super cloudy water - help!!

galaga-girl

galaga-girl

need money, will travel!
Nov 10, 2004
147
0
0
Australia
www.thedancewedo.com
I have a 186ltr tank and use a hang on filter. The water in the last few days has become so cloudy that I can no longer see the fish if they are at the back of the tank and I can't see through the water looking at it through the side.

I have around 22 fish and do gravel vac and water changes twice a week.

Could it be that the filter is not enough for the size of the tank? Should I get another hang on filter to help it out? I can't really afford a canister filter.
 
what kind of fish do you have in there?
 
I am not sure if you've increased aeration or anything... But sometimes I get many fine air bubbles in the water that make the tank murky... Not sure if this is your problem, but just something I've experienced. I spent so long worrying about the murkiness of my water and, as soon as I lessened aeration, my tank became quite clear overnight. :)


Just a suggestion. Whatever the problem is, I hope you can find the cause and fix it!
Best of luck.
 
It isn't airation, I don't have any airation at all because airpumps are too noisy for where I have the tank.

The fish I have are all varied and range from Guppies, to Angelfish to clown loaches.
 
To repeat some previously asked questions:

What kind of fish do you have?
What kind of filter (brand, model, etc) do you have?

Other questions:
What are your water parameters?
 
Sounds like it might be 'green water' or a bacterial bloom. Take a glassfull of tank water, hold it up to a white wall or put a white piece of paper behind it, and see if it has a green tinge. If it appears white, it's probably bacteria. If it's green, you've got unicellular algae ('green water').
If you've got 22 fish in a 50g, some of which are angels and clown loaches, your tank is heavily stocked which might be part of the problem. A bacterial or algae bloom can result from an imbalance in the tank and/or an overabundance of nutrients. Can you post your water test results, and let us know if the water is green or whitish? The more info, the better.
 
The water is green!!!! What should I do?? I don't have money to get another tank, it doesn't seem to be overstocked, i've taken a lot of care in making sure that I didn't overload it too much, but I may have still.
How do I go about fixing it??

FYI I have a Aqua One Clear View Hang On Filter. 800L/hour, Mechanical, chemical and biological filtration, all-in-one system.
 
is this tank near direct sunlight? algae loves lots of light so for starters, you could keep your lights turned off for 3 days or so and see if any of the algae dies off. they also make a chemical for this but i don't know how well it works and with what level of side effects aside that they are hard on algae AND your biological filter. products such as 'Algone'...that's one i have head of.

as far as 'stocking' goes. they have several 'rule of thumb' guidelines to follow, but they are just guidelines..different fish will way into the equation differently. you can do a search and find out MANY opinions on how many fish is too many.

also, since algae also needs nutrients, you can lessen the amount you feed your fish as much as possible (they should be ok unless they have special feeding habits). the algae will make a living off of the excess food and especially the waste from the fish. so keep your waste down too. i'm sure there is also a GREAT article about cleaning up an algae bloom on here. i think i've read it. try searching for that too! the search function rules!

here's a good little and SIMPLE article off site about prevention more than treatment:
http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/algae.phtml

good luck!!
 
galaga-girl said:
The water is green!!!! What should I do?? I don't have money to get another tank, it doesn't seem to be overstocked, i've taken a lot of care in making sure that I didn't overload it too much, but I may have still.
How do I go about fixing it??

FYI I have a Aqua One Clear View Hang On Filter. 800L/hour, Mechanical, chemical and biological filtration, all-in-one system.
Click to expand...

If the bacterial blooming is taking ages to finish, normally over night, then your filter isnt powerful enough, 800 litres an hour, well for a 55 gal at least 1000 litres an hour is recommended.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom