Cloudy water

[marlboro]

I hope this is the right forum and it shouldn't be in "products".
Anyone ever use Acurel F to clear cloudy water? It works great. first time I used it (in a large tank) 1 fish showed some stress. 2nd time was yesterday and I reduced the dose and have no problems. cleared the water in AN HOUR. I'd been trying to clear it with 2Xweek 15-18 gallon water changes and was making no headway. My question is: what the heck is the stuff? and why weren't large, frequent water changes paying off?
thanks.

 

[CaptnDan]

My guess is that the reason the water changes aren't helping is that the tap water is probably the source of the problem...

What are the parameters? (Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate, pH)
Live plants or fake? If live, have you added ferts?

There are a lot of people having problems with Phosphates lately, and they're getting that hazy look to the water. If the levels get high enough, it will become a full blown green water algae bloom.

If I was going to use something like that, Acurel is the only one I would use, because for one thing, it works, for another, it's pretty safe - and supposedly it's an all-natural product. But it is really just treating the symptom, not the cause.

Try taking a clear glass full of tank water, and hold it up to a sheet of white paper in good light, like daylight. See if there is a hint of a trace of a green tinge to the water... (when it's cloudy, of course) Often, there is a green cast to it... and it's the beginning of an algae bloom.

 

[Rbishop]

What size tank are you talking about?

What is your substrate and filtration?

How many and what kind of fish?

Live plants? Driftwood?

How old is the tank? Recently established?

 

[marlboro]

45 gal cold, 60 gph filtering, ph 6.8, sparse covering of 2-3" rocks on bottom, no live plants, 12" driftwood and dare I say it, overpopulated. 4 or 5 months established

 

[$eaba$$]

Ok.

How many fish and what kind, would you please specify. Also, with a filter that only filters 60 gallon per hour, that's way too little. You need at least 300 gph in my opinion. I only have a 20 gallon, and that has a 150 gph filter on it. Reduce fish to very small amount with that filter and do many water changes a week...