Added all Live Plants to my tank and now its cloudy!!!

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Hagermanfd

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Jan 19, 2007
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I have a 125 freshwater tank it has been set up for about 7 months. Temp is 80, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 Nitrates, ph is b/t 7.0 - 7.2...

I just added 8 live plants to my tank 2 weeks ago( 3 Anacharis, 2 java ferns, 1 money wort, 1 dwarf sagitarria, 1 anubia barteri) All the plants are very healthy I added the seachem flourish tablets into the tank and placed them under the bed of sand around the plants... I also have a Filstar XP3 filter running as well as two air stones..I do not have any CO2... (problem?)

Now my tank water is cloudy, i can still see the fish, plants backround ect. If i look from the side of the tank i cant see all the way to other side like i used to,. I have done a few water changes to try and clear it up, it worked quite a bit, but i left it for 4 days and i have not noticed it getting clearer. The water has a slight smell to it maybe its the plants or algae, cant really describe it, i dont have a lot of green algae in the tank only small spots on the decor that the otto's eat... What could be the problem?
 

Bobnova

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Apr 11, 2006
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My guess is that adding the plants changed the nutrient balance in the tank (ok, i KNOW it did, that part is easy :p), which has lead to a bacteria or algae bloom. Odds are decent that if you leave it for a week or two more it'll go away by itself.
Thats what i'd do, at least.
 

jpappy789

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Feb 18, 2007
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I agree that it quite possibly be a bacterial bloom due to changing in the nutrient levels...its not green, just cloudy, right?

Bacterial blooms usually are harmless to fish if not messed with, at least from what I have heard. Worst thing to do would be to try treating with chemicals, so dont do that. Just keep up with the wc's IMO.

Also the substrate could have been agitated if using something other than regular gravel but I would think it would have definitely settled by now...most likely the bacteria.

And no CO2 will work just fine...
 

tanker

Josh Holloway--Be mine!!!
Sep 1, 2003
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No CO2 is fine, depending on you light intensity. You have low light plants so you do not need high lights.
You can always run a micron filter to clean the "cloudiness".
 

Bansart

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Feb 26, 2008
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what type and how many fish do you have in the tank? My brother had the same problem with his 80g tropical and our LFS owner told him not to feed the fish for a day or two and the water cleared up a bit. He did regular water changes every other day and it completely cleared up in about two to three weeks
 

Hagermanfd

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Jan 19, 2007
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I have 6 bolivian rams, 2 angel fish, 3 serpae tetras, 4 otto's, 4 cory cats, 1 pleco. I have no traces of ammonia in the tank, i did notice on the java ferns what appears to be black dots, and on some of the ends of the leaves i would say less than 1 cm is black (are they rotting)? Everything else looks very healthy. I run the lights about 8 hours a day, i am doing feedings every other day as well.... Is my filtration ok with my filstar xp3, i believe it puts out over 300 gph, i dont need another do i?
 

Bansart

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I think your filter is fine and your tank doesnt seem to be overstocked. I think that yeah it could be a bacterial or some type of bloom.I would temporarily discontinue using your flourish and like many of the fellow ACers have suggested Do plenty of partial water changes. I Hope your clears up
 

THE V

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Nov 25, 2007
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I'd put another filter on your tank not for the current bacterial bloom but just because it's a good idea to run 600gph or more on a tank that size.

As for the cloudy water after adding plants. My guess would be that you added a fast growing aerobic bacteria with the plants that wasn't in your tank before. Go back to you normal weekly water changes and allow the tank to balance out over time.
 

Hagermanfd

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Jan 19, 2007
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i took some pics of the tank for you to look at, on the java ferns there seems to be roots growing out of the leaves themselves or is this something else??? take a look, also i have a side shot showing how cloudy it looks, but the front shot you can still see everything

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