Very cloudy water

[JessiNoel21]

So I did a water change on Tuesday(wiped down the glass in front, vac the gravel, took out the filter floss and rinsed in the water I vac out, and cleaned the silk plants) and still today my water is cloudy. My tank was cycled by doing a fish less cycle which took 4 weeks to cycle. My readings are 7.2, 0,0,<5. What could be causing it my tank has been fully cycled for 8 months.

 

[ptray1982]

Ever dust your house? Even though it is clean after dusting you do inadvertently send some dust in the air. Same concept applies here if you do a lot of gravel vac

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app

 

[JessiNoel21]

Never had stay cloudy this long but than again my substrate is Eco complete which I heard can make the water cloudy. thanks for the reply.

 

[Rivercats]

The substrate in the picture looks to be gravel not Eco-complete. Eco does not cause cloudiness. I've used it for years. As already stated you could have some fine detritus floating around from the substrate cleaning but looking at the picture you might be having a bacterial bloom which can be caused if too much cleaning is done all at once. Bacterial blooms can last from several hours to several days or even weeks depending on the initial cause. One way to tell if it's just free floating detritus or is a bacterial bloom is to do a large WC. If the tank clouds back up again it's a bacterial bloom.

 

[JessiNoel21]

It could be I just never had it stay cloudy for this long and being new to keeping ADF I was just worried it would harm him. I do 30% water changes every Tuesday and this is the first time it has stayed cloudy. Than again I have moved from my living room to my bedroom and it is more dusty than my living room. I have a lid but dust might still be getting in it. Thank you again

 

[JessiNoel21]

don't mind the towel lol I do believe my tank is clearing up .

 

[JessiNoel21]

Okay my tank is still cloudy I am starting to go crazy lol. As of this morning my test results were as follows: ph 7.3 Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates <5, and temp 77.8. I do not know what to do as of now I cut my light timer down to 6 hours but I do not think my plants are getting any light cause my tank is so cloudy. I clean up any leftover food the ADF don't eat. And I feed them bloodworms once a week and pellets every about 12 they are very tiny every three days. Is there anything I can treat with that might help? Thank you

 

[mrvincent]

If it's a new tank, sometime water can become white cloudy. We call this a bacterial bloom, it's a bacteria that develop in the water column to keep the cycle.

How much time per day do you keep light on ? You can put some of tank water in a white bucket and see if the water is really white, or more green.

If the cloud is coming from suspended debris/dust, you can add filter floss (polywool) into the filter...

If it's a bacterial bloom, it is beneficial for new tanks and will go away by itself once it's stabilized. It usually last from a day to a week.

 

[pip walters]

Definitely looks like the classic bacterial bloom, although it is difficult to.say why heterotrophic bacteria, which proliferate in the presence of excess organic matter, shou,d bloom when you have removed a lot lf organic matter.

What can happen when you do a clean like this, is that some of the beneficial bacteria in the filter dies off. Then, the heterotrophic bacteria feed off the dead bacteria and can bloom.

Do a small water change every day and gradually, you should see a difference.

There are products that you can add that will amalgamate the suspended debris and then it can be dealt with by the filter (if it is just suspended solids)- just ask at your lfs. Activated carbon will sometimes help.by adsorbing excess proteins etc from the water.

 

[JessiNoel21]

The tank is a year old and the only thing new is the substrate I triple rinsed until clear water flowed thur the screen and ADF's(3). Everything else has been in the tank since day one and I only clean the filter in tank water. I am gonna give it a few more days and see what happens.

 

[Rivercats]

Even if new substrate is rinsed very well it can still have fine dirt/dust in it which will cloud the water. Water changes along with adding 100% Polyfill to your filter will eventually clear the water up.

But as I said before if you do a WC and the water just clouds up again it is bacterial bloom. I've seen bacterial blooms last a very long time in some tanks when something is off kilter in the tank. I don't personally recommend using a tank clarifier as they can often don't work and have been known to even cloud a tank up more. They are hit and miss. Time usually is all the is needed and patience. If it is indeed a bacterial bloom using a UV sterilizer will clear the water.

 

[mrvincent]

I used Kent clarifier and Aquafin clarifier (the fast edition), and worked very good for suspended particles.

With my experience, I can confirm that it won't work for bacterial bloom/green water.

Clarifiers must be used with precautions, as it can kill fishs/shrimps is misused.

 

[JessiNoel21]

Well like I said only things new are the substrate and ADF so I am thinking bloom due to substrate. Cuz I put some water in a bucket last night and it is completely white no green at all. I am just gonna do the waiting game and see what happens. I have poly in the filter already . I also turned off the air wand and turned the filter on low to see if it helps.

 

[JessiNoel21]

So my friend who owns ADF thinks the reason why my tank is so cloudy is due the frogs who like to dig and seeing my substrate is clay base. He thinks every time they look for food they dig which causes small particles to go into the water column. Has anyone kept ADF with plant substrate ever have cloudy water? Should I switch to sand or bare bottom?

 

[JessiNoel21]

Looking better

 

[dishsnthings]

Yes it does. I suspect you will walk by it soon and do a double take, all cleared up. I recently had some sort of cycle issue in my 29 tank. The only difference in time was that I added the Excel's because I added alot more plants. From that moment my cycle crashed. I was cloudy during the re-cycle and water changes. I was even cloudy after cycling. I replaced the floss in my home made bottle filter (I also have an AC70 and an aqueon 30 in this tank). I changed it in the morning and at some point during early evening I walked by and it was crystal freaking clear!