The Puffer Forum

(probably an old-school newbie question; sorry!

mmmkay... So I cycled my tank for about 8 weeks and about 10 days ago introduced a GSP. My water has still been 0/0/~5, but yesterday when I woke up I noticed that the water was kinda cloudy (grayish mist), almost all of a sudden. My first thought was maybe a bacterial bloom? But wouldn't that have happened during cycling? (Fishless cycling, a seeded tank, feeding w/ food) I did a ~20% H20 change today but no improvement.

I haven't yet changed my filter cartridge because I didn't want to disturb any bacteria colonies that have decided to move in. Does the cloudiness of the water mean this is overdue? I have a Penguin Bio 270 w/ a slot for an extra cartridge- should I add a new cartridge and leave the old one, or get rid of it?

Anything else that could be causing this?

Thank you so much for your help and patience! It's greatly appreciated!

How's the GSP? Is this an adult? What's the SG? No skimmer?

Rather than type a huge response, here's a thread from another place where we were discussing this very topic and my experiences with it.
http://aquaticpredators.com/forums/inde ... opic=31588

PufferPunk-

GSP is bright green, happy and hungry...constantly! Not giving in and feeding him daily is hard! His body is 3in. The LFS I got him from had their puffers just about fully acclimated to marine- 1.021, so that's where his SG is.

I do not have a skimmer...I have a 55g tank (For some reason thought it was 30, but I was wrong! Lucky me!) I was under the impression that b/c of my low bio load it wouldn't be necessary as long as I kept an eye on my parameters and kept on top of my water changes. Could this be the issue?

BoxerMom-

Thanks for the link! I wish there's something I can do to fix the water, but I guess if my parameters are good and my fish is happy, then maybe there really is nothing to worry about...

I would dump that filter & get a skimmer--main reason we like to bring out GSPs into SW. Do you have live rock?

I agree with pufferpunk...get a skimmer! It will take so much stuff out of the water. You can also use Purigen which will help keep the water nice and clear. Purigen will not clear up really murky water though by itself, it just helps keep it clear once it already is pretty clear...If that makes any sense!