umm...HELP? Cloudy water after pH neutralization!

I figured that the precipitation was just basic chemistry. If it were an algal bloom, I'm guessing my tank would've been a bit greener in color.

Thank you KarlTH for the information, but what are OTS, GH and KH?

I'll keep you all posted...going to get the replacement parts that I need for the 350 tonight.
 
OTS is Old Tank Syndrome; too few water changes. Nitrate rises, pH drops, bacterial activity becomes inhibited.

GH is water hardness - concentration of Mg++ and Ca++ in the water. KH is carbonate hardness, the concentration of bicarbonate. Together they form a far more important measure of the water parameters than the pH does. Knowing these is essential to know what fish are suited to your water.

The industry focuses on pH so that it can sell you useless jollop to change it. Changing GH and KH is much harder and expensive, so they concentrate on making money on lots of people buying relatively inexpensive "remedies" for non-existant pH problems.
 
FYI - the tank has cleared up and is looking good. I'll probably pick up a test kit this week and start checking the water myself. I'll also slowly start rebuilding the 350, but I don't think it's needed just yet since it wasn't an algal bloom that caused the issue. When I add more fish, I'll see how the tank is progressing and go from there (probably a rookie mistake, but live and learn...the 4 fish have survived well so far).

Thanks again to everyone for their assistance. I should've come here first to ask the questions before buying/adding anything to the tank.

I have one more question about filters, but I'll post it in a separate thread.

Best regards,
Larry
 
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