Cloudy Water - Anything else but wait?

[ricester61]

Hello all. We got our first tank as a Christmas gift to ourselves. I've been following all the advice I find here and on the 'net as best I can - test water chemistry daily, change water weekly, don't add a whole bunch of fish at once, etc.

Everything seems to be going fine (pH 7.2, Ammonia 0.5, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0), except that the water seems to be milky all the time. It's white, not at all green (though, I didn't hold a glass up to white paper as I saw suggested here).

I tried some water clarifier last night - made the water look like caramel sauce. After a few hours of waiting with no change at all, I changed out 10 gals from a 29 gal tank. Back to milky white now - much better than before the clarifier, but not clear.

Anything I can do other than wait this out? More frequent water changes? No food for a day or two?

After the water clarifier, I don't think there's a magic chemical that'll work - or is there?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Harlock]

This milky white haze is common to new tanks. Sometimes it is an indication of a bacterial bloom meaning your tank may be getting cycled. It usually comes and goes and I wouldn't worry about it at the moment.

 

[Mooch28]

Hello all. We got our first tank as a Christmas gift to ourselves. I've been following all the advice I find here and on the 'net as best I can - test water chemistry daily, change water weekly, don't add a whole bunch of fish at once, etc.

Everything seems to be going fine (pH 7.2, Ammonia 0.5, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 0), except that the water seems to be milky all the time. It's white, not at all green (though, I didn't hold a glass up to white paper as I saw suggested here).

I tried some water clarifier last night - made the water look like caramel sauce. After a few hours of waiting with no change at all, I changed out 10 gals from a 29 gal tank. Back to milky white now - much better than before the clarifier, but not clear.

Anything I can do other than wait this out? More frequent water changes? No food for a day or two?

After the water clarifier, I don't think there's a magic chemical that'll work - or is there?

Thanks for any help!

Do you have fish in your tank yet? If NOT, do daily water changes of about 20% and add beneficial bacteria everytime you do them.. I had the exact problem when i begain my 72 gallon 3 months ago, but it was all resolved with the method above.

 

[ricester61]

Thanks - wait it out and change water was what I thought.

Yes, there are fish in the tank. A pleco, some gouramis, 1 red platty and a betta. I had three platties, but I believe one of the gouramis, nicknamed "The Bully", ate the other two. But, that story is another post...