every time i do a water change the water is cyrstal clear for about a day then it starts going slightly cloudy, i use the fx5 filter ive cleaned it but didnt make any diffrence, i have a 20" buble bar that produces fine bubles could this be the cause??????

How much water are you changing?

Are you cleaning the filter media at the same time?

Do you use a water condition?

The next time this happens, check for ammonia & nitrite

im doing about 50% water change i use stress coat, i rinsed the sponges in the old tank water there is a slight reading of amonia 0.5

You need to vary your tank cleaning and filter cleaning... You are cleaning too much at once and killing off too much of your Beneficial Bacteria. So when you do what you have been doing you are causing a mini cycle. This will cause the water to get cloudy..

Instead of what you have been doing, try cleaning the tank, waiting 3 or 4 days and then cleaning your filter.

But I have to say, having an FX5 myself, cleaning your filter even on an overstocked tank shouldn't occur any more frequently than once a month... I clean mine about once every 2-3 months... And my tank is overstocked...

Hope this helps.

I think it's probably more likely to be the fact that you're cleaning your filter media, rather than the amount of water you are changing. If you are using enough water condition then you should be neutralizing all of the chlorine, thus this shouldn't affect the bacteria and no filtration system. However, if you're cleaning your filter then you could be removing quite a lot of the bacteria.

You're not going to reduce the nitrate down to complete zero unless you change all of the water. However you may find that reducing the nitrate to 10 or 20 ppm can be done by just doing a 30% water change. If you test for the next few weeks you should be able to get a good idea of how much water you need to change to reduce those nitrate levels to a low enough level for the next seven days. After all, what is the point of changing 50%, when you need only change 30%?

thanx, what should i do in the meantime? is there anything i can do to get rid of the cloudyness????

I would leave it be for a bit and see if it clears... Keep an eye on your water readings and make sure they head in the right direction!

You could try a water clarifier if it doesn't settle down in a few days...see if it's simply particulate matter that got disturbed and the flocculent can clump it together so it gets trapped in the filter.

Are you using sand?

I would lower the amount of water change at any one time to about 25% every other day, test the water on the alternate days you don't do a water change until ammonia reaches 0, and clean the filter pads like nickie said only about once a month at most, and sparingly at that.

If it's simply floating debris you can remove it...and if it's because you cleaned the pads it will resolve itself in time with regular maintenance.

thank you, yes it is sand im using

pjbeattie81 wrote:


Sand has a habit of clouding water after water changes...

Personally I use a 5 gallon bucket (my tank is only a 55 gallon so its not a pain plus I can regulate the temperature much better than a hose connected to the sink) and try and pour it in as delicately as possible, even then I get some very mild cloudy water. You just can't help disturbing some of the sand...and regardless if you gravel vacc'ed you'll get that too. It's not even really visible grains of sand floating around just whitish and cloudy haze. I put in a few drops of acurel and in about an hour it's back to crystal clear. I had a reoccuring problem with haze only when looking into the tank from the side...and it worked very, very well-- it's safe to add with the fish and doesn't react with conditioners or other chemicals. I wouldn't drop it in right on top of the fish though...they tend not to like inhaling it when its concentrated. lol

I have a fx5 and my tank was cloudy I went out and bought the 3 pack of polishing pads pry the best 6 bux Ive ever spent tank is crystal clear within hours, before that I couldn't figure out my cloudy water problem either. If you do try the polishing pads make sure u rinse and clean them once a week they can clog your canister if you don't.

was it the blue or white pads you bought? do you put all 3 in, which chamber did u put them in top or bottom?