Persistent Cloudy Water

[mlefessler]

What's happening? I can't seem to help nor rid of the cloudy (white-ish in color) water.

I've been keeping a very close eye on my water parameters and everything seems to check out just fine. Everyone is still eating, happy and for a sure-tell sign of distress, no puffers exhibit the gray bellies nor stress lines - nothing but gleaming, white bellies. In return, makes me feel good that the water is clearly not an issue and my livestock is not at risk.

I've been doing very small (about 10%) and frequent water changes to see if that would help curb the cloudy water, but it's still there. I normally don't feed in excess, so I can't see that being a major contributing factor. It's been like this for about 3-4 weeks now.

I'm highly guessing that my rather larger than usual water change may have contributed to the bacterial bloom (I'm assuming that's what it is).

Any ideas?

[1oooop]

not too sure bout that... should go away by itself over time tho...

[Reefscape]

Water changes are your new best friend here...rarely does a cloudy tank just go away on its own

[Sploke]

What are you feeding? Sometimes if you feed frozen-thawed foods (bloodworms, mysis), they can cloud up the tank if they are not rinsed first. I don['t have a problem in my 75, but when I feed the 10gal it does get some cloudiness to it if I'm not careful.

[Bllib]

check and make sure you don't have any food stuck under a rock or a piece of wood. Does your water smell fishy?

[swinneyw]

if you have a filter that fits on the back of your tank make sure that your water isn't too deep and going into your filter from the top your water thats been filtered should have a fall going back into your tank

[mlefessler]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

Billb - Water smells clean since I'm regularly doing 10% water changes every day / other day. Been doing it for about a month straight.....but if that didn't seem to help, I suppose something else could be the culprit! Thanks for the response.

Sploke - Huh. I actually never thought of that. I do feed them frozen / thawed bloodworms and mysis shrimp, etc. How do you go about "rinsing" the food? Normally I have a little cup that I put the frozen food into, pour a few drops of tank water with an eye dropper and set it on top of the light to thaw. Usually, I will try to suck up just bloodworms, but occasionally I will suck a little bit of water with it. How would you suggest feeding? Thanks!

Swinneyw - Ahhh....that could also be the culprit. I believe last time I filled the tank the waterline was just about at the top of the filter spout. I will alleviate that and see if it helps any. Thanks!

[Sploke]

you can use a brine shrimp net or a coffee filter. what I do is scoop up about a half cup of tank water from my sump, drop in the frozen food, and wait for it to thaw. When its all thawed, everything sinks to the bottom, so I pour off all the water, scoop up some more, rinse it around, pour it off again then dump the food into the tank.

[mlefessler]

Sploke - Ahhhh, well, that actually makes a lot of sense. Can't believe I never thought of that before. How naive of me. I took upon Swinneyw's advice and dropped my water level to where the filter spout will actually drop the water into the tank (I suppose that would most certainly help with providing a little more aeration and oxygen in the tank).

I don't see why these little changes wouldn't make a difference (all the while keeping on top of the frequent water changes). Certainly will keep on top of it and see if it helps. You'll be hearing from me again if all else fails! =P

[mlefessler]

Just wanted to officially say thank you for the suggestions.

There's a gigantic difference in my tank's water ever since I made those small changes (dropping the waterline, rinsing the food and water changes). Thought it would never dissipate, but hurrah!

[Reefscape]

Great stuff....really gald its all clearing up for you..