Murky water - with out much algae - diffused light?

G

Gaenda

Registered Member
Mar 14, 2011
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Hi all! I am new to this forum..I searched the forum already for this answer and couldn't find it..

I moved from a 10 gallon tank to a 30 gallon Bio Cube couple of months back. I have 10 mollies, 3 clown loaches, 2 guppies, 1 platy, 6 shrimps and 4 plecos. My previous tank is perfectly clear and no problems.

The new tank on the other hand, is murky. I am sure its not because of any algae. I had an algae bloom (brown) and had a black out and back to tank with minimal algae. But the murkiness of the water still exists. I have two drift woods and I am not sure if its because of tannin in the water or what. One guess is that there is some material in the water (suspended) that makes the light diffuse and hence makes it "cloudy" or "murky". But I am not sure what that suspended material might be.

All my reading are normal. (no ammonia etc.)

Any help is very much appreciated...
 
Has it been murky the whole time?
What substrate do you have?
What sort of filtration?
What water changes are you doing?
Tannins will discolor the water but I don't think they can make it murky as such.
A photo might help work out the problem.
 
Since this is your first post here, we'll let you slide for using adjectives to describe your water quality! Numbers are what we need. I can say that your tank is way overstocked which probably has something to do with your issue. The tannins will cause the water to be a yellow to brown color, but it should still be clear. Murky to me means cloudy. Is the water actually cloudy or just discolored?
 
^ Agreed.

You've got way too many large fish in such a confined tank. It may or may not be the cause of the cloudy water, but it will certainly cause serious problems down the road.

To clarify about needing numbers to describe your water quality, we need to know your actual test readings for Ammonia, NitrIte & NitrAte. "Normal" often means different things to different people. I know when I was new to the hobby, I overstocked my tanks, but was able to keep most of my fish alive long enough to establish a cycle in the tanks, but I didn't change the water enough to keep the nitrates and TDS (total dissolved solids) down. My ammonia & nitrite were always fine, but with my nitrates & TDS so high, it led to water I would consider to be "murky", not to mention poisonous to my fish...

A few more questions, in addition to those asked before:

What are you using to test the water? Test strips? Liquid tests? Taking samples to your LFS (Local Fish Shop/Store)?

How soon after setting up the tank did you add the fish?

Did you cycle the tank before you added them?

Did you add all the fish to the tank at once?

Do you add anything to the tank to adjust the water chemistry?

A picture really would be helpful, as it would allow us to see what you consider to be murky, and give us a better idea of what kind of problem you may be having.
 
I'm tending to agree with the overstocking theory, but what type of plecos do you have? If they're commons or sailfins then you're going to need a lot more tank soon. If they're bristlenoses then you're probably in not nearly as dire of straits. I do recommend using AQadvisor to figure out what your stocking level is. It's a good tool until you get the hang of things a bit better. You can check them out at http://www.aqadvisor.com. You will want to figure out which pleco species you have though. It's a large group of fish ranging from a few inches long to a couple of feet long in the case of some of the larger ones.

If it's overstocking, or excessive organic matter built up in your filters then the murkiness will generally be whitish in color. If it's tannins from the wood it'll be more brown in color. Excessive organic matter in the filter can be solved by cleaning your filters (you don't need to and shouldn't replace the cartridges each time). Tannins can be removed by taking out the driftwood and boiling it (although this generally doesn't get it all out).
 
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Agree about the BN Plecos, Clowns & Rubberlip (Bulldogs) would also stay much smaller. But the clown loaches are all sure to outgrow the tank quickly.

I actually punched it up in AqAdvisor just to see what it would say. Halfway through the list, it recommended a 98% weekly water change, and said the tank stocking was around 300%. Once the list was finished, tank stocking level was at 500% and it wouldn't even recommend any water changes, simply saying "you need more tank space" instead.
 
Way, way too many fish in that tank. You do know sailfin plecos get to 18" right? Really NO home aquarium is large enough for 1 let alone 5. But your "murkiness" is probably a bacteria bloom, providing you are correct and your ammonia and nitrites are at 0.
 
Thank you for all the input..I will try to get a photo posted tonight. For the tests, I took it to the LFS and they were tested using test strips, hence dont have the numbers with me - sorry about that. I can go to the LFS this week and get the water tested again and get some numbers..

on the stocking, I used to have 12 mollies, 2 guppies, one platy and the shrimps and 3 otocinclus in a 10 gallon tank and I had no issues! The only things that I added are the clown loaches (they are small now), and the dwarf plecos - they are only an inch and seems like they dont grow much bigger. I would never get a regular pleco for my aquarium!!

I have a biocube, so the filter is a wet/dry filter.

On the water change, I am right now changing weekly ~40% for the last two weeks.

I did add the fishes a few at a time from my old tank. Like I mentioned, the new tank has been up for a bit more than 2 months. And yes, I did allow my tank to cycle before I started adding the fishes in phases.

I am tending to think either its a bacterial bloom or a powerful pump (highly unlikely)...But dont know how to find out if its a bacterial bloom.

And the water is cloudy not colored.

Hope I have answered everyone's questions.
 
generally cloudy sounds like bacterial bloom. A pump would only do that if it's bringing in too much air, and unless you're running a pond pump on that tank, it wouldn't do that. Reduction of your stocking levels should clear it up. A UV filter will clean it up too, but that'll only mask the underlying problem.

Did you get pictures of the plecos?
 
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