HELP! Question on something Im doing right now....

[JeffinMississippi]

A couple of days ago I did a 20% water change and vac on my 20g tank. The
water clouded up and started smelling like sewer water but the readings were
OK with the ph a little off but still ok. Tonight I got home and went to
feed and dumped dang near a whole large jar of food in the tank by accident.
I decided this would be a good time to do another vac and water change. I
took out 50% this time. Took readings 2 minutes ago and here is what they
are:

Nitrate NO3- 20 Safe.
Nitrite NO2-0 Safe
Total Hardness 250-Very Hard
Alkalinity/Buffering-180 Ideal Range
Ph-7.6-Ideal Range

What is the cause of the hard water? Why the smell? What should I do now? I
havent readded the water, it is sitting in jugs on the counter with water
prep and I am waiting on some replies here.

TIA
Jeff

Note: The fish seem to be fine, healthy and doing everything a fish is
expected to do even with the hard water.

[Bill Stock]

"JeffinMississippi" > wrote in message
...
>A couple of days ago I did a 20% water change and vac on my 20g tank. The
> water clouded up and started smelling like sewer water but the readings
> were
> OK with the ph a little off but still ok. Tonight I got home and went to
> feed and dumped dang near a whole large jar of food in the tank by
> accident.
> I decided this would be a good time to do another vac and water change. I
> took out 50% this time. Took readings 2 minutes ago and here is what they
> are:
>
> Nitrate NO3- 20 Safe.
> Nitrite NO2-0 Safe
> Total Hardness 250-Very Hard
> Alkalinity/Buffering-180 Ideal Range
> Ph-7.6-Ideal Range
>
> What is the cause of the hard water? Why the smell? What should I do now?
> I
> havent readded the water, it is sitting in jugs on the counter with water
> prep and I am waiting on some replies here.

The smell is likely Hydrogen Sulphide, very hazardous to your fish. But as
long as you're gravel vaccuming, without stirring up the water too much you
should be OK. Do you have a black line where the gravel meets the glass?
This is a sign of anerobic bacteria.

Go ahead and put your water back, being careful not to stir up the gravel
too much.

You might also want to increase your vacuming over the next few weeks.




> TIA
> Jeff
>
> Note: The fish seem to be fine, healthy and doing everything a fish is
> expected to do even with the hard water.
>
>
>

[Bill Stock]

"JeffinMississippi" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Bill Stock" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> The smell is likely Hydrogen Sulphide, very hazardous to your fish. But
>> as
>> long as you're gravel vaccuming, without stirring up the water too much
> you
>> should be OK. Do you have a black line where the gravel meets the glass?
>> This is a sign of anerobic bacteria.
>>
>> Go ahead and put your water back, being careful not to stir up the gravel
>> too much.
>>
>> You might also want to increase your vacuming over the next few weeks.
>>
>>
>>
> No black line, clean tank walls. But vacuuming the tank brings out A LOT
> of
> debris from the rocks. The water has also been cloudy since the last
> change.

Cloudy (white) water can be a bacterial bloom, not uncommon in a new tank.
Nothing to worry about, unless you've lost your cycle and didn't realize.
Unlikely since your Nitrite is zero. It sounds like you're feeding too much
if you're vacuuming every week and getting LOTS of detritus. Increase your
vacuuming up to 50% of the tank (water volume) each week and see if that
helps. Your Nitrate and PH numbers seem good, so as long as the fish are
happy and healthy you're probably OK.

[JeffinMississippi]

"Bill Stock" > wrote in message
...
>
> Cloudy (white) water can be a bacterial bloom, not uncommon in a new tank.
> Nothing to worry about, unless you've lost your cycle and didn't realize.
> Unlikely since your Nitrite is zero. It sounds like you're feeding too
much
> if you're vacuuming every week and getting LOTS of detritus. Increase
your
> vacuuming up to 50% of the tank (water volume) each week and see if that
> helps. Your Nitrate and PH numbers seem good, so as long as the fish are
> happy and healthy you're probably OK.
>
>
>

Tank has been setup for about 3 months now. Dont know if thats considered
new. How exactly do you tell if your overfeeding? I feed twice a day (6 AM
and 6 PM) and something like a little than I think they will eat. Really I
think its too much.

[Bill Stock]

"JeffinMississippi" > wrote in message
...
>
> "Bill Stock" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>> Cloudy (white) water can be a bacterial bloom, not uncommon in a new
>> tank.
>> Nothing to worry about, unless you've lost your cycle and didn't realize.
>> Unlikely since your Nitrite is zero. It sounds like you're feeding too
> much
>> if you're vacuuming every week and getting LOTS of detritus. Increase
> your
>> vacuuming up to 50% of the tank (water volume) each week and see if that
>> helps. Your Nitrate and PH numbers seem good, so as long as the fish are
>> happy and healthy you're probably OK.
>>
>>
>>
>
> Tank has been setup for about 3 months now. Dont know if thats considered
> new. How exactly do you tell if your overfeeding? I feed twice a day (6 AM
> and 6 PM) and something like a little than I think they will eat. Really I
> think its too much.

It's not easy to judge feeding. For Goldfish it's about two percent of their
body weight per day. I assume Tropicals are probably less. An easier method
is too feed them an amount equal to the size of their eye. I feed my
Tropicals once a day, all they can eat in about a minute. Some days they get
a few Shrimp pellets in the evening. It's funny watching the T'Barbs
swimming around sucking on a Shrimp pellet. It lookslike they're smoking a
stogey.