Habitat - Indoor :: i'm confused.

[pumpkinsherbet]

saturday i did a partial water change on both the tanks. i gave all the turtles squash for their daily meal, then suddenly the little tank is a big cloud ball. i put some of the water in from the big tank when i first filled it, to give it some type of bacterial culture.

i come down this morning to change the water and it's clear again. it was like a spontaneous bout of new tank syndrome or something. odd. could the squash have caused this? why wouldn't it do that in the big tank? i swear squash has never done that to my tank before.

[DavidY]

Though the water from the big tank might have contained some beneficial bacteria, it would probably have been very little since they prefer to colonize on surfaces instead of free-floating. That's why it's important to shake those bacteria starter bottles before adding it to a new tank. Anyway, there was probably enough of the bacteria to start the new culture in the new tank and after feeding them, the population bloomed causing the sudden cloud. As the water passed through the filter, the bacteria were able to settle down in the filter media and then the water cleared up.

A really sure way to start up a new tank is to take some of the filter media from an existing aquarium filter and put that in the new filter on the new tank. That way you can be certain you have both types of beneficial bacteria in sufficient quantities to handle the bioload in the new tank. But it sounds like you should be all set now.

[octpusgirl8]

Huh that is wierd. I guess it was the squash, it seems like if it was a "new tank syndrome" type thing it wouldn't have cleared up so quickly. Maybe the turtles in the little tank are just really messy eaters?

[DavidY]

...or that too.

[octpusgirl8]

I dunno David your explanation sounded a lot more scientific than mine

[DavidY]

he he! That's the way I like to think, but it's not always the right answer. Short and sweet explanations are sometimes more accurate than the long and wordy ones. But you're right, the bacteria blooms from the "new tank syndrome" usually take longer to clear up. So both ideas are just as likely.

[pumpkinsherbet]

it makes sense! squash never clouded up my water in either tank before.