Cloudy Water

[hennaartist]

I have a 55 gallon aquarium, it's been established for six months. Water parameters are all testing fine, but the water has turned cloudy in the last few weeks. I tried the API water clear drops for cloudy aquariums, but it has not worked.
It seemed to start four weeks ago, about the time I had issues with my lights. (Lights were fixed within a week.) About two weeks prior to the lighting issue, I added several new plants (Vals and dwarf Sag). Other than that, I haven't done anything different or added anything different to this aquarium than I have to my other two aquariums. My weekly water changes do help, but not much or for long.

Oh, also, I changed filter media just over a week ago in hopes it would help, but it hasn't made a difference.

Any ideas or suggestions?

 

[phishiephishie]

Did you take out all of the old filter media and replace it with completely new media?

 

[hennaartist]

I did half about two weeks ago and half about a week ago. I've been testing the water daily since (in case of an amonia spike) and everything is remaining normal.

 

[phishiephishie]

It's probably a bacterial bloom caused by you taking away half of the beneficial bacteria that was inside your filter. What are your levels of ammonia nitrite and nitrate?

 

[hennaartist]

TIMELINE
7wks ago added several new plants
5wks ago lighting issue
4wks ago lighting issue fixed Noticed the WATER is CLOUDY
2wks ago changed 1/2 filter media
1wk ago changed other 1/2 filter media

 

[phishiephishie]

That doesn't answer my question

 

[hennaartist]

Ammonia is .15
Nitrate is 15 ppm
Nitrite is 0

The water was cloudy before I did the filter changing. I did the filter changes in hopes to clean up the water, but it hasn't.

 

[phishiephishie]

What's your stock like? And replacing the filter media probably wasn't a good idea. You should only replace it if it's completely falling apart which can take a very long time. The best thing to do is just rinse the media in tank water and putting it back into the filter during maintenance. That's why I said you might be going through a mini cycle.

 

[hennaartist]

I am fully stocked, but have NO plans of adding more. I just spoke to a friend of mine and I'm pretty sure it's a cycle bloom due to adding so many plants at one time. Then I most likely prolonged the bloom by changing filter media.
Apparently I'm just going to sit back and wait for things to clear up

 

[phishiephishie]

The problem could be overstocking combined with inadequate filtration plus replacing the filter media. Adding plants would not cause a bacterial bloom

 

[hennaartist]

I have 2 ropefish (medium/10" each), 2 medium angels, pair of GBR, a dwarf gourami, and an African butterfly. All of which have been in there since the tank first cycled (6 months).

It happened just a couple weeks after adding the 12 plants (I only had 2 prior to that).

I'm guessing I need to just wait on the bacteria bloom to run its course? Or is there something I can do? (Add liquid bacteria starter or something, maybe?)