Cloudy water... Bubbles ontop of water? W/ Pics

[Radioheadx14]

I have a 75 gallon rainbow tank and i have some cloudy water and one of my biowheel filters is causing bubbles to form. The cloudiness is a white cloud, not green.

What i have done: i did about a 1/3 PWC today: vac'ed and top skimmed with a large pitcher, took both filters and rinsed out the filter insert, rinsed out the unit and rinsed the biowheel(non-hot water). i also cleaned the walls etc. Still pretty cloudy and still very bubbly on top. The bubbles are not thick... if i stop the bio wheels from turning they bubbles all pop in about 20 seconds.

Possible causes:
I just added a bunch of new plants a few days ago that i got from a forum member. the plants are a little beat up but i did my best to remove the dead parts of the leaves.

other than that, i dont know...
My pH is around 7.2
NH3 - 0
Nitrite - 0
nitrate- 10-20

what do you think it is? a bacterial bloom? what should i do? the fish seem to be acting normal and are still eating like they always do.
Bubbles:


Couldiness:

[Zagz]

Could be from stirring up the substrate while planting, the cloudiness that is. Have you added any new dechlorinator or ferts to the tank that the bio wheels could be stirring up? Nice looking tank btw.

[Radioheadx14]

i did add some FloraDose. since i have pretty large gravel, i figured some trace root ferts would be a good idea. And the two events do seem to coincide. do ferts have any negative affect on the fish?

[Zagz]

I've been told no but I can't tell you from experience. I dose some ferts with no troubles. I'll bet that is the cause of the bubbles, and the cloudiness is just the substrate having been stirred up.

[verucaproduce]

I have noticed bubbles in my tank when I use Flourish Excel. I also get a sort of 'oil slick' from it when I look at a certain angle.

[Marconis]

When I first setup my two tanks, that'd happen for about two weeks for whatever reason. Then it just went away.

[newfound77951]

The bubbles are caused by dissolved organic carbon (DOC), which could be from the Excel, or any broken plant stems or leaves which are "leaky". It's essentially the same thing as that foam you see at the beach on a windy day. It is harmless and won't hurt anything, although if it really bothers you some carbon in your filter will help remove it, although that will also remove some of the nutrients in the water for the plants, too.

I am not sure about the cloudyness, my advice would be to give it several days and see what happens, sometimes these things just go away on their own.

[Radioheadx14]

since i posted this, the cloudiness has went away and the bubbles are not as bad. it was probably from the new jungle val i got in the mail... it was a little beat up so thats probably where the bubbles are coming from.

[courtnee]

I have an unplanted tank and have those bubbles. Mine started when I switched from Prime to AquaPlus to condition my water. They are starting to decrease but it looked like I had soap in my tank for awhile there, bugged me.

[BillD]

I have one tank that tends to have those. I believe it is the particular filter I'm using on that tank. I always thought it was protein scum, and I remove it with a small container, skimming it off the surface.