I Have A 72 Bowfront Fish Tank ?

Question

i have two fluval 405 filters filtering the water . the water is always cloudy . i use accuclear and all products that are supposed to get rid of cloudy water . it never works . i clean 20 % of the water and clean the gravel very well it gets cloudy the next day .. and when i clean out the whole tank it gets dirty in about a week

should i invest in another filter ?

help will be appreciated

thanks

Answer 1

basically everytime u are cleaning yr gravel u are taking away the beneficial bacteria which the tank needs fluvals are great get a filter aid treatment it makes the water go crystal clear basically it makes all the particles go together  in the water so yr filters can work and pass them better good luck  

Answer 2

Hi there,

I use dual fluval's in my 180, and I find what happens is that if you don't clear out your sponge filters in the cannisters, you'll start to have more debris being put back into the water clouding it up.  Now here's the thing about cleaning those.  You've gotten some misinformation about your bacteria.  Less then 10% of that resides in your gravel, and the stuff that does, is adhered to the gravel pretty well, so you'll lose very minor amounts of that bacteria when you vacuum clean.  You really want to do that vacuum cleaning well because excessive waste in your tank is a haven for pathogens to get in there.  Keep doing a good strong cleaning there without fear of losing your bacteria.

Speaking of that bacteria though, which is aerobic btw, it resides mostly in your cannisters.  Now, you have the same advantage that I do using dual filtration.  What you're going to need to do is take one of those cannisters, and disconnect it, and clean the whole thing out one week.  Yes, you will destroy most all of your bacteria in that cannister, however, that's why you have dual filtration.  The other cannister will have enough bacteria to cope with your nitrogen compounds, and since it already has a sizeable colony, getting bacteria back in the filter you just cleaned out should be quite rapid.  Clean out the other filter the following week so you don't wipe out most all of your bacteria at any one time.

I generally do the sponge cleaning/cannister cleaning once a month, sometimes 2 months.  Granted you could also just not clean out the bio media portion of your cannister, and if you want to remove the waste build up in there, use tank water instead of tap water.  Either way, you have options to avoid bacterial loss.  I believe what you have is a case where your sponge filters are too clogged causing the cloudiness.  

I don't believe this to be a bacterial bloom since your tank is a mature tank in terms of the nitrogen cycle.

Answer 3

Has this tank already been cycled and established with fish?

When a tank cycles.. it usually does cloud for a few days and gradually clear up.

You can try getting larger filters but the bacteria thats already in the filters you have would have to start all over again.

Try out the site I listed in the souce

Answer 4

This problem is easily solved;

If your tank is new, it is naturally CYCLING. Bacteria will reside in the water until they settle, and this creates a haze.

If you have ornaments not purchased from a pet store, calcerous sand, or calcium/soft rock ornaments, they could be leaching milky substances into the water. Remove all ornaments, give them a wash, and discard any that you have any doubts with.

Your gravel could NOT have been cleaned properly. Take it out and rinse it in cool clear water.

Dose with aquarium bacteria and STOP putting any clearing chemicals in - they mostly NEVER work.

Good luck - I hope your problem is resolved.

P.S. I completely understand your problem, and sometimes that annoying haze won't go away, no matter what you do!

Answer 5

If you have fish in your tank, you are experiencing a bacterial bloom.  You should reduce your water changes to 10-15% a week, and NOT clean the gravel too well.  When you do that, you can remove the beneficial bacteria, and then they have to recolonize to keep up with the wastes from your fish.  This is a bacterial bloom, and it will go away on its own in a few days.

Stop with the excessive cleaning.  It's fine to scrape the algae and vacuum up some of the waste in the gravel, but do it less frequently.

Your filters are fine. Your cloudy water isn't a filtration problem, it's just a naturally occuring nitrogen cycle.

Answer 6

fluvals have bypass issues.  The easiest fix is to put a polishing pad at the top of the filters.  You can also place a prefilter on to the intake side of the filter in the tank.  Also, check your arangement of media.