# Nepheline Syenite and cloudy water



## riggles17 (Jan 4, 2011)

I see a lot of people on here use it, its Pool Filter Sand, but has anyone else had a problem with it clouding the water weeks after you put it into your tank.

I have a well established Tropheus tank that has all of a sudden become very cloudy, a white cloud, not algae cloud, and this has happened before and I dont know what to do at this point. I'm thinking of removing this pool filter sand and putting in pure silica sand from a different store but I dont know what to do. If anyone has any input on the subject that would be great.

Details about the tank 
75 gallon tank with 26 Juvie Duboisi Maswa
1 Aquaclear 70 and one 600 gph powerhead with prefilter
shop light
Nepheline Syenite substrate
One piece of Anubias

Im using Whitby water for water changes, and I run a garden hose directly off of my laundry tub for water fill after the draining of my tank.

If anyone can help or has any ideas, please share! Thanks everyone

Rick

Heres a video


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

How well is 'well established'?
Have you used any medication recently?
Do you still have 26 t duboisi? Maybe one died. 
Changed filter media?
Cleaned filter media?
Anything new in the tank recently?
When you fill with water after the water change, did you stir up the sand?

I found this yesterday. Bacterial Blooms - Explained

Test for ammonia levels.


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## riggles17 (Jan 4, 2011)

9 months running and I've had a few cloudy spouts. 

Recently added some Anubias which I was trying to revitalize but it was crystal clear before and after the plant was put in. Only now has it become cloudy after a water change. 

Cleaned the filters weekly and always replace the poly filter. I also have 2 sponges, and bio max in The filter. I can add purigen which is ready but sitting in my sump I haven't setup yet. 

I don't really stir up the sand after a water change, but I do stir up some while vacuuming. Also I do about 90% water change weekly. 

I don't have a test kit :$ going to invest in one soon.


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## riggles17 (Jan 4, 2011)

Oh and no medication.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

OMG, you should never do more than 50 percent at once, stresses the fish out and just a waste of water.

Sounds like you are doing too much maintenance and confusing the natural cycle.

You do more work on one tank than I do on 10


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

What are you using as your dechlorinator? I used to have this problem when I was using Big Al's brand however after switching to Prime I've never had this issue again.
--
Paul


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## Scotmando (Jul 10, 2011)

pyrrolin said:


> OMG, you should never do more than 50 percent at once, stresses the fish out and just a waste of water.
> 
> Sounds like you are doing too much maintenance and confusing the natural cycle.
> 
> You do more work on one tank than I do on 10


I only count 9 tank (in your signature)! LOL


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## Mlevi (Jan 28, 2012)

If you replace 90% of the water AND replace filter medium weekly, I'm wondering if that's causing a bacterial bloom, as it would be akin to a new cycle every week. Bacterial blooms manifest themselves as 'cloudy water' at times.

Al.


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## riggles17 (Jan 4, 2011)

Thanks for the input everyone.

Pyrollin, my Tropheus love the fresh water and the ultra clean tank, and I am not just saying that, I got them accustomed to it but yes it is a waste of water in my eyes, I was hoping it would help their growth and from my observations it hasnt done much of anything. 

I clean my media weekly, all of it, including my small bag of BioMax, I tried to maximize mechanical filtration and minimize my bio filtration because I WAS doing so much maintenance and going overboard. 

Thanks to all the chimed in and obviously I know how to fix the problem now, less water change, more bio media less frequently cleaned, and clean the sand less often. 

Mlevi, it is a bacteria bloom after some extra digging on the internet, good bacteria is not present in order to clear out the bad bacteria clouding the tank.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

pyrrolin said:


> OMG, you should never do more than 50 percent at once, stresses the fish out and just a waste of water.


Sorry, this isn't true. You aren't the first to say it, but, it still isn't true. Those that keep Tropheus are in agreement that the secret to success is clean water. Typically, Tropheus tanks are quite heavily stocked and this one is no different. Check out You Tube for some discus water changes.


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## riggles17 (Jan 4, 2011)

BillD do you keep Tropheus? 

I agree with the above post. Trophs absolutely adore clean water and stuff. Never had ANY problems because of my water change and cleaning routine, but as I said, aesterichally it isn't good. The tank is never crystal clear and I go through spouts like right now where it's totally fog.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

And our BB bacteria can't out compete the ones that cause the blooms, which reproduce at astronomical rates compared to the repro' rate of the nitrifying bacteria.

Read up on those heterotrophic bacteria and blooms, that article Scott linked to is good, or others if you like. Very educational, I think anyone keeping tanks needs to understand this topic.

While I don't keep tropheus, and I don't normally do 90% WCs, I can attest that doing a big change does not appear to distress fish at all. If anything they seem to like it. Since the problems I came home to this summer, I've been doing some larger changes.. and I did 3 back to back when I first got home, to remedy the unfortunate results of being away too long. 

Only losses were the ones already gone, none since. No ammonia spike, thankfully, the shrimp and snails clean up the dead, but dirty, clogged filters, low water levels and badly overgrown plants taking up all the swimming room, plus nitrates much too high for my liking, were not good. 

3 changes back to back of over 50% did wonders. Fish looked great afterward. I do believe that staggering large changes is easier on fish, but water changes alone don't seem to be much problem for the fish or fan shrimp I keep with them.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

While I don't keep Tropheus, I have seen Klaus' talk a few times as well as his fish room. While I don't routinely do a 90% change I have done so on more than a few occasions, usually when a tank has been neglected. I recall seeing a video of the late Dr. Joanne Norton, speaking at (I believe it was) a CAOAC convention, where she said that she changed so much water that her fish had to lay on their sides to stay wet. Her contributions to the hobby, particularly in the area of genetics is legendary. The folks on the Angel II forum consider her to be the near godliness. 



 this video is worth seeing.


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