Hello all; I'll cut to the chase:
46g plantless tank, day 56 of fishy cycle; tank finished cycling around day 42; water tested every 2 days since start of cycle; current pH 7.2; Ammonia and Nitrites 0; Nitrates 1-2 (water test results verified recently at LFS); medium bio-load; three 12% partial water changes a week; feed once a day; no direct sunlight; 60W light on less than two hours a day; two Eheim 2213 filters; fish healthy and active with strong appetites.
Problem:
My water has been cloudy over the past two weeks. I had two bacterial blooms during cycling which cleared themselves up in 2-3 days; once they cleared up, my water was crystal clear. This most recent bout of cloudiness has looks similar to the bacterial blooms I had before; kind of a hazy white cloudiness; however, when I do my water changes, the water has a greenish tint in my white bucket which I did not see when I had my bacterial blooms. I since treated it as the onset of an algae bloom about 10 days ago by covering my tank for 3 days, doing a partial water change and then covering it again for another 2 days. This seemed to clear the water up somewhat, but over the past 5 days, it has since migrated back to the cloudy level at which I started with.
I am now at a loss of what to try next. I am not big on using water clarifiers or any other chemical treatments to try and fix this problem; but would consider as a last resort. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
46g plantless tank, day 56 of fishy cycle; tank finished cycling around day 42; water tested every 2 days since start of cycle; current pH 7.2; Ammonia and Nitrites 0; Nitrates 1-2 (water test results verified recently at LFS); medium bio-load; three 12% partial water changes a week; feed once a day; no direct sunlight; 60W light on less than two hours a day; two Eheim 2213 filters; fish healthy and active with strong appetites.
Problem:
My water has been cloudy over the past two weeks. I had two bacterial blooms during cycling which cleared themselves up in 2-3 days; once they cleared up, my water was crystal clear. This most recent bout of cloudiness has looks similar to the bacterial blooms I had before; kind of a hazy white cloudiness; however, when I do my water changes, the water has a greenish tint in my white bucket which I did not see when I had my bacterial blooms. I since treated it as the onset of an algae bloom about 10 days ago by covering my tank for 3 days, doing a partial water change and then covering it again for another 2 days. This seemed to clear the water up somewhat, but over the past 5 days, it has since migrated back to the cloudy level at which I started with.
I am now at a loss of what to try next. I am not big on using water clarifiers or any other chemical treatments to try and fix this problem; but would consider as a last resort. Any suggestions?
Thanks!
