# New airstone causing cloudy water - why?



## rtro92 (Aug 19, 2012)

I just put in a new airstone in my 55 gallon tank. The tank has always been crystal clear, now a half hour after setting up an airstone the tank is really cloudy! There's never been an airstone in it before.

My air pump has 2 outputs, one line is going in a 20 gallon tank, the other to my 55 gallon. The 20 gallon looks fine.

The only thing I can think of is the increased circulation in the 55 is stirring up debri? Any ideas....are my fish in danger??


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## Trout (Mar 16, 2011)

Did you soak the airstone for an hour before putting it in the tank?


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## rtro92 (Aug 19, 2012)

No...should i take it out and do that?


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## fish_doc (Jan 31, 2005)

At this point it wont make a difference. Did you bury it in the gravel and was the gravel well vacuumed before you placed it there? If not it could just be stirring up sediment from the bottom of the tank as you suspect. Just keep a eye on the tank and see if it clears itself up. A small water change never hurts either just to be safe.


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## rtro92 (Aug 19, 2012)

yes i did bury it in the gravel. I did a cleaning yesterday, but I didn't make it debri free where I put the air stone. My tank is so cloudy I can barely see my hand through the tank if I put it behind it.

My fish seem fine though. I really hope it's just debri! 
Does anyone have any experience with this?


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Wow a 55 that cloudy from a single airstone. I have not ever heard of this. I would say that part of it is that it has disturbed the gravel there, even if you cleaned it first. Personally I have never soaked mine first- never had a problem like that. 

More likely is that you did a cleaning that might have been too deep at the same time you put the stone in, and now have a bacteria bloom. This is totally a guess. 

Now if it was a big or a long airstone that you didn't clean the gravel around that would probably cause that kind of cloudiness. But your standard single airstone- that kind of cloudiness is pretty surprising.


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## kcrunch (Aug 17, 2012)

take the air stone out place it in a glass of tap with dechlor and see if it is clouding the water. If it is take the stone and place it directly in the tank before you bury it and have it on for at least an hour or so and then bury it. I would take it to now and let the sediment settle back before putting it back in the tank.


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## weedkiller (Nov 18, 2012)

have never soaked an airstone before, sure you have not bloomed??


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## kcrunch (Aug 17, 2012)

rtro92 said:


> I just put in a new airstone in my 55 gallon tank. The tank has always been crystal clear, now a half hour after setting up an airstone the tank is really cloudy! There's never been an airstone in it before.
> 
> My air pump has 2 outputs, one line is going in a 20 gallon tank, the other to my 55 gallon. The 20 gallon looks fine.
> 
> The only thing I can think of is the increased circulation in the 55 is stirring up debri? Any ideas....are my fish in danger??


 Do you have a regulator on the air pump? IF you dont have a reg on the pump just take the hose and make a slip knot in it and tighten it until you get the amount of air that you may want to flow. That may just be too much air getting to the tank without some kind of control. Those twin line pumps are designed for a high out put. 

I have one that has a knob and I still use a 4 knob controller to the stones in the tank just to keep a nice steady flow nothing to much.


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## rtro92 (Aug 19, 2012)

My tank cleared up overnight. No casualties.
I believe that there was poor circulation on the far end of the tank where I put the airstone, stirring up a mass of debris. 
Man it was so cloudy
And i poked holes in the airline tube to slow it down.
Thanks for the responses, everybody


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