Cloudy Water

[Mlrust1816]

I've got one for you guys

I have a 20 gal high with a cascade filter and a Power head to create current

I am currently having problems with cloudy water. It isn't to bad but it is to much.

I do 1-2 40%-50% waterchanges a week, so I know the water is clean. But I also know having water movement on the surface will provoke algae growth. I do have a CAE to try and regulate the algae but the water continues to be cloudy.

I have thought about lowering the power head deeper in the water but I fear that it will create to much current for my Bolivian Rams and Cories that tend to stay in the calmer portions of the tank.

So the question is what can I do to further regulate the growth of what appears to be a red algae?

Or what else could be causing the cloudy ness, Over feeding isn't a problem, but i do use mostly sinking tablets for my bottom feeders and they seem to break up into fine particles as the fish feed

 

[SeanMurphy]

Are you sure the cloudiness isn't actually tiny air bubbles suspended in the water?

I've got a lot of surface agitation too, cause by two Aquaclear 30 HOB filters on my 29G, and this causes the water to become supersaturated with air, and it precipitates out in teeny bubbles that look like dust floating in the water. The only reason I figured they were air was that they got more prononuced instead of less upon the addition of the second filter, and they tend to precipitate out into larger, macroscopic bubbles on the heater, where the rise in temperature reduces the amount of gas that can be dissolved even more.

The red algae is most likely diatoms, which my pleco cleans up in short order, though I've read about other people's cleaner fish that avoid the stuff in favor of spirulina (blue green algae).

 

[Mlrust1816]

That makes scense, because I also have an airator connected to the powerhead, would turning down the airator on the power head help

What can I do to replace the red algae with blue green algae

also what smaller plecos could be used to clean this up, I dont want one that will cause the tank to become over stocked as I am currently looking at about 16 inches of fish in a 20 gallon

 

[rich311k]

How old is the tank. the brown algae (diatoms) should go away on its own. Ottos like to eat it and are cute little things.

 

[SeanMurphy]

I have a common pleco in my tank. I know he'll get far too large for the tank, but I've already got retirement plans for him. He'll either go into my friend's 75G tank, or into the display tank (200G) at the LFS once he grows up. My common pleco kept the diatoms under control until the tank cycled itself past them, and now between him and the dozen or so MTS that are in the tank, the green algae stays under control, though I almost wish I could get a little bit more algae built up on some of the rougher looking decorations just to make them more underwater looking

 

[SeanMurphy]

And as to your cloudy water, if it is indeed air, it's only a problem if you don't like the look of it. I'm sure your fish enjoy the super-oxygenated water just fine. I don't find my water looks that cloudy unless I'm sitting with my face really close to the glass with the tank light on. With the tank light off, and from a normal viewing distance, the water looks clear enough.

 

[DeFeKt]

have you cleaned your filter recently?

quote from another forum..

The best long term poo eaters are sessile though (they attach to sponges and stuff as a 'biofilm') and the
quickest to breed/eat are the water borne ones that give you cloudy water. Kill off your sessiles and the water colum bacteria take over

Matt.