i have a slight problem developing that i am afraid is going to turn into a huge problem soon.

a few days ago i added a new internal filter to my tank and this is exactly when my probs started. the filter is an aqua one 120f internal filter with 500L/hr filtration. prior to this i had a simple corner filter that was doing an amzing job. but this was suggested to me by my boss at the (a fish shop) is my tank is rather large (165L) and this should do a better job for my tank. i added the filter on sunday at the same time i added 2 new pristella tetras and 2 bristlenose catfish. along with this i started using a different kind of food (veggie flakes) on top of there tropical flakes. no more than usual just a mix of both. it was about an hour after adding the new filter that i noticed the water was starting to get a little cloudy. at the time i thought between the new filter, the new fish and the new food it may have been causing sime kind of biological upset and decided to leave it a day or two and see if the new filter started doing its job.

this is the filter ( i wasnt sure if it was only australian or an american made filter so i thought id post a pic) it also shows slightly the cloudiness but not much.



2 three spot gouramis - 6 inches
platinum gourami - 3 inches
gold gourami - 3 inches
red honey gourami - 1.5 inches
banded gourami - 2 inches
pearl gourami - 2 inches

5 neon tetras - 5 inches
4 pristella tetras - 4 inches
3 bloodfin tetras - 4 inches
6 glowlight tetras - 6 inches
2 lamp eye tetras - 3 inches
5 tiger barbs - 4 inches
2 bristlenose catfish - 4 inches
female siamese fighter - 3 inches
male platy - 1.5 inches

this seemed like a lot to me and then it was explained to me that basically this is fine considering i basically have small fish in there and there is by no means on overcrowding situation.

im really confused as the water in my tank registered the same as my livebearer tank and nothing has been done differently with my main tank.

my plan at this stage is to do a 50% water change tomorrow morning and a gravel vaccum in the hope that this may help.

are there any ideas to anyone as to what could be causing this?

thanks
emily :)

i missed some info in between the pic and the fish list;

yesterday the water was still slightly cloudy but did seem a little better. this afternoon i had noticed a change again and it seemed to be on the mend. we went to our lfs to get an aerating ornament and instead of that we came home with 3 neon tetras and 5 tiger barbs smile.gif as you do wink.gif once again on adding the new fish the water became cloudy. much cloudier than before and seems to be slowly getting worse. i did water tests at work the other day and nitrates and nitrites were fine, the pH was 7.3 and the hardness was quite high but wood will be put in this weekend to help combat this. so all in all water tests were fine (except hardness which i didnt think would add to this problem).

i was somewhat concerned that the tank was overcrowded but on my own thoughts, the thoughts of those at work and those of my lfs that i got to at times, the fish i have in there against this tank size is fine. the tank is a 3ft, 165L (43.5 us gallons) and i have 52 inches worth of fish in there. my fish list is:

and back to the original post hehe :)

Your tank is crowded but not profoundly so. Here is my question. Did your old filter have a biological component? Did you remove your old filter? Did you remove the old filter's biological component? If so, then that would have removed a lot of the good bacteria. With no place to grow in a quick fashion, bacteria may grow in the water itself resuling in cloudy water. If your new filter has a biological component, the tank should improve with time. If not, you should add something with a lot of surface area. In the mean time, if your old filter is not in the tank, put it back in (you'll have two filters for a while). The new fish wouldn't cloud the water. I doubt veggie flakes would cause a problem either. Do water changes and add good bacteria. If the cloudy water is due to bacteria, it should clear up. If it's algae, then it's a different problem (and solution). I hope it clears up!

I have a little bit on my site about cloudy water (mostly for new tanks) at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/algaeinfo.htm#cloudy

the new filter has this black synthetic sponge type stuff in it which i was told would be enough. yes i did take the old filter out and have thrown out the old wool from it but im thinking i need to clean my livebearer tank today so i could take some of the wool out of that one to add to the second filter for the big tank and hope that helps. i am also going to do a 50% water change and gravel vaccum. will let you know how this all goes. i get so panicky when something doesnt look right lol

have done what i mentioned and the water looks awesome :D i have just realised where I went wrong on the tank size/amount of fish. being that i am australian i work in litres and i was thinking an inch per litre but have realised it is gallons. i ave removed my gouramis which leave my inches at 37.5. i personally felt with the space in my tank there wasnt an overcrowding problem as there is full surface space and everyone seems to have more than enough room but i am going on what i have read in these forums ;)

Yep, it's an inch per gallon (for small, skinny fish only).
1 gallon = 3.785 liters
So, your tank is about 43 US gallons so you'd want under 40 inches of skinny/small fish.
I think the main problem occured when you removed the biological filtration material from the old filter effectively removing a lot of the good bacteria. Adding some from another tank can help. Check your ammonia level as it may start to go up. In the future, when you get a new filter, put the old filter's material into the new filter for a while if possible or at least in the tank so the new biological filter material can be more easily seeded with bacterial colonies. The bacteria can bloom into the water for a while but eventually it either has to grow somewhere, or the ammonia and nitrite will start to rise. I'm glad your water looks better!

water is still looking awesome this morning :) will take some water in to work and do a test for everything. all i have in there now are tetras and the biggest is one of my bloodfins that is about 1 3/4" how long should i leave the second filter in the tank?

If you can't transfer the old filter material to the new filter, then leave them both in there for at least two weeks (four is better) so that hopefully some bacteria will at least start to grow on the new filter's material. In my 5 gallon tank, when I went from a corner air-drive box filter to a Stingray, I stuck the polyester floss that was in the corner filter under a cave ornament in the tank and left it there. A few years later, and it's still there!