Can't get water to clear in 65 gal tank...9 months now

[tami1961]

It seems no matter what I do I can't get the water to be crystal clear in my large aquarium. What I've tried: water changes, feeding less (I'm still overfeeding I think), chemicals, removing most gravel, vacuuming bottom 2ce a week, adding real plants (to lower nitrates), different filters...with canister filter being my current one and I'm sure there are other things I've forgotten. I have hard well water. All tests for ammonia etc. come out fine except nitrates. The fish look happy with the exception of plattys.
I have too many bottom feeders, 8 cats, 3 algae eaters, 1 very large plecostamus (sp?) named Oscar. So I tend to overfeed for fear they are not getting enough food. Since I've added the real plants I've added an algae bloom to my already problematic white bacterial blooms. I'm ready to sell this tank if I can't get this figured out. I've never gone a full week without a 20% or more water change. Maybe that's the problem. It's not overstocked. Maybe understocked.
2nd question: my plattys always lose stomach mass and eventually die. Any thoughts on this also? Thank you. Tami

 

[lksdrinker]

Lots of people swear by Purigen for making their water crystal clear. The platys loosing stomach mass could be a sign of an internal parasite; but hard to diagnose without more info.

 

[mambee]

I would swap out your gravel for sand. A lot of excess food and waste can get trapped in gravel. Also, I had the same problem with cloudiness until I realized that my ph had gotten so low that it was affecting the beneficial bacteria. Adding a bag of crushed coral to my filter solved the problem.

 

[KingKoopa512]

Seachem clarity works really well for me

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[t4runnr]

+1 for purigen. At one point I had an older canister filter running with just purigen backs to go with my normal filter.

 

[Caliban07]

Just sounds like you need some stability. Don't clean anything in tap water or the chlorine or chloramines could destroy the beneficial bacteria that are trying to colonise. This would cause cloudy water. Stick to a reduced feeding regime and change water weekly 30-50%

Try not to disturb the gravel much at first or you may again disturb bacteria. Planting the plants could have caused a bloom if you disturbed the gravel. Try not to fuss to much with the tank and let it stabilise. Remove some bottom feeders if you think this is a problem. I don't keep bottom feeders with non bottom feeders for the reason you mentioned. Allow the plants to get settled and remove any decaying organics like dead leaves etc.

Fish die for many reasons. Would probably need more info or a re-post in the unhealthy section. There are some knowledgeable people there.


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