Why does my aquarium water become temporarily cloudy after I do a complete water change?
Also; if a man states an opinion and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?
I have no knowledge of fish water but me thinks it’s from the poop held within the stones that swirls upward when changed. If no stone - no idea.
I’m really writing about your second statement. I see this type of statement in commercials a lot. The woman comes home and finds the man doing something very dumb or trying to force food into the child’s ear. When she finds him she announces the correct answer and the dumb male smiles and apparently goes to sit in a cave and throw poop at the wall.
I understand this concept in commercials (although don’t like it). The woman buys the majority of the products advertised so made that person out to be the smarter of the people in the spot. It makes a bit of sense.
Why has this become so accepted? It seems to be my job now to smile when women tell me how dumb their husbands are or what a worthless so and so he is. They don’t mean it in the strict sense, but still find it funny. It’s an accepted thing. One person tells me it’s because it’s pay-back for all the stuff men did to women. She also told me I am feeling as she felt and I should wallow in it. (She was a bit miffed at my question).
I guess men are just now the acceptable targets. It just drives me nuts.
Sorry - just wanted to vent. I’ll now go back to trying to get the round peg in the roung thingy.
There are three kinds of people: Those who can count and those who can’t.
First of all, you should never do a complete water change. It stresses the fish and destroys useful bacteria that break down the ammonia created by by fish waste and uneaten food.
The water appears cloudy because of very, very tiny air bubbles that eventually break up. A glass of water looks clear because it’s a small amount so the bubbles dissolve very quickly.
Yeah, quit changing so much water…I think its 10% per change.
Ever body’s right. If you don’t do a complete break down you are stirring up some undisolved solids,not ‘poop’ so much but minerals etc., if you watch you will see the water clear from the bottom up as the air is released. Now Dr Innes says you can change as much as half at one time, Dr Axelrod says a third. But both agree more frequent smaller changes are betterand that a yearly break down for tanks under 100 gal is good practice. ( YEH, practice for a bucket relay race) As for that other thing I haven’t had an opinion for the last 28 years.Well, that’s not really true. Mrs mr john let’s me make the big decisions, she makes the little ones. She decides where we’re going to live, what kind of car we have,when to buy a new one, what to watch on TV, stuff like that. I decide if the US belongs in the UN, if Nafta is a good idea,does the Unified Field Theory make sense,stuff like that.
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx
mr john, you don’t know how lucky you are. The Wife makes all the small decisions around here; my opinion is reserved for the big decisions. I am still waiting for a big decision to come along.
If a man is alone in the forest, is he still wrong?
Dr.-What do you think?
Actually … the cloudiness in the water is due to the fact that the biological filter in the water has been totally reset. This is a Bad Thing.
Good bacteria and enzymes belong in a healthy, well-managed fish tank. They keep your fish happy and healthy. When you do a complete water change (or set up a new tank), the water is without those helpful organisms, and the water becomes cloudy in response. It can take several days or even weeks for a tank to cycle the biological filter to healthy levels for the fish and remove the cloudiness from the water, even with the addition of the proper amounts of Stress Zyme. It’s perfectly normal in a cycling and uncycled tank, but a bad thing in an established system
In the meantime, your fish are now highly stressed and prone to diseases like ich, fin rot, pop-eye dropsy. Stressed fish are not happy fish.
When you do a water change (and really, you should do a 10-20% change weekly, depending on the size of the tank), make sure you condition the water you’re replacing beforehand. Remove your filter first, rinse in COOL WATER (warm water kills the bacteria that have grown on every surface in your aquarium), then replace it. Use a gravel filter to remove the worst of the waste from the bottom of the tank, and leave your filter going during the cleaning process. As a last move, once you’ve added the new water to the tank, making sure that the PH and temp are all even with the existing tank, THEN actually change and replace your filter with a new one.
In some cases, temporary cloudiness (and I mean an hour or two or less) can be due to ‘carbonation’ in the water. A lot of artesian and well systems that don’t have a lot of flouride are really prone to this. So long as you’ve made sure to condition the water and remove the chlorine, it shouldn’t affect the fish. If, however, you notice a real problem with your tapwater and its affecting the health of your fish – STOP USING IT. Many aquarium owners insist on using distilled bottled water for their tanks to begin with.
Take care of your fish, or the crazy fish lady will get you.
Thanks for all the input. I should have elaborated a little more. I have a vivarium setup now. It only holds about 3 gallons of water. I have no fish; only frogs, toads, and lizards. The water percolates through a large gravel area on its way to the waterfall, then runs down a spill way on its way to the water area of the tank.
As far as the fish lady getting me; that sounds interesting.
Thanks all.
JohnP
Oh, I want one of those set-ups for my kids. They have a thing for fire newts and hermit crabs, but I’m not about to give up one of my tanks for them. 
In any case, the biological filter effect will still apply, though your beasties won’t be quite as sensitive to changes as fish. In fact, there are quite a few fish that simply can’t survive in “new” water.
I’m starting to ramble again, so I’ll just go away before it turns into a fish lecture again.
Crazy fish !?! do they live in Crazy Water? What ya really wanta avoid is the fish police! if SD search function works for you try “Fish Trucks” for all the info.
“Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx