cloudy water

Hello !
I'm a new fish lover!! Started with 10 gal, moved to a 20 gal now 55
gal.tank.
I have the sweetest Oranda and two Ryukin goldfish. one Betta named
Dancer and another
called Flame (Flame is a Moon) Having fish is something quite
different from the horses, dogs,cats and birds I've had most of my
life. Watching my fish has brought my blood pressure down! (Not
kidding!) Now I have a question about the tank water. I have a very
good filter system, aeration is good, I have ALL the test kits and I
don't feed food with pink flakes but after 2 days from water change
and gravel vac. the water starts to become cloudy. I've used Clear
water,etc etc but it is still happening. A friend suggested it might
be from my feeding the fish peas every other day and they get a slice
of fresh orange daily. I don't leave the fruit more than 2 hours in
the tank. The peas hardly ever hit the bottom before they are
history. ANY IDEAS will be greatly appreciated!!
Sincerely
CHARLIE

"charlie" <char.dehne.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1175418252.804951.235280@n76g2000hsh.googlegroups.com...
> Hello !
> I'm a new fish lover!! Started with 10 gal, moved to a 20 gal now 55
> gal.tank.
> I have the sweetest Oranda and two Ryukin goldfish. one Betta named
> Dancer and another
> called Flame (Flame is a Moon) Having fish is something quite
> different from the horses, dogs,cats and birds I've had most of my
> life. Watching my fish has brought my blood pressure down! (Not
> kidding!) Now I have a question about the tank water. I have a very
> good filter system, aeration is good, I have ALL the test kits and I
> don't feed food with pink flakes but after 2 days from water change
> and gravel vac. the water starts to become cloudy. I've used Clear
> water,etc etc but it is still happening. A friend suggested it might
> be from my feeding the fish peas every other day and they get a slice
> of fresh orange daily. I don't leave the fruit more than 2 hours in
> the tank. The peas hardly ever hit the bottom before they are
> history. ANY IDEAS will be greatly appreciated!!
> Sincerely
> CHARLIE
>

Charlie,
mate, digger.....
Stop washing your filter sponge under the tap!
The aim is not to get it spotless and clean.
Only give it a squeeze out in a bucket of water drawn from the aquarium,
then replace back in filter.
If you can keep the bacteria colonys that live on the filter sponge (brown
gunk) alive
they will eat the waste out of the water and prevent the cloudy water
bacteria from blooming.
Now those test kits you have,
Have your ammonia and nitrite results remained at 0ppm the whole time?
How long has the tank been setup?
It is tricky trying to work out where you are with the aquarium,
But the above is prob the most common mistake people make in my experience.
yes feeding peas can make the water cloudy.
Perhaps try feeding more frequent but in smaller amounts.
I have been just blending a few vege together like some zuccini
/capsicum/squash/peas
then drying it out on a bit of paper towell and feeding it too the goldys
dried wafer style
this doesn't seem to cloud water as bad and is easy to store.
I do however believe your problem is that you are cleaning your filter too
harshly.
tricky to ballance water flow and life support scunge in a filter but it's
the secret to easy fish keeping and clear water.
Anyway please follow this link
http://www.netmax.tk/
and do yourself and your fish the biggest favour possible.
have a chilled read.
Everyone keeps fish different but I think a read of netmax's site puts ya in
a good position to make your mind up on how you wish to do it.
Anyway rokin
Swarvegorilla