Cloudy water

[XtremeAaron]

Hello, I'm battling cloudiness in my 75g. Did a bit of research and hopefully can answer some questions ahead of time.

Tank temperature currently: 80degreesf
Light is on roughly 9 hours a day.
I did a 50 percent water change last weekend, using tap water and declor . Tank has been up and running since January, fish seem happy and healthy, no deaths to speak of.
I replaced both filters with that water change.

What I think may be a cause is sunlight? Its the centerpiece of our living room and with the weather being nice lately we have had the house opened up and the sun can hit it.

I'd like to know what I'm dealing with and the options I have. I have read about uv stabilizers and wonder if that will help.

Thanks in advance!


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[dcutl002]

It does not appear to be "green water", so I would try some Tetra Water Clarifier or equivalent product. Check your Ammonia level.

 

[shark21]

Looks like you may have caused a mini cycle in your tank by changing the filters...I would let it settle for a few more days it should settle down...if not I would do another 50% W/C with some extra Prime.

 

[Mebbid]

It does not appear to be "green water", so I would try some Tetra Water Clarifier or equivalent product. Check your Ammonia level.

Products should be an absolute last resort to clear your water up. I agree with checking ammonia though.

Looks like you may have caused a mini cycle in your tank by changing the filters...I would let it settle for a few more days it should settle down...if not I would do another 50% W/C with some extra Prime.

Agreed, it looks a lot like a bacterial bloom which is caused by excess ammonia in the water. Check your levels and do a water change accordingly. Also, changing the filter cartridges should really only be done when they are literally falling apart.

 

[FishyBusiness]

Same thing happened to my tank when I replaced gravel with PFS and changed out one of the filters to jump start a last minute aquarium purchase. Mine was a mini cycle...

 

[BBradbury]

Hello X...

Tanks take time to settle, possibly several months depending on the water, plants and fish. I use hang on the back filters from Hagen and there's a good product that will fit this filter and possibly yours. Acurel makes a polyfiber pad that you might be able to cut to fit your filter. The padding is thick and it attracts and holds the small floating particles that make the tank water hazy. There are different thicknesses and I use the Ammonia type.

B

 

[bud29]

It looks like the filter change caused a bacterial bloom. They usually clear up in a day or two. Since so much of your beneficial, nitrifying bacteria inhabit your filter media, changing it all at once is generally not a good idea. It is a good idea to only replace a little of the filter media at a time, so your bacteria colonies don't take such a hit. Watch your water parameters closely over the next week or two, because there is a large likelihood for ammonia spikes since all the filter media was removed.

Also, I recommend buying the API freshwater master test kit. Test strips are notoriously inaccurate, so the liquid test kit is a good investment. You can find it on amazon for around $20.

 

[XtremeAaron]

Some updates:
Checked my readings then took a sample to LFS to compare.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
Ph 7.2
Alkalinity 120
Hardness 150
Chlorine and chloramine 0
Temperature 78

So the parameters look good. I did a 50-60% water change yesterday and so far it's much improved from before (obviously).

The thing that gets me is the tank went cloudy before doing any of the attempts stated in my original post. I think I will feed every other day from now on and see how it fares.

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[XtremeAaron]

One week later and back to cloudy...

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[Canary bird]

My friend had the same problem, it was too much light and over feeding, she googled it and found an article saying to cover the tank in a blanket for 7 days only removing for feeding (once a day ) no lights on in the tank and she hasn't had a problem since ! She now only has lights on for 5 hrs a day and feeds once a day .. I personally think the reduction in food was a major factor in clearing it up..

Fingers crossed for you I hope it clears up pretty quickly

 

[XtremeAaron]

Thanks for the tip, I'll give it a try. If it's light causing it that's a bummer as with summer starting lots of natural light hits the tank. Would think it would be green and caused by algae. I have considered redoing the tank, switching to sand, and doing some aqua scaping.

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[Canary bird]

My 55g is near a window so I only have lights on for about 3 hours in the evening, the fish seem happy about that too... Only time they go on during the day is if someone wants a good look at my fish but they do seem happy with the natural light, even my kuhli loaches come out during the day now .. My husband forgot we even had kuhlis lol...

 

[Canary bird]

If you do switch to sand you will love it my tanks are all sand, it's much easier to clean and you don't get the poop building up under it like gravel... I used swimming pool filter sand .. Very cheap and looks pretty good (to me anyway)

 

[bud29]

The blanket method is usually used for algae blooms, not bacterial blooms. Light shouldn't create bacterial blooms. Is there anything you can think of that may have compromised the bacteria colonies, causing another bloom (switching filter media, letting media sit out of water for a while, etc.)?

 

[XtremeAaron]

Hmm. Nothing in particular. I only switched the filter media after the cloudiness. (first time since January tank setup though). I went to my local aquarium store (rms aquaculture) and had them test a sample as well. All checked out good, even said my nitrates or nitrite levels were very good. Really confused here. We discussed uv sterilizers but that's a big expense for cloudiness. Though he said he loves his.

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[XtremeAaron]

Update: We have kept the lights off for a few days and noticed yesterday the water quality is greatly improved. I'm thinking the cloudiness ran it's course. We will see though.

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[XtremeAaron]

Running my lights like I normally would to see what happens.

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