Clooudy water

Hello all,

It' been a long time since I posted to ask for some help. My tanks have been doing quite well....I am having a problem with the water in my brackish tank being cloudy. First, I have it at 1.012 or pretty close to it, I have 2 columbian sharks, some mollies, a dragon fish, a crab, and 2 green spotted puffers. I also have HUNDREDS of snails. I tried to remove the snails w/ the romane lettuce theory (heard from pet store), and it didn't work. I also tried the had a snail drops (put the crab in the other tank while I was treating). This did nothing but slow them down for a couple of days. After I did the water changes after the drops, I put in a new filter, etc, and since that time, my water has been cloudy. I took a water sample to the fish store, they tested it and said nitrates were high, but everything else was great. Try a water change, then bring a sample back...did that, and the nitrates came down a lot, but the water is still cloudy. They had me try kent marine pro clear (marine clarifier), and it has done nothing to clear it up either. Today I did another water change (when I say water change, I mean gravel siphoning). The water is not really clearing up at all. The biowheels are dirty as can be and have algae on them, and I try to clean the algae a bit(by swishing them in a bucket of established water). The wheels do spin, but not very fast, and I am wondering if this is filter problem or something else. The guy at the fish store says not to replace the wheels because it would upset the biology of the tank....any ideas?? Thanks a lot!!!

Thank you guys for your help. I use instant ocean, and the sg is about 1.012. The snails I have are the ones with the cone shaped shells. And no amount of salt I have had in there has none anything to them. I did by green spotted puffers, who have not bothered any of my other fish yet, and they have actually taken care of a lot of the problem....although now the snails hide in the rocks for fear of being eaten! I've had these same fish (with the exception of the puffers) for a long time now, and I had never had the problem with cloudy water at all until I did the snail treatment. That was why I thought it could be related. I don't have the box for the filter I have, but it takes the right size E filters (2 of them). I will check into getting another filter! Thanks again for the help!