Cloudy water

[lilrhody]

Our 72g tank is looking odd - water is crystal clear for the bottom 3 inches, then gets cloudier as you move up. Any suggestions?

ETA - Just did a water test. Nitrates and Nitrites are well below 20, ph is between 6.8 and 7.2, only real change we've seen is that our water hardness has increased in the past 3 days,

 

[theotheragentm]

Are you dosing any kind of fertilizers? I know if you overdose on Flourish Excel, it turns the water cloudy. I think it's because it takes the O2 out of solution. I did it once a long time ago, but I dosed a lot in a fit against algae.

 

[lilrhody]

No fertilizer, the only stuff we've used was Prime and Stress Zyme (which the LFS told us would help with cycling).

 

[Bk718]

how long has the tank been setup?
Have you added anything new to it, fish, filter media, decor?
The stress zyme actually contains live bacteria so adding that mightve shifted the balance and that couldve been the cause of the cloudiness.

 

[lilrhody]

Nothing new since yesterday and the water changed overnight. The tank has been up for 2 weeks, was running with just the decor over Christmas. We added the doses of Prime and Stress Zyme on Monday, then have added the fish and a dose of Prime over the past couple of days.

Fish all seem fine, so it isn't stressing them. Could the cloudiness just be the cycle getting established for the new residents?

 

[jm1212]

how much did the GH and KH rise?

 

[southpaw]

Our 72g tank is looking odd - water is crystal clear for the bottom 3 inches, then gets cloudier as you move up. Any suggestions?

ETA - Just did a water test. Nitrates and Nitrites are well below 20, ph is between 6.8 and 7.2, only real change we've seen is that our water hardness has increased in the past 3 days,

When you say Nitrates and Nitrites are under 20 I am hoping you mean Nitrates are under 20 ....Nitrites should be 0 or no more than .25ppm .

Your cloudiness may be a result of a bacterial bloom but sounds to me you never cycled the tank before adding fish so I am not sure that a bloom would happen that fast in a new tank.

 

[Bk718]

When you say Nitrates and Nitrites are under 20 I am hoping you mean Nitrates are under 20 ....Nitrites should be 0 or no more than .25ppm .

Your cloudiness may be a result of a bacterial bloom but sounds to me you never cycled the tank before adding fish so I am not sure that a bloom would happen that fast in a new tank.

:iagree: fully

how much fish did you add?

 

[lilrhody]

When you say Nitrates and Nitrites are under 20 I am hoping you mean Nitrates are under 20 ....Nitrites should be 0 or no more than .25ppm .

Your cloudiness may be a result of a bacterial bloom but sounds to me you never cycled the tank before adding fish so I am not sure that a bloom would happen that fast in a new tank.

Sorry - yes, nitrites are less than .20 and nitrates are less than 20. Still learning the lingo and numbers. We had our water tested at the LFS today and they say everything is fine.

We added 25 small (all about 1 inch or less) fish over the course of 4 days. I know now that we probably should have done that more slowly.

 

[msjinkzd]

i would do lots of large water changes (50% or more) whenever you have detectable trites or ammo, you are probably seeing a bacterial bloom and the water changes will help your fish not suffer through the cycle you are experiencing.