Tanks cloudy after 1st water change in aging barrel

ok so i have a 50 gal food grade barrel. looks like it had glycerin in it. washed it out with dawn dish soap(yes i know) and rinsed the living piss out of it.

i used straight tap water and added the appropriate amount of de-chlorinator / chloramine remover, set it to temp and bubbled it 24 hours. i did a 60% water change (which is never that big on that tank) on the discus tank. also topped off the 30 gal breeder(only has 1 ram in it) and the other tanks, including my little fry box with discus wrigglers.

this morning i came in and all the tanks are cloudy and smell like bleach. all the babies dead, the ram struggle for air like its ammonia spike..... and the discus tank.... is clear and the pair laid eggs lat night and are gaurding them like normal. maybe this tank was more cycled than the others? im at a loss because ammonia, nitrite and pH are all the same. im afraid to do a water change even though i know i have to.

the container of aging water doesnt smell like bleach however, it smells like sweet earthy aged water... can someone shed some light on this for me?


ps im using API tap water conditioner

First off, it sounds like there is some sort of residue coming from your water storage tank. I would probably do 2x per day 25% water changes from tap and see if it clears.

Secondly, my only experience using API water conditioner was not a good one. I don't recall it giving a bleach odor, but my water did cloud, there was a slimy buildup in the tank up and I lost some fish. I dumped it and returned to using Prime...

prime or bust.... ok thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jeep

First off, it sounds like there is some sort of residue coming from your water storage tank. I would probably do 2x per day 25% water changes from tap and see if it clears.

Secondly, my only experience using API water conditioner was not a good one. I don't recall it giving a bleach odor, but my water did cloud, there was a slimy buildup in the tank up and I lost some fish. I dumped it and returned to using Prime...

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if there was residue from my storage tank i feel like my 75 gal with the discus i did a 60% change on would have been cloudy too , but as i stated they are fine, and parents once again...

Those conditioners should not be left to age water in your aging barrel.If you do that you might be putting untreated water in your tanks.The bond lasts for about 48 hours and them releases back in the water.Hence>The smell is back.

It might be ok if your water supply uses just chlorine because that airs off in about 24 hours,but chloramine has ammonia.

Also,see here for Seachem support.https://www.seachem.com/support/foru...rime-questions

*update*

i used a non caustic biodegradable enzyme i i use to clean homebrew equipment, cranked the heater and churned it all around overnight in the water aging tank and neurotically cleaned it out with just water, in hopes to remove any of the film left over from whatever it is that was..

changed a few tanks after i aged it with some old pond prime. i also clean the living piss out of the tanks as well.
replaced the filter media and cleaned the filters out.
fresh start.

the discus tank ended up getting the cloudiest of them all. i moved them to another 50 i have with sand and duckweed. havent done a water change in a min. in there.. they are eating and seem fine. took that API crap back to the store and got a refund.