on the gravel..this will help speed up the process.

What I see is that you have a brand new 20gal tank. with just an undergravel filter and a power head moving the water thru it correct? in my opinion you need more filtration. I would get one of those filters that hang on the back of the tank. they work great and will make having a fish tank so much easier. this filter combined with the undergravel filter should keep the water clean as can be. as long as you change the carbon, clean the bottom of the tank and do other maintenence.

Also...What type of gravel did you use...sometimes you need to rince the gravel off before you use it. that could be something else to think of..if its a natural stone gravel then you might have some cludyness from that..it shouldnt last long and go aways eventually.

And one more thing...you NEVER want to clean a whole tank out once its running. your killing everything thats working for you...meaning bacteria.

Are you using Stress Coat when adding new water to the tank? tap water has chlorine in it which is bad for the fish.

I have so many tips and info about this subject if you need some pointers let me know. I could probably go on and on about this but ill spare most of ya..heh

I just let more of my geekness out again... :p
 

dole21

TCG Elite Member
Nov 9, 2008
2,620
0
South Carolina
ok...I've only got 5 small fish. I lost most of my others during a power failure a couple months ago and wanted to clean it completley before I put new ones in.

I put new stones in the bottom and rinsed it off also. I've got a filter that used to hang on the back, I took it off and put in the undergravel filter, I was thinking as well I might put it back on till the cloudiness clears up. I've put some stress coat in it as well.


This morning its cloudy but doesn't seem to be as bad as yesterday, so hopefully its starting to clear up.

I'm gonna check out the pet store today to look for the stuff that speeds up the filters and such.


I'm also gonna get a new thermometer and heater, so the stuff from the old tank is completley gone now.


This fish are all doing fine...but about 2 hours after I put them in, I've got a red barb in there.....I was watching him, he was swimming then just turned sideways and floated to the bottom and didn't move...so...thinking he died in front of me, I start digging for my nets to get him out, I finally find it like 10 minutes later. I put it in the tank and the damn fish starts swimming again..and now he's chasing all the other fish around today. LOL...I've never seen anything like it before...I though for sure he was dead since he was lying on bottom. Kinda like something out of that Finding Nemo movie...LOL..
 

gtphale

TCG Elite Member
Nov 9, 2008
1,578
0
Aurora
nah probably just stressd out. did he lose his color for awhile? New surroundings will do that to a fish.Plus tank might of still had some chemicals in it and not fully filtered away. Once a tank is going just do your 25% water changes thats all you need to do. IF you want to change the gravel then save the water and change it out.
 
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