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Cloudy water


cuppicake
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Hi guys! So I have a bit of an issue. Cloudy water, as you can see. This was filled yesterday, its clean water, no animals...brand new tank. My problem is that Im on a non-filtered well and my water is ALWAYS like this. Its safe for consumption, my parrots, goats, dogs and myself drink it and its been tested for contaminates. Its basically super fine reddish clay. ATM I have two large sponge filters going.....do you guys think a back hanging filter would finish cleaning out the finer particles? Thanks!!! 😄 

 

IMG20220407095616.jpg.dd721e50523503a86127535e825ef182.jpg

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You could try a hang on back with carbon cartridge that has the polyfil white stuff. Or a hang on the back stuffed with polyfil in addition to your sponge. Here is what I have used in the past. It is a less expensive alternative to the pet store cartridges as the carbon only works short term for things like contaminates or medication removal. The white polyester stuff should remove the clay particles just fine

0B8BE988-8A16-4BAD-BCBE-FD53F06D52B3.png

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I agree with @Guppysnail. You could also use some clarifier, like Fritz Clarifier. It's a flocculant that works really well for most suspended particles.

You will probably have the water get cloudy again with a white haze when it starts cycling. That will be a bacterial bloom though and should clear up on it's own within a week.

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On 4/7/2022 at 1:04 PM, cuppicake said:

My problem is that Im on a non-filtered well and my water is ALWAYS like this. Its basically super fine reddish clay. 

This will be a recurring issue when you do water changes. I would consider adding an inline filter on the tap that you use for aquarium water.

If you cannot add a filter, second choice would be setting up a water holding tank. You would fill it with well water and use the HOB polishing filter on this holding tank. You would use water from the holding tank for your water changes, then refill the holding tank and start polishing to get ready for the next water change.

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is it your first tank? being new, its likely to be cloudy for a day or three. that is entirely normal regarding particulates in the water, a HOB with a fine filter floss or similar can help to remove that. id give it a few days, and a couple water changes down the road determine if you need something additional.

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On 4/7/2022 at 12:12 PM, lefty o said:

is it your first tank? being new, its likely to be cloudy for a day or three.

Its my first tank in the house, with this water. Sadly, this is just my water. If I leave it in a container long enough it collects a decent amount of yellowish/orange sediment at the bottom. Heres an example. This water in this jar is maybe a month or so old. It was filled in case the power went out to water the dog and it was forgotten. You can see the yellow at the bottom, its a layer of dirt? lol 

IMG20220407122137.jpg

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On 4/7/2022 at 11:04 AM, cuppicake said:

Hi guys! So I have a bit of an issue. Cloudy water, as you can see. This was filled yesterday, its clean water, no animals...brand new tank. My problem is that Im on a non-filtered well and my water is ALWAYS like this. Its safe for consumption, my parrots, goats, dogs and myself drink it and its been tested for contaminates. Its basically super fine reddish clay. ATM I have two large sponge filters going.....do you guys think a back hanging filter would finish cleaning out the finer particles? Thanks!!! 😄 

 

IMG20220407095616.jpg.dd721e50523503a86127535e825ef182.jpg

The absolute joys of well water!!!

You have a few options, depending on how much money you want to invest, what your base parameters are coming out of the faucet, and what you want to have in the tank.

Clearest water, but highest cost: Buy RO/DI unit, and remineralize your water (also wastes a fair amount of water, but if you own your home you can run the effluent from the RO/DI straight to a "pond" phytoremediation area in your garden).

Lower cost, still requires buying product to remineralize water if you use it for 100% top offs and water changes: ZeroFilter. Unlike RO/DI, there isn't any effluent and each $10 filter treats ~40 to 50 gallons.

Lowest cost: Pur filter screws onto the sink faucet and will filter out most of the sediment (clearer looking water). You can buy the $3/filter option that just reduces sediment and contaminants, or you can buy the $4.50/filter that adds back in essential minerals and salts after filtering out the sediment. Would be worth testing each Pur filter option, to see what works best for your specific livestock needs. The light on the Pur kitchen faucet mounted Pur filter is based on gallons treated, and not actual quality, so you will want to test the tap water before water changes, at least every other water change, to ensure you don't have a jump in TDS, GH or kH going into your tank.

Highest maintenance and energy expenditure on your part, and cost is determined by what's available to you, would be to get a HOB to use for 24 hours after each water change. Super fine poly floss and fine sponge in the HOB to remove all of the sediment floating in the water will get you pristine water clarity. Another option is to fill an external container (55 gal Rubbermaid trashcans work well, especially on a mechanics dolly) and treat the water in there before water changes.

 

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If you keep eartheaters and other bottom feeders, they tend to stir up the substrate as they search for food at the floor of the aquarium. If they perpetually cause cloudiness in your aquarium, you may need to add more mechanical filtration to scrub the water. Mechanical filtration is any type of filtration that physically strains out debris from the water, much like a coffee filter. Hang-on-back, canister, undergravel and sponge filters all help with mechanical filtration. If you have a customizable filter, add a prefilter sponge to cover the intake tube, use a coarse sponge pad to catch the larger particles, and get a fine poly pad to trap the smallest particles. (Fine poly pads are not reusable and should be replaced when they become clogged with gunk.) Additionally, you can improve water circulation with power heads to eliminate any dead spots in the aquarium and make sure any loose particles get sucked up by the filter.

Lastly, water clarifiers can be used to clear up cloudy water caused by debris. They contain a special clay or chemical that bonds with suspended debris particles, causing them to clump together so that they get caught by the filter more easily or settle to the substrate. Because the water clarifier sticks to the particles to increase its size, oftentimes the cloudiness can look worse before the filter has a chance to gather all the debris."

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/cloudy-fish-tank

Thank you @Guppysnail for tagging me, that's the extent of my knowledge based on my real life experience with similar issues, lol

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Regardless, if your water hasn't been tested in the past year, or you don't have a full break down of what is in your water, I recommend an annual water test. My step-mom worked with a sub-contractor for the CDC, and insisted on us sending her a water sample once each quarter. Turned out that rains after our neighbors fields were fertilized contaminated our well water. It took 3 years to get everyone on board, but children & grandkids stopped getting sick after our little farming community in the mountains made changes to how we managed our surface treatments in the interests of healthy ground water.

I wasn't aware of how seasonal water quality was, now was I aware of how little oversite there is for ground water quality.

Thanks to my mom's work with the labs, I quit getting hospitalized (immunocompromised) every spring after we got our water tested every season with a reputable lab.

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@Torreythank you. I am in the process of researching all these ideas. I will start simple with the HOB and go from there. My water probably does need tested again, its been a bit since I had it done. My neighbor decided to clear cut his land, which caused my water to be extra cloudy. Theres an underground stream that runs near it.....I will assume the trees helped it stay a lot cleaner. 

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I have a "whole house filter" from home desperate that we added fittings to connect to the garden hose. We use it when we fill up our camper water. Never thought about using it to fill the fish tank! Smart folks here. Always full of great ideas. Lol.

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On 4/7/2022 at 4:11 PM, cuppicake said:

@Torreythank you. I am in the process of researching all these ideas. I will start simple with the HOB and go from there. My water probably does need tested again, its been a bit since I had it done. My neighbor decided to clear cut his land, which caused my water to be extra cloudy. Theres an underground stream that runs near it.....I will assume the trees helped it stay a lot cleaner. 

That hurts my heart to hear... yes, the tree roots held the earth in place, and the roots and the mycorrhizae that allow trees to talk to one another filtered everything before it got to the groundwater. I am so sorry you are dealing with that, too few people understand that at this point in human history, we need to protect every tree possible...

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Thank you all for the ideas. What I did to achieve a clear tank...I added a HOB filter and doused the tank with a bit of Fritz clarifier. My well guy is testing the water for me free of charge. Thanks again!!! ** the big scratches is just a piece of plexi attached to my reclaimed work desk  😄 **image.jpeg.ca466471d0571bfb36dc60ae8e4b1dd0.jpeg

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On 4/7/2022 at 3:11 PM, cuppicake said:

@Torreythank you. I am in the process of researching all these ideas. I will start simple with the HOB and go from there. My water probably does need tested again, its been a bit since I had it done. My neighbor decided to clear cut his land, which caused my water to be extra cloudy. Theres an underground stream that runs near it.....I will assume the trees helped it stay a lot cleaner. 

They have them at the "home improvement" stores but you can get a plug in the sink for drinking water. You can use this to fill your tank (likely need to prep the water ahead of time because it will take a little while to run through the filter).  It's essentially the same filters used for RODI systems but under the sink, a bit smaller footprint and they come with 3-5G tanks to hold water. I'm in a similar situation to you, where this is just life. It's a bit more economical to replace the filters every 6 months or year (and better quality filters) than the over the counter pitcher or faucet style ones that have to be replaced often for water like this.

Example: https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Under-Sink-Dual-Flow-Water-Filtration-System-GXK285JBL/206501304?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&&mtc=Shopping-RM-F_DYNM-G-D26P-026_009_WATER_TREAT-GE-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-MK492773300_9016830460_FY22_32_RM1&cm_mmc=Shopping-RM-F_DYNM-G-D26P-026_009_WATER_TREAT-GE-NA-NA-SMART-NA-NA-MK492773300_9016830460_FY22_32_RM1-71700000089386425-58700007544697375-92700067951203704&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2M_uxuSH9wIVQh6tBh2l7goFEAQYASABEgLyjfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

or better yet is something like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/ISPRING-3-Stage-Under-Sink-High-Capacity-Tankless-Drinking-Water-Filtration-System-Includes-Sediment-2x-Cto-Carbon-Block-Filters-US31/306703659?MERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-206501304-_-306703659-_-N&

Edited by nabokovfan87
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  • 2 weeks later...

Update on my water/tank. Tank is still clear. I added 7 corys that a local gentleman gifted to me. All are doing wonderful. My tank has cycled nicely...Im looking forward to my plants growing up 🙂 As per suggestion I did get my water tested at my local well company, Ill add a picture to the info they gave me. No filters on my tap, its straight from the well. Also a couple pics of my tiny little corys and a snail that hitchhiked in. 😁

Cory2.jpg

Snail.jpg

cory1.jpg

water.jpg

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On 4/21/2022 at 7:56 PM, cuppicake said:

Update on my water/tank. Tank is still clear. I added 7 corys that a local gentleman gifted to me. All are doing wonderful. My tank has cycled nicely...Im looking forward to my plants growing up 🙂 As per suggestion I did get my water tested at my local well company, Ill add a picture to the info they gave me. No filters on my tap, its straight from the well. Also a couple pics of my tiny little corys and a snail that hitchhiked in. 😁

Cory2.jpg

Snail.jpg

cory1.jpg

water.jpg

Awesome looking fish 

I recently set up a new tank and had cloudy water from substrate.

I used acurel f and it worked great!!

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