haze in my tank please help!

[dave76]

I have a 55 gallon, and recently I was fighting some ammonia problems so I tried zeolite to help combat these issues. Bad mistake. Since I used it I have had this haze in my tank. Before I have forgotten to wrinse filters and my tank got cloudy, but it would quickly clear. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can remove this unatractive haze from my tank? 55gal with two penguin 330s. Please help.

[125gJoe]

A Diatom filter will clean it right up!

Link: Vortex (http://digitalaquaria.tripod.com/vortex.htm)

[dave76]

im sure it will, but I had no problems like this before, is there any reason I should have to go out and buy a new filter? Is there something I can clean? Perhaps there is some kind of residue inside the filter? I have rinsed my filter cartridges and it seems to have not helped? has anyone had anything like this happen before?

[famman]

A haze that sticks around that long is either one of two things.
A, it is a mini-cycle and the haze is the nitrite eating bacteria coming back. In this case it will go away once the mini-cycle has passed.
Or B, it is algae taking advantage of the sudden presence of the ammonia you mentioned. In this case you would need to search the boards for 'algae bloom' and consider your course based on what you learn. Adjusting nutrients in planted tanks, adding clear water and mulm from a planted tank, a 3 day black-out, etc. are some of the methods aquarists use to combat algae blooms.
good luck
:)

[dave76]

Since then my ammonia has gone from .25 ppm to very close to 0ppm, and it is not a planted tank. Any idea about how long this minicycle should last? I think I can rule out the algae bloom as there are no signs of algae in the tank except for what I put in there and it doesnt last long. Maybe I should be a little more thourough in my explenation of the events prior to this happening.

I had one pengiun 330 and noticed ammonia levels because of my new fish, a Green Terror cichlid. As he grew I became more concerned. He quickly grew from 1.5" to 4" in about two months time. at this time the tanks inhabitants were 2 apple snails one about 1 inch the other about 2, a 4 "pimelodus pictus, a 6" striped raphael, 2 4" CAE's and the Green Terror. I added the Second penguin 330 as a cost effective method of over filtration and addition to the biological filter. Since the ammonia levels were still high and the biowheels on the second filter not established I added zeolite in media bags as a way to consume extra ammonia after water changes. Our water treatment uses bacteria consuming enzymes and has ammonia content of .5ppm strait from tap. This utterly caused the cloudiness. From the moment I added the zeolite to my filter it has had this same haze and I have not been able to remove it. I have made a few population changes since this took place about a month ago. I have added a 1.5" convict, removed the second CAE and added 4 danios as feeders/dithers. The community seems to be getting along fine. But this ugly haze really bothers me. I tried adding carbon as media to see if this would help with the cloudiness but it has had no effect. Please help. Water changes have had no effect in the clarity of the water either.

[famman]

Well, a diatom filter would probably clear the tank, but you still have to deal with that ammonia problem.
You can:
1) Cycle your change water down to 0 with a biological filter, like a third penguin and a 20 gallon rubber maid tub.
2) Use heavy duty carbon filtering to remove it
3) reverse osmosis.
4) add lots of plants.
good luck
:)