Cloudy Tank

[biggmama37]

I can't ever seem to get my tank clear. No matter what my water levels are there is always cloudiness. Any suggestions?

 

[SerLunchbox]

first of all welcome to AA!

Cloudiness could be a few things. What are your water test results? It could be that it is a form of algae that took off due to lots of nutrients. How often do you feed your fish?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Agreed with SerLunchBox. Could be many problems.

No matter what my water levels are there is always cloudiness.

How often do you clean your tank? Do you vaccum the gravel when you do? How often do you change your filter cartridges?

 

[biggmama37]

I feel like I am forever testing my water, currently my level are as follows: Nitrate-20, Amonia-20 aaarrrrgguh!!! Nitrite-2.0, High Range ph-8.0. I vacum the gravel twice a week and change the filter cartridges every month because I can rise those. We are using the carbon filters in our bio-wheel as well. We have changed from feeding the fish every day to every other day and feeding them less. I have been doing 25% water changes every other day to keep the nitrite levels down because they were spiking to 160. Any help is greatly appreciated. I love my fish, but I would just like to enjoy threm more instead of having soggy sleeves and a test tube in my hand!!!!!!

 

[goldylox]

I am guessing your tank is not cycled yet although I am not a pro so I could be wrong. If it is the case your tank isn't cycled yet then you will need to stop vacuuming the gravel and cleaning the filter. Then your ammonia will spike and the good bacteria will grow in reaction to that which will even out the levels in your tank.
Good luck!

goldylox

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

It could be that it is a form of algae that took off due to lots of nutrients.

I thought mine was cloudy for other reasons, I have test kits here, but figured I would take some in to get checked, siphoned it into a clear pop bottle, got to the store, under the metal halides it was clearly green tinted water (now have the tank covered with no lights)

if you are using a powerglo lightbulb it will make the water look like a white cloud when infact it's green, take some water out in a bottle and look at it under direct sunlight, I think the answer above is correct.

(I have a planted tank and was using Flourish, guess I have over half a bottle that will not be used..)

 

[BASSNMAN]

I just looked at your profile. I assume the problem tank is the one with all the cichlids. What filtration do you have on this tank? That is a big load in there unless they are all real small. I had one tank that always looked a little cloudy so I added another HOB. End of problem. You might want to try cleaning your HOB more often.

 

[Drake]

How long has your tank been running? If its been less than a month it probably is cycling and you need to allow bacteria to build up so that the water will clear and you can add fish safely.