Cloudy water

[FishAngel]

Boy, am I feeling stupid. I couldn't figure outnhow to post a new thread and inadvertently "stole" someone else's. Thanks to the kind soul who let me know.

Anyway, forgot to include the fact that I have a 55 gallon tank in which are 3 black skirt tetras, 3 zebra danios, 4 angel fish, 3 lamp eye tetras, 2 platys, 2 snails, and 3 golden rams, all happily coexisting. I lost a lot of fish in the beginning even though I thought I'd let the cycling process happen (2 weeks) before adding fish but haven't had problems in the last 6 weeks or so. Id been doing pwc weekly for a month and the water was pretty clear. Have done pwc every other day for the last 4 days, need to do another today. The water is so cloudy, you can barely see through it but numbers are all good. I thought if you had bacterial bloom you'd see elevated nitrites or nitrates or something? But I'm not so I'm really confused.

 

[Homedog98]

What are your water parameters again? And it's ok. The first HELP thread I posted was in the DIY section... Imagine all the stuff they gave me!

 

[FishAngel]

Ok, ammonia was .25, nitrites and nitrates were 0, pH was 7.6. Maybe important to note, I added second filter a month ago, hoping to achieve crystal clear water. Did not have hoped for results.

 

[neilanh]

Moving to FW - Getting Started forum.

I do believe what you're seeing is a bacterial bloom. You said you let the cycling process happen for 2 weeks - well, that's not really a cycle. Just letting the tank sit I'm assuming is what you did. To adequately cycle a tank you need an ammonia source.

Also, what test kit are you using?

 

[FishAngel]

API test kit. While I did add some cycle starter at the beginning in Dec and waited for the bacterial bloom that followed to go away before adding any fish, this may well be another bacterial bloom, albeit with a definite greenish tint. Can it be a bacterial bloom if my numbers are all good? I initially thought it was algae and put in algae control but that didn't do the trick...if it is a bacterial bloom, is the conventional wisdom that I just wait it out? How long before I can expect to see it diminish? It's been about ten days now.

 

[mfdrookie516]

greenish tint? get a white cup (foam or plastic) and dip some water out. with a bright light, see what color the water is. if its green, its an algae bloom. If its white, its bacteria bloom. This will determine the course of action to take, though I'm going to say they won't be too far apart.

 

[FishAngel]

Ok, water has a definite greenish tint.

 

[mfdrookie516]

that sounds like you're experiencing an algae bloom then. How long are you keeping yourl ights on? How often/much are you feeding?

 

[FishAngel]

We turn on the blue light about 8AM then the brighter light when I get home from work about 6PM. Typically we feed once a day in the early evening. Since this cloudiness has grown, that's been cut back to every other day and about half as much. We've tried to be careful but not careful enough I guess.

 

[WhiteWidow11]

What time do you turn the lights off? Might just be an algae bloom, as your tank matures I think better algae's with start to out compete the annoying free floating algae.

Sent from my Droid using Aquarium

 

[FishAngel]

10:30pm usually

 

[WhiteWidow11]

So about 14 hours of light, how many bulbs and how many watts per each bulb? Type of bulbs? Does the tank get any sunlight? I had a tank near a window and I always battled murky water.

To my knowlege, blooms occur due to poor water or too much lighting. I'm thinking make sure your nitrates are at least below 40, below 20 is ideal, and reduce lighting. See how this goes for a week or so.

Also, I use Algae Destroyer. This stuff is awesome! Clears water within a few hours, and only needs a few drops. I would try this if reduced lighting doesn't solve your problem, since it works awesome. But of course, you should figure out why the bloom is occuring.

Sent from my Droid using Aquarium