Cloudy ( slightly milky ) water problem!!

[Seasand]

Hi folks,
I seem to be having an ongoing problem with my 50 US gl freshwater aquarium.
I re-designed my tank into a planted aquarium abou 12+ weeks ago and I seem to have a constant cloudy slightly milky water problem no matter what I do.
It seems to be more noticable when the lights have been on for a few mins.
I do anything from 1/5 to 1/3 water changes every 7 - 10 days, Check my parameters, filtration etc. but still have this problem!!!

Tank Set-Up is :

54" L x 18" H x 12" W about 50 US gls.
Substrate is a thin layer of pea gravel topped with 4 20kg bags of Eco-complete.
A few aquarium safe rocks ( boiled and no leeching of minerals!! )
Quite well planted.

Tetratec EX700 external filter
1 x 48" 36 watt Arcadia Classica Tropical Sunlight T8
1 x 48" 36 watt Arcadia Classica Natural Daylight T8 both of which are on about 9hrs a day
300 watt heater set 78 degrees
1" air stone

Water Parameters

PH 7.6
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 30 ppm








2 Kribensis
2 Swordtails
2 Otto`s
2 Zebra Danio`s
10 Guppies
11 Neons
3 Ghost Shrimps

 

[THE V]

Sounds like a bacterial bloom to me. This is a very common occurrence in newly established tanks. It is non-harmful just unsightly.

There are a few ways to deal with it.

The easiest way is to just wait it out for a few weeks. As organisms colonize the new tank there are massive blooms of numbers. Generally in time they reach an equilibrium and the water clears up on it's own.

You can also add in extra carbon or run a micron filter to help.

If you just can't stand it a UV sterilizer will take care of the issue.

Or you can just do a lot of water changes (25% a day) and still wait for the tank to naturally balance out.

 

[Seasand]

When I re-designed the tank I used some about a third of the matured water that I took out of the original tank set-up as a kick start to the new design.Well establised and clear!!

 

[kevinb120]

Well the substrate and/or filter media will be the 'matured' part

 

[Seasand]

Yes, I concur !! Hee!! Hee!!

 

[hnlee]

that will be not a problem. A new set up tank will be having such issue, but will get over it after few weeks. Use active carbon might help you to make it clear.

 

[Seasand]

I`ve been using active carbon for the past few weeks.it seems that the longer the lights are on even only a couple of hours, the milkier it gets.

 

[Jspigs]

When I re-designed the tank I used some about a third of the matured water that I took out of the original tank set-up as a kick start to the new design.Well establised and clear!!

Using old tank water does not help the cycle. It just adds waste.

The beneficial bacteria live on the surfaces of the tank/filter/media/substrate, not in the water column.

Think about it this way, if the bacteria lived in the water column then there would be a mini-cycle every time you did a water change due to a lot of beneficial being removed. This does not happen.

You might have caused a mini-cycle if you removed any filter media or substrate, this could cause a bacterial bloom.

What kind of test kit are you using(liquid or strip)?

Hope this helps.

 

[tyler79durdan]

I prescribe a 1/4% W/C, a 48 hour blackout, and patience for your setup to establish completely!

-Aaron

 

[tyler79durdan]

BTW, a 8-9Watt UV sterilizer will clear it in 24 hours or less...

I would still perform the prescribed first!

-Aaron