# Water problems



## starfirerebel57 (Mar 18, 2012)

Not sure if this is the right place for this post. To make a long story short I basicly threw my tank into a new cycle by installing a new canister filter with out using old media. Now I have been fighting a bacterial bloom for the last two months have done 10% water changes without much success so started adding Seachem Stability for a week now while doing 50%water changes for the last two days, although the cloudiness has lessened it has not gone away. Was dosing ferts for the plants but had stop that until yesterday. Any suggestion?


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## NeonShark666 (Dec 13, 2010)

Bacteria blooms usually disappear in a few days unless there is a constant supply of decomposing organic matter. Shut your cansister filter off for a few days and see if the cloudeness clears up, if so your filter medium is contaminated. If not, look around for dead fish or decomposing food.


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## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

Are you testing the water and tracking the levels? Can you share those with us? Do water changes any time ammonia or nitrite rise over 1ppm. The bacteria bloom should subside quickly and if theres any media from another tank, adding that could help lessen the blow of the cycle on the fish.


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## starfirerebel57 (Mar 18, 2012)

Just testd my water and the results are as follows
Ammonia=.25
PH=7.0
Nitrate=0
Nitrite=0
Did a 50% water change on Saturday did not do one yesterday thought I would let the tank sit and see what happened. 
The lights just came on and the water does not look as cloudy as it did a couple of days ago. Will do another 50% water change today and see how that goes. Maybe just maybe it is clearing up I hope have been fighting this for two months now. If it does not clear up then I will try and shut off the filter although my CO2 is connected to the outflow of the filter so I would have to shut that off as well. I do have another filter going on the tank its a double dio wheel just to try and pull out more of the free floating bacteria. Should I turn that one off to.


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## starfirerebel57 (Mar 18, 2012)

Thanks everyone for the help. Neonshark666 I think you were on the right track when you said it could be my filter. I checked the filter today before doing my water change and wow what a mess. The water in the canister was almost black and so full of junk that I do not know how it continued to work. So I rinsed out the sponges and pads in old tank water, I did not rinse the bio media, refilled the canister with clean water adding water conditioner and stablility. Finished my water change before plugging the filter back in. The only light the tank is getting right now is the light for the dining room and I can actually see in the tank which I could not do a couple of days ago. Thank you so much I would never had thought it could be the stuff in the filter guess I need to check it out more often.


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

starfirerebel57 said:


> Not sure if this is the right place for this post. To make a long story short I basicly threw my tank into a new cycle by installing a new canister filter with out using old media. Now I have been fighting a bacterial bloom for the last two months have done 10% water changes without much success so started adding Seachem Stability for a week now while doing 50%water changes for the last two days, although the cloudiness has lessened it has not gone away. Was dosing ferts for the plants but had stop that until yesterday. Any suggestion?


Hello star...

If you have fish in the tank, then I'd treat it like cycling a tank with fish. Just test the water daily and when you see a trace of ammonia or nitrites, then remove and replace 25 to 30 percent of the water. This will return the water chemistry to the "safe zone".

If you have no fish in the tank, then good, nothing has been harmed and you can restart the cycling process by putting in some stem plants and a few small fish. Test the water every day and do the water changes when needed. When you have several tests with no ammonia or nitrites, then add a few more small fish and test and remove water.

As long as you carefully monitor the water, the fish will be fine and your tank will cycle in a few weeks.

Seems fairly simple to me.

B


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## starfirerebel57 (Mar 18, 2012)

The tank has been established for two years now and is fully stocked. Luckly I did not have any isssues with my fish it is also heavly planted. I think I finally got a handle on the problem.


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

When you rinsed the filter media did you do this with regular tap water?


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## starfirerebel57 (Mar 18, 2012)

No I rinsed it in old tank water.


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