My 30 gallon tropical community fish tank.

[jettej]

I got a 30 gallon with platy neons swords bristlenose dojos and rasboras problably a school of 5-8 each except my dojo cuz i only have three. Anyways i'm having a water issue going on. It gets cloudy a week after a 70% water change. So i change my water almost every other week and gets cloudy almost every week. Which is kind of too much for me. I tried those tetra brand water clarifier and does not work. The cloudiness is white so not an algae problem. I dont overfeed because i feed them 1-2 times a day and sit in front of the tank for 30 mins to make sure all the food was consume. But nothing helps. And one more thing i got actually two filters that you hang on the back of the tank. One is ex45 tetra. And another one i forgot the brand. So anyone can suggest anything.? Thank you

 

[DMD123]

White water generally means you are going through your tank trying to cycle again. You may have killed off your good bacteria. When cleaning filters do you use tap water? Are you using water treatment?

 

[jettej]

I use tap water and just use water conditioner as directed.

 

[Betty]

How often are you cleaning the filters? Are you cleaning the bio-media in tap water? Have you tested the water for ammonia or nitrites?

You watch them for 30 minutes after feeding the fish -- are they taking almost that long to consume the food?

 

[DMD123]

Refilling the tank itself with tap water and using the water conditioner is not an issue.

If the tank is newly set up you may not have developed your good bacteria properly.

Here is an article that may help: http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

 

[DMD123]

Betty has a good point about the feeding. Most fish food instructions usually say to feed only what the fish can eat within a few (two or so) minutes.

And like she mentioned testing the water is important, it will tell you exactly what is going on. If you do not have a kit many of the stores will test a water sample for you. Dont waste money on the test strips they are not that accurate. If you do decide to get a kit buy a real one with the drops and vials. If you plan on keeping fish long term or moving up to large tanks in the future, invest in your own water test kit.

 

[jettej]

I clean the filters thoroughly every other water change. Thats what i dont have right now. The bio media.

And i feed them like every 10 mins then just watch .

 

[jettej]

Yes they consume it around 1-2 mins

 

[Betty]

I'd agree with DMD that the tank is cycling. If you are thoroughly cleaning the filter and there is no bio-media, there is probably very little beneficial bacteria.

I would suggest staggering the cleaning of the filters so you aren't doing them both on the same day. Maybe do one one week and the other the next week. And until you get some bio, try rinsing the mechanical media in dechlorinated water, not water straight from the tap.

I'm still not understanding how much they are eating, but I suspect they might be overfed. Excess food can be part of the problem.

And see if you can get a water sample tested. That will tell you if the tank is trying to cycle.

 

[Anthraxx]

yeah i wont do water changes when i clean out the filter. if i do its very minimal. i do that each week so the bio load can get better.

 

[jettej]

Thank you all so much. I will do the water test tom. And my co-worker will give me a cupfull of biomedias and ill just make a container for it. Thank you so much. Last night i cleaned my bigger hob filter but my other small filter wasnt cleaned and i did a 35% water change. So i wish it would fix the problem. I appreciate it.