Frequent Aquarium Questions

• We do a 25% water change each week with vaccuming and a 50% water change at the first of each month. We recently noted white particles floating in the tank. What could this be?
  
  
• What is the easiest way to clean a goldfish aquarium?
  
  
• Can you clean decorations with bleach? If so, how?
  
  
• When I perform water changes on my 2 tanks the water becomes cloudy. I also clean the filters. What could be happening?
  
  
• I have a reef tank with hair algae. I was told that I can't scrape it off because it might kill the good algae. How should I scrape the algae off?
  
  
• How often is too often to change the water in my 3 and 12 gallon tanks?
  
  
• I accidentally dumped a bunch of food in my 3-week old tank. The tank has nitrites and is cloudy. What should I do?
  
  
• I had 5 tanks set up. 1 75gal, 2 55gal,1 10gal with convict fry,& 1 10gal with a velvet covered cat. My catfish died. I did a 15% water change on the other tanks with a python,then drained the 10gal. Nothing else unusual. Used stress coat & dechlorinator. 4 hours later, my tanks were full of thick milky white particles. My fish gasping, and some were dead. I use bio. filtration, so I rushed & put in carbon filters. I lost the 75g. except for 3 fish. No other fatalities. What happened? Bacteria?
  
  
• I have a 29 gal. freshwater tank with a sand substrate. My problem is that I can never get the water crystal clear, upon veiwing I can usually see sand particles floating throughout the water. How can I clear this up?
  
  
• What method and product do you recommend to remove scratches from an acrylic tank? Do I have to empty the tank?
  
  

• We do a 25% water change each week with vaccuming and a 50% water change at the first of each month. We recently noted white particles floating in the tank. What could this be?
  
  You are changing too much of the water too frequently which is causing a bacterial bloom.
  
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• What is the easiest way to clean a goldfish aquarium?
  
  You should remove the algae, vacuum out 25% of the water every, and service the filters every month.
  
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• Can you clean decorations with bleach? If so, how?
  
  Yes. Use a dilute solution of bleach and water. After soaking the decorations in this solution, rinse, and let soak in water with sufficient declorinator. Let the decorations air dry.
  
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• When I perform water changes on my 2 tanks the water becomes cloudy. I also clean the filters. What could be happening?
  
  The water is usually somewhat cloudy after a water change. Remember not to thoroughly clean your biological filter. If you do, you will kill important bacteria which will cause cloudiness do to a bacterial imbalance.
  
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• I have a reef tank with hair algae. I was told that I can't scrape it off because it might kill the good algae. How should I scrape the algae off?
  
  You can use a foxtail brush, toothbrush, or toiletbrush. Coraline alage is calcareous and can withstand the cleaining.
  
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• How often is too often to change the water in my 3 and 12 gallon tanks?
  
  Assuming that you are not overfeeding, you can do a 10% water change every 2 weeks.
  
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• I accidentally dumped a bunch of food in my 3-week old tank. The tank has nitrites and is cloudy. What should I do?
  
  You need to remove any detritus by gravel vacuuming the entire tank and then perform a 50% water change.
  
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• I had 5 tanks set up. 1 75gal, 2 55gal,1 10gal with convict fry,& 1 10gal with a velvet covered cat. My catfish died. I did a 15% water change on the other tanks with a python,then drained the 10gal. Nothing else unusual. Used stress coat & dechlorinator. 4 hours later, my tanks were full of thick milky white particles. My fish gasping, and some were dead. I use bio. filtration, so I rushed & put in carbon filters. I lost the 75g. except for 3 fish. No other fatalities. What happened? Bacteria?
  
  It sounds as if you had contamination from your water conditioners. Stress Coat can spoil so make sure that it is stored at room temperature and no other liquids are introduced into the bottle. The color of the water may represent a bacterial bloom that usually occurs with newer tanks.
  
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• I have a 29 gal. freshwater tank with a sand substrate. My problem is that I can never get the water crystal clear, upon veiwing I can usually see sand particles floating throughout the water. How can I clear this up?
  
  Generally I would say that you have an area of flow in your tank which is kicking up the substrate and need to direct it away from this spot.
  
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• What method and product do you recommend to remove scratches from an acrylic tank? Do I have to empty the tank?
  
  You can purchase an acrylic scratch kit from Rainbow Lifegard. You can buff out the scratches underwater, but you will have to drain the tank if you want to restore the full sheen with acrylic polish.
  
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