Cloudy water - I'm stumped!!!!!

[SDMac74]

60 gallon SA Cichlid tank. 4wpg, 2 Emporer 280's, 3 Convicts, 4 Firmouths, 2 Severums, planted, 100 lbs of Flourite. Has been cloudy for over 2 weeks. Several water changes, last one Saturday (50%). Just tested my water - Ammonia 0ppm, Nitrites 0ppm, Nitrates 5ppm, 80 deg, PH @ 6.8. Removed both filters, cleaned everything but biowheels, vacuumed top layer of gravel, and reluctantly added clarifier on Saturday. Still no change at all. I have another tank that I changed the water in also and its crystal clear, so its not my tap water. This tank has been up and running since JULY!! Never had a problem. Could it be digging fish stirring up the substrate or is something fouling my water?? The fish are healthy and the Cons are spawning. Please help.

 

[Purrbox]

Put some of the water in a white cup and look at it. If it's green tinted, you're dealing with Green Water.

 

[SDMac74]

I checked that when it first started and it is just tea colored from the peat. Just checked again and its clear. Thank you for the advice though. I wish that's all it was - easy fix. .

 

[asudavew]

Running carbon in the filter?

 

[GhostKnife]

I had the same problem. I was told to put the water in a clear cup. If it is brown tinted you are dealing with bacteria blooms. If it is green tinted you are dealing with algal blooms. In the brown/tea color you speak of I would ask how often and how much do you feed. I had to cut back on my feeding. I was putting too much in at once and there was a good deal of the food being left to be decomposed in the water. I cut back to 1 a day and making sure hardly any(besides sinking pellets) made its way to the bottom.

 

[SDMac74]

Thanks for all of the advice. I am well aware of bacterial and algae blooms, my water was tea colored because of the peat moss in the filter. I hope I have fixed the problem. I removed all of the peat, and put some in my other tanks filter - after a day it too was cloudy. Did a 75% water change and added carbon to the filter last night. It is still clear right now. I have never had an issue with peat, but something in my tap water must not get along with it. This is the 1st time I've used it at this place. Put the peat in a bucket of tap water last night and sure enough, cloudy today!! Mmmmm???!!!??? Not sure why, but that's it. I will remove the carbon this weekend and stop using peat. Thanks again for the advice, I will update if problem returns.

 

[cbwmn]

I had a similar problem with a 16 gallon tank.
I was told that it could be a Euglena (sp) outbreak.
I blacked the tank for 5 days, did a massive WC and it cleared up.
Charles

 

[SDMac74]

Well my tank is still clear, actually crystal clear. Thanks everyone.