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HELP nothing works

J

j

Guest
I have been having cloudy water problems in my 45 gallon (about 25 gallons filled Single newt tank) for a year now. I have tried adding chemicals. Not adding chemicals. changing some of the rocks in the tank adding other ones and terracotta pots. all kinds of filter media and constant water changes or leaving it be for a while. I now have to move my tank. I am going to redesign is with new rocks and pots. I was wondering if i should do all that at once or if I should move it and change 95% of the water but leave most of the old rocks in then slowly change them out. Or should I just do this all at once. I am beyond frustrated. I feed him live blood/blackworms. Also if anyone knows any good frozen food that would be great also thank you very much.
 
E

ester

Guest
Do you have a picture of the setup? What do you have in it?
What color is the cloudiness?
 
J

j

Guest
I do not have a picture. the cloudiness is white and sometimes a yellowish tint. I am switching from all various river rocks,pond stone and big gravel to red and black slate and teracotta pots. I have a fluval 2 plus water filter and only one probably warty newt. And snails that appeared a few years back (small dark only a few though) Thank you for replying
 
J

jennifer

Guest
I don't have any good ideas why a tank would be chronically cloudy for a year. I would say go ahead and switch all the rocks, on the chance some of the rocks may be the problem.

Are you moving a short enough distance that you could keep some parts of the tank wet and preserve the biofilter?
 
A

alan

Guest
How does the water smell? Does it have an earthy smell, or does it pong?
 
E

edward

Guest
Are you using carbon with your filtration?

Ed

(Message edited by Ed on August 07, 2006)
 
J

j

Guest
I am just moving to another room in the same house. I have used carbon filtration but i am thinking about hooking up my old fluval 3 as well as my current filter and the water does not smell hardly at all. nitrates are high sometimes though. any other advice on frozen food would help. or material that would help with the bio filter that i could put in my tank thank you very much
 
I

ian

Guest
I think anything that has been established is helpful with bio filter, and plant will help as well.

Are you sure you are not overfeeding?
 
J

jennifer

Guest
When you move the tank, keep all the ornaments and plants that you are going to use in the new tank in a bucket of water (keep them wet). This will transfer the good bacteria to the new tank. It should cycle without any dangerous peaks of ammonia or nitrite, assuming you keep it cleaned up during the cycling period.

Regarding frozen food, the kind I recommend is bloodworms, preferably Hikari brand. It's a good idea to thaw them, then just put in the worms, not the red liquid (which just adds nutrients to the tank). It's helpful to have one area of the tank bare (no sand or gravel) so the uneaten food can be cleaned up easily.
 
J

j

Guest
Thank you for the advice. So when I move the tank I should keep the old water but just enough to keep the rocks and stuff in? And I should wipe down the inside of the tank? What should I house my newt in? Is a plastic storage box ok? And if I wanted to paint my stand how long would it be ok for the newt to be held in the storage thing? Thank you
 
M

mary

Guest
Do you have any driftwood in the tank? Driftwood will release tanin for a period of time, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, depending on the size and type of wood. It may not be aesthetically pleasing to you, but actually the creatures love it, and it's not harmful. However, if you have something that is releasing tanin, you usually have a boggy or earthy type odor associated with it.
Take care,
 
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