# Cloudy water 30L biorb



## Lush72

Hi I wonder if anyone can help, I have had my biorb for 4 months now and the water is really cloudy, it's brown in colour like dirty water. I did my water change and cleaned the tank today. I cleaned the sponge from the filter in the tank water I took out and the sponge was the same colour as the tank water, once I cleaned it all the tank water looked much clearer then within 2hrs it was back to looking cloudy and brown again. What am I doing wrong?


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## Pixieandbow

Lush72 said:


> Hi I wonder if anyone can help, I have had my biorb for 4 months now and the water is really cloudy, it's brown in colour like dirty water. I did my water change and cleaned the tank today. I cleaned the sponge from the filter in the tank water I took out and the sponge was the same colour as the tank water, once I cleaned it all the tank water looked much clearer then within 2hrs it was back to looking cloudy and brown again. What am I doing wrong?


Have you tested the water to check all the water parameters are ok?


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## NaomiM

What fish do you have in there?


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## moggiemum

hi newbie, if u have anybogwood in tank remove as the tannins can cause this


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## nickmcmechan

Bog wood would turn the water a tea colour but not cloudy.

My first thought was 'do 25% water changes daily for a week'

What is your current maintenance regime?

What fish do you have in there and how many?

How often are you feeding?

Did you rinse the sponge put in tank water?

What size of born is it?


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## Lush72

Hi I dont have any bogwood and the fish I have are 3 guppies, a tiny angelfish but I know he'll eventually grow to big and need to be rehomed, 1 platy, 1 apple snail and a dwarf frog who's small too. My weekly change consists of removing all the plastic plant, cleaning the inside glass of the tank with a pad to remove the algae, removing 25% of the tank water with a syphon to clean the rocks at the bottom and remove the waste. I then clean the sponge from the filter in the tank water I've just taken out, then treat the water im putting in with tap safe and stress zyme. I took a sample of my water to my local fish shop to have it tested and she said shes never seen such perfect water and my fish and frog are all really happy and thriving its just the water looks bad. I only feed the fish once a day with flake food and I use a turkey baster to feed the frog shrimp brine. So dont know what im doing wrong. Was thinking of buying the product that can clear the water to see if that helps, it it a good idea? The water looks a bit milky today?


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## Denise90

Sounds like you're doing everything right. What kind of substrate do you have?


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## nickmcmechan

Lush72 said:


> Hi I dont have any bogwood and the fish I have are 3 guppies, a tiny angelfish but I know he'll eventually grow to big and need to be rehomed, 1 platy, 1 apple snail and a dwarf frog who's small too. My weekly change consists of removing all the plastic plant, cleaning the inside glass of the tank with a pad to remove the algae, removing 25% of the tank water with a syphon to clean the rocks at the bottom and remove the waste. I then clean the sponge from the filter in the tank water I've just taken out, then treat the water im putting in with tap safe and stress zyme. I took a sample of my water to my local fish shop to have it tested and she said shes never seen such perfect water and my fish and frog are all really happy and thriving its just the water looks bad. I only feed the fish once a day with flake food and I use a turkey baster to feed the frog shrimp brine. So dont know what im doing wrong. Was thinking of buying the product that can clear the water to see if that helps, it it a good idea? The water looks a bit milky today?


I used to have dwarf frogs, loved the little fellas! Can the frog reach the surface easily as they need to breathe air? Also, they thrive on bloodworm, so I would include that in the diet.

You are right about the angel, they really are not suitable for a biorb, remember small angels are babies so they need TLC.

If anything I think you are doing too much maintenance. The apple snail should take care of the algae for you but if you still have it get a Nerite who will make an excellent job of cleaning it for you.

I would not remove anything from the biorb when doing maintenance as the decorations will harbour the friendly bacteria that you want to keep in your tank (google nitrogen cycle, most of the bacteria will exist in the filter but a biofilm will exist throughout the aquaria which is beneficial too all life in it).

When you are siphoning the mulm from the bottom you really only want to get rid of the worst. If you really want crystal clear water then I would increase the amount of water during your change to 50% weekly and consider using a carbon activated filter (make sure it's activated carbon) and you will be surprised at how clear the water is. The only downside is that the carbon will need to be replaced 4 weekly

Biorb - Using Carbon Filtration

You might also want to consider some plants? Suitable plants would be Java Fern, Java Moss, Anubias and Frogbit which are sturdy low light easy plants. You don't plant any of them and can easily buy them already attached to bogwood (except the frogbit which is a floating plant) which looks really nice

Chuck the Stress Zyme in the bin.

Which version of tap safe are you using? If its tap safe gold it only removes chlorine and not chloramine, I.e. it's useless as every single water board uses chloramine these days. Tap safe bio active is good but there are alternative that pack much more punch for your pounds and last much longer. Searches Prime is about the best you buy, short of using mechanical methods.

In short, I would do bigger water changes, less disturbance and add carbon in the filtration system.

Ps which modelmofmbiorb is it?


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## Peapet

Are the fish eating all the food you put in within a couple of minutes, or is it dropping to the bottom?
If you have a light, how long is it on for?


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## nickmcmechan

And should say you should use a bucket that is only used, or has ever been used for water changes. When you siphon off tank water, rinse your sponge into this water before putting back in the tank. Only rinse off the sponge ifmyoumhave to - visible build up detritus or reduced filter flow


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## Lush72

Thank you so much for all the advice, you really know what your talking about. I love my little frog he's great to watch. I was giving him blood worms but the guy at the fish shop said seemingly they are bad for them even though he has 2 who are 3yr old and thats all he's fed them on. The frog reaches the top easily and sometimes sits ontop of the heater so he can sit at the top, is the frogbit plant a good plant for the frog? Ill stop washing the decorations when I clean the tank and ill by active carbon for the filter, do I just replace all the carbon in 1 go or should I keep some of the old stuff and mix it in with the new carbon? Is 50% not a lot and should I do this at every weekly change? I only ever use the same bucket for water changes and I dont use it for anything else. The tap water safe stuff I use is Nutrafin Aqua plus which I add to the water im putting back into the tank as well as Nutrafin Cycle.


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## nickmcmechan

Lush72 said:


> Thank you so much for all the advice, you really know what your talking about. I love my little frog he's great to watch. I was giving him blood worms but the guy at the fish shop said seemingly they are bad for them even though he has 2 who are 3yr old and thats all he's fed them on. The frog reaches the top easily and sometimes sits ontop of the heater so he can sit at the top, is the frogbit plant a good plant for the frog? Ill stop washing the decorations when I clean the tank and ill by active carbon for the filter, do I just replace all the carbon in 1 go or should I keep some of the old stuff and mix it in with the new carbon? Is 50% not a lot and should I do this at every weekly change? I only ever use the same bucket for water changes and I dont use it for anything else. The tap water safe stuff I use is Nutrafin Aqua plus which I add to the water im putting back into the tank as well as Nutrafin Cycle.


Bloodworms can be controversial as they can contain pathogens, but you will get that with such foods. You shouldn't feed frogs dried bloodworms as they get caught in the gut, get live or frozen.

If you only replace 50% of the carbon the old stuff will not remove things in the water that cause lack of clarity but will still contain good bacteria. So,,Myers, good idea to keep half.

50% water changes? I used to do 75% weekly and at least 25% daily on my breeding discus tank which was 300l.

Aqua plus is fine.

Ditch the nutrafin cycle, it can actually cause a mini cycle and stress that fish. It's only for new tanks at start up and JBL Safe Start is far better.


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