whats causing cloudy water after water change

[matt2426]

You could safely add discus but only if you're willing to test for ammonia a few times a day and commit to doing daily 75-100% water changes.

Ok thanks so how many more cards or other fish needed to be added so I have a good bio load so I can safely add discus without having to worry about ammonia spikes and doing 100 percent water changes

[Kyla]

The beneficial bacteria in a tank will only grow to MATCH the bio-load in the tank. This means that as u add more fish the BB will increase in #s to consume the new, higher ammonia level being produced by the increased # of fish. So even if u add more tetras now, and the BB grows to catch up conversion of their ammonia, u still won't have enough BB in the tank to handle another future ammonia increase when u add more discus.

You have a couple choices:

1) add the discus and do large daily water changes while the BB grows to match their bioload (and test the water to make sure ur water parameters are safe during this process) - prob the most common method once the tank is already running

2) grow BB on media in a separate tank by adding ammonia directly to the water to feed the BB colony, then transfer this media to ur main tank at the same time u add the discus - or keep the discus in this tank for a quarantine/adjustment period and transfer both fish and media together to the main tank after u have used a "hero" discus to determine mixing the fish is safe - this is the safest method

3) remove all the fish from ur main tank to a separate tank with their current media. add new media to ur main tank And cycle it anew with ammonia before adding the discus.

But remember that even if u cycle a tank using ammonia (lots of info about this online) u are still just "guessing" at the bioload u are adding to a new tank. U should still test the water parameters regularly after adding fish to make sure that the # of BB in the tank is sufficient to handle the # of ammonia producing fish u have added

[Kyla]

I just re-read ur thread... another option is to add MORE cycled media from an already established tank to ur main tank when u add the new discus, as u did originally with the tetras.

However, this is risky, because the tank u are taking the cycled media from may contain pathogens that ur new discus do not have immunity to. Exposing newly introduced discus (which will be stressed from moving tanks/shipping) to pathogens from other fish and other tanks etc could possibly lead to disaster... it is always a risk to mix fish.

[brewmaster15]

Matt is the tank planted? and at are you measuring your parameters before you weekly water change or after?

al

[matt2426]

Matt is the tank planted? and at are you measuring your parameters before you weekly water change or after?

al

I did it a day after my water change and no its not planted ill retest in a week to check my levels right before my water change thanks

[matt2426]

The beneficial bacteria in a tank will only grow to MATCH the bio-load in the tank. This means that as u add more fish the BB will increase in #s to consume the new, higher ammonia level being produced by the increased # of fish. So even if u add more tetras now, and the BB grows to catch up conversion of their ammonia, u still won't have enough BB in the tank to handle another future ammonia increase when u add more discus.

You have a couple choices:

1) add the discus and do large daily water changes while the BB grows to match their bioload (and test the water to make sure ur water parameters are safe during this process) - prob the most common method once the tank is already running

2) grow BB on media in a separate tank by adding ammonia directly to the water to feed the BB colony, then transfer this media to ur main tank at the same time u add the discus - or keep the discus in this tank for a quarantine/adjustment period and transfer both fish and media together to the main tank after u have used a "hero" discus to determine mixing the fish is safe - this is the safest method

3) remove all the fish from ur main tank to a separate tank with their current media. add new media to ur main tank And cycle it anew with ammonia before adding the discus.

But remember that even if u cycle a tank using ammonia (lots of info about this online) u are still just "guessing" at the bioload u are adding to a new tank. U should still test the water parameters regularly after adding fish to make sure that the # of BB in the tank is sufficient to handle the # of ammonia producing fish u have added

Ok thanks Kyla for the help Ill probally going to have to go with the first option would 50 percent be enough daily my storage container is around 60 gallons

[matt2426]

The beneficial bacteria in a tank will only grow to MATCH the bio-load in the tank. This means that as u add more fish the BB will increase in #s to consume the new, higher ammonia level being produced by the increased # of fish. So even if u add more tetras now, and the BB grows to catch up conversion of their ammonia, u still won't have enough BB in the tank to handle another future ammonia increase when u add more discus.

You have a couple choices:

1) add the discus and do large daily water changes while the BB grows to match their bioload (and test the water to make sure ur water parameters are safe during this process) - prob the most common method once the tank is already running

2) grow BB on media in a separate tank by adding ammonia directly to the water to feed the BB colony, then transfer this media to ur main tank at the same time u add the discus - or keep the discus in this tank for a quarantine/adjustment period and transfer both fish and media together to the main tank after u have used a "hero" discus to determine mixing the fish is safe - this is the safest method

3) remove all the fish from ur main tank to a separate tank with their current media. add new media to ur main tank And cycle it anew with ammonia before adding the discus.

But remember that even if u cycle a tank using ammonia (lots of info about this online) u are still just "guessing" at the bioload u are adding to a new tank. U should still test the water parameters regularly after adding fish to make sure that the # of BB in the tank is sufficient to handle the # of ammonia producing fish u have added

and also thanks for explaining beneficial bacteria very helpful how you explained it thank you

[brewmaster15]

I did it a day after my water change and no its not planted ill retest in a week to check my levels right before my water change thanks

that may help to explain it... wcs remove nitrates and dilute readings.. I would take a bunch of readings through out the week..but definitely just before your wc and after.

al

[Kyla]

Ok thanks Kyla for the help Ill probally going to have to go with the first option would 50 percent be enough daily my storage container is around 60 gallons

I don't know at this point if it would be enough, it would be something u would need to try and see once u got the discus, using ur test kit to monitor the water before/after wc. If it wasn't enough and ur ammonia was too high between wc u might need to try 2x per day wc (am & pm) or temp set up a second barrel for larger changes..

[ssevasta]

Also if for some reason you can't add a second barrel you could try to do your first water change fairly early in the morning and your second water change after dinner time because your heater should have the water at tank temperature by then.

[matt2426]

Also if for some reason you can't add a second barrel you could try to do your first water change fairly early in the morning and your second water change after dinner time because your heater should have the water at tank temperature by then.

I may give that a try but don't you need to aerate water for 24 hrs doing the way your saying will only be 12 hours or so but ya ill probally get another barrel just do a large water change once a day

[fishbubbles]

I may give that a try but don't you need to aerate water for 24 hrs doing the way your saying will only be 12 hours or so but ya ill probally get another barrel just do a large water change once a day

That all depends on how much of a ph swing you get from aging your water. Some people have a stable ph after only a few hours while others need a full day or sometimes even longer. Just be sure to test your ph after 12 hours to make sure that it is very close/ the same as your water that has been aged for 24 hours.