Tank water is cloudy!

I

infidsg35

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Nov 21, 2005
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Ok this is driving me nutz!

Iv had my tank about 5 months now. Here is the equipment used:

29 Gallon, Glass Top, 30" 65Watt Light

Fluval 204 with Carbon, Bio-Max, Phos-X, Foam, Polywool, and Purigen
Fluval 2 Plus with Foam and Polywool

Dual Air Pump runs after lights go out
DIY CO2 unit with and airstone diffuser

Flourite gravel with a mix of low-medium light plants (Cabumba, Java Fern, Anacoris ect.)

My water is very soft out of the tap so I use a buffer to 7.0 Which brings my GH up to about 6-7. I add trace elements once twice a week. I also add Flourish Complete (think thats what its called) once a week.

Feeding is dailay once a day with sinking pellets and flakes. I kinda under feed them to make sure they eat everything. Then every other day I feed frozen food either Beefheart, Brine Shrimp, or Bloodworms.

As far as Maintaining I change 20-25% of the water once a week. More since the tanks been realy cloudy (2-3 times a week). I change Carbon and foam once a month. Change Polywool every 2 weeks (It turns Black)

My fish load is VERY big. I have 2 pitus cats, 2 bala sharks, 2 irradecents sharks, rope fish, spiny eel, pleco, 2 columbian sharks, clown loach, and a hi-fin shark. The 29 Gallon is just a starter home as they are all pretty small and I plan on getting a bigger tank very soon. I know how big each fish can get. There is plenty of room now and no fish are stressing, sick, or unhappy.

I ran tests on my water. My PH stays at 7.0 Nitrites=0 Ammonia=0 GH=6 KH=3 CO2=3 Chlorine=0. These are my numbers every time a run the tests. I NEVER had nitrites or Ammonia test above 0 after establishment.

Now here is the story my tank was getting cloudy I ran tests and everything was fine this was 3 weeks ago. Then it started to clear up but never 100%. Then its got cloudy again and brown algae started growing. So I did more water changes and added the phos-x to the filter. I changed my Gravel from stone to florite as I was sick of my plants up rooting. Plus it looked nicer and was better for the plants. Since then I have cloudy water. Its a gray cloud that landed in my tank. I used aqua clear and it cleared it pretty well but not fully then it soon went back to normal. I dont want to keep adding chemicals as I want to find the cause of the problem. Im also 2 seconds away from buying a Vortex D-1 but that will fix the look not the problem or will it? What should I do? What can I try? Should I leave it totaly alone for a while? Should I do a 50% change? Should I get the Diatom? Should I add more filtration? All these questions no answers!!! LoL

P.S. Im sorry this is soooooooo long I just want to get to the cause of the problem and I want to give as much info as I could.

Thanx in advance!
 
It doesnt realy matter how many fish you have in a tank.. The more fish you have the more maintenance it requires. Water changes, filters, ect. What does matter is when the fish get too big they get uncomfortable and get stressed. Some fish will panic and hit the glass many times injuring the nose. Some get territorial which also makes other fish panic and stressed.
 
You don't mention cycling the tank,what test kit you use, or Nitrates. If your tests are accurate then I'd trust the tank is well cycled (0 nitrites, 0 ammonia) but without a Nitrate test you don't demonstrate that the water changes / cleaning is sufficient.

Any chance some of your DIY co2 mixture is getting into the tank, yeast bloom?
 
Suggest you post in the plants forum. Sounds like you have a nutrient imbalance that needs to be addressed. In other words your plants are lacking something that will allow them to out-compete the algae for food.

It's that simple.

Roan
 
I have the Red Sea Deluxe Aquarium Fish Kit. It didn't come with a NitrAte kit tho... I will be picking one of those up today. I have noticed that After testing last nite that my NitrIte went up to .1 Ammonia was still at 0 and PH steady at 7.0.

When I built my DIY CO2 unit I used a small bottle next to the 2 liter as a catch-can to make sure nothing goes through the lines.

I think I broke my bacteria cycle. The reason why im saying this is my tank b4 had a SLIGHT haze to it. I mean it was clear but I wanted PERFECT! Then I changed my substraite over to Flourite 2 days after that my tank became REALY cloudy. I rinsed the flourite for about 2 hours before putting in. Even tho I know better then to change the substraite all at once I still did it. Also 2 days after I replaced the substraite I noticed my 204 wasnt realy pushing much water. I opened the unit up and noticed there was A LOT of brown dust covering and clogging everything! So I replaced almost everything. So I think by doing both almost at the same time I broke the bacteria cycle. I also gave Aqua-Clear a try last nite. It didn't do anything! I also agree I have some kind of chemical inbalence cause im starting to grow green algae on the top of the substraite right in the front. Any Ideas on that?

So my question is ummm does this make any sense? Second what can I do now to keep my fish healthy and stable while the bacteria cycle re-establishes? Should I do dailay water changes? Should I leave it alone till water levels decrease more?

Thanx for the help so far guys!
 
Cloudy Tank

Hi,

Your issue is most definitely related to the high bio load on the tank. There are probably several cuprits that are contributing and several paths to solution. Based upon your water test parameters, it is evident that your filter coupled with your maintenance schedule is "walking the line" of adequate filtration. You have bacteria and algae basically taking turns blooming in order to handle the bio load. I would suggest the following:

1. Be careful with beef heart and spirulina wafers, both tend to cloud water.
2. Actually cut down a bit on your water changes ( I would recommend 10% a week instead of 25%) you are actually removing bacteria and stimulating further bloom.
3. Let your filter get more established and don't mess with it. Canisters should have AT LEAST 2 months preferably 3 between cleanings.
4. Augment your biological filtration just a smidge. You could do this easily with an air driven sponge filter, or a small hang on the back penguin bio wheel filter (or the like)
5. Forget about phos-zorb junk. You have live plants, let them take care of the nitrate/phosphate load.

In a nutshell, you are on the right rack with your tank, you just need to let nature do a bit more of the work. Grab a drink, sit down, and watch your fish. Tinkering is a great part of the hobby, but sometimes counterproductive.

:)

Ps - I owned an aquarium store for 12+ years, so this info comes from the heart..with experience to back it up.
 
When I set up a 15gal as a small planted aquarium, I used fluorite and had the rinse the heck out of it in a bucket in order to get rid of all the cloudy sediment that came along with it. If you just switched and did not rinse it, it will take a lot of water changes with gravel stirring to get rid of it.

Even though it sounds like you rinsed it well, it may not have been enough.
 
Ohh yea that Flourite was a pain in the butt to get clear. I rinsed little by little in a bucket till water didnt cloud. Then when I added it to the tank bam it clouded the water. SO bad that I had to wait umm an hour or sooo to put the plants back in cause I couldnt see. After 1 day it all settled and tank was about 95% clear. Then 2 days later The water seemed to go downhill.

MJPARR so you think I should just leave it alone and let it get re-established? What if there is a spike in Ammonia or Nitrite/Nitrate? Also what do you mean I should augment my bioload? I have a Fluval 2+ in tank filter used for just mechanical. Are you suggesting more Chemical filtration? I put the Phos-x in thinking maybe I have a phosphate problem. I dont have a Phosphate kit either but I know that is one of the main cause of algae growth.
 
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