Cloudy Water

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JoeZ

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 20, 2012
Messages
79
My son has a 20 gallon aquarium, filtered by an AquaClear 70. Since day one, we have struggled with cloudy/hazy water. The fish load in there has always been kind of light. We've had some community fish in there, and also some cichlids. Right now, we have a few small cichlids in there. The only way I can get and keep the water clear is by using Acurel F. This clouding or haziness gets worse when I perform water changes. I tested my water for phosphates today, and they were high. A part of me is wondering if that's the problem, but I don't know. Phosphates generally do not create issues with clouding as much as they do for algae growth.

Thoughts?
 
how much of a water change are you doing, how often are you changing it, and how often are you changing the filter cartridge?
 
I try to do about 20% each month. The tank originally started with some small, but heavy hitters. The tank always appeared to look "clean," but always had this hazy look to it. I cleaned the filter monthly with the water changes, but left the bio media in there without touching it. I always added fresh carbon.

When I removed the monsters from the tank, I drained it down pretty well....leaving about 4-5" of water in there. I vacuumed the crap out of the gravel (pun intended), refilled, and changed out all the media. The tank literally had 4 neons and a couple of gourami's. After a month, the water still appeared to be hazy. At this point, I had no choice but to listen to the guy at the fish store. He sold me the Acurel F, and it cleared the tank.

Long story short is that I have since removed this fish and added some very small cichlids....still dealing with hazy water! I took about half the water from this tank and added it to a new turtle tank we recently set up. The turtle tank is PRISTINE with little or no maintenance (same water - crystal clear - go figure!). Back to the Acurel F, and I have clear water again.

I have kept fish for many many years and never dealt with this or had to add chemicals to clear my tanks. What is the missing link here?

(Sorry for the long read)
 
Stop changing filter media. My guess is the tanks cycle is out of whack. Keep up a regular water change schedule of around 50% weekly from now on. Vac the gravel very second or third water change. Don't touch the filter media unless it's clogged. Then swish in a bucket of tank water to remove the gunk. If you absolutely have to change the media keep the old next to the new for a month to help seed it with bacteria. Never let the media come into contact with chlorinated water.
 
Interesting take. I'd have no problem with that regiment (other than finding the time to do it. LOL!). Thanks!
 
Mumma.of.two said:
Stop changing filter media. My guess is the tanks cycle is out of whack. Keep up a regular water change schedule of around 50% weekly from now on. Vac the gravel very second or third water change. Don't touch the filter media unless it's clogged. Then swish in a bucket of tank water to remove the gunk. If you absolutely have to change the media keep the old next to the new for a month to help seed it with bacteria. Never let the media come into contact with chlorinated water.

Great advice. I keep media until it it hopelessly clogged or is falling apart. I also found that when I switched to NLS there was less food debris after feeding so I had to rinse the media less.
 
I remember being a kid, and having an Eheim canister filter. I swear I didn't crack that thing open for month at a time. My water was perfect! I honestly think the water is MUCH different now though. Actually, I don't think....I KNOW!
 
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