Help a novice clear up a cloudy tank?

[Faulty_Ground]

Hey all, first post greetings, Howdy from Texas and all that.

I'm a bit concerned as well as frustrated with my tank right now.

It's a pretty basic 10 gal. Just the Aquatec starter kit from PetCo, a few fake plants and two bags of gravel. I have a 420 Coral fluorescent bulb in it.

The current tenants in the tank are 3 Glo-Fish, 4 tetras and a plecostumus.

I've had this tank running for about a year now, and everything was going great until about.... October. It had... 9 Glo-Fish, a couple Albino catfish on the bottom, and a (different) Pleco when I started. They were all healthy and happy until one day I noticed the tank starting to cloud a bit. I decided to check in with the local PetCo noob, as she had seemed pretty passionate and knowledgeable, but as it turns out, shes also wrong >.<

Anyhow, she suggested that the clouding was likely just an algae bloom of some sort, and that it should clear itself up in a week or two. Well by the end of two weeks it had gone from cloudy to downright murky, so I decided to do some google-fu. I discovered that most groups recommend changing the water to treat a bloom like that, but as I was moving in a matter of weeks, I decided to wait until then, as the fish didn't seem to be having any trouble with it. As a shot in the dark, I tried a "Jungle" brand "Water Clear" tab, but to no avail.

SO, moving day comes, everyone goes in their travel tank (5 Glo-Fish, 4 Tetras) where they would stay until the main tank had been moved and cleaned.

While I had the tank drained, I removed everything, hot-watered it, scrubbed it, soaked it overnight in about a 1/100 bleach solution (Not my idea, I was very nervous when my significant other told me she had done that) this includes the filter and heater as well. Re rinsed everything about a million times, then re-filled it and treated the water. Once I was satisfied the temperature was stable and the water treatment had settled its business with the local tap-water, I transferred everyone back home (By net, just to be sure no cloudy water made its way to the fresh tank).

AH, crystal clear water full of beautiful fish... GORGEOUS!

So, here we are, less than two weeks later, and once more I find my tank is so murky that I can't see the filter intake on the back wall. (Yeck.) I need help!

Whats going on here?

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

When you did the move and cleaned everything did you re-cycle the tank? I think I wouldve done a major (80%) water change prior to moving an cleaning everything.

I had the same problem and did the water change and it cleared up in a week. IMO and it's only a semi-noob opinion, that full move and clean may have hurt more than helped because there are very necessary bacterias on those things to stabalize the water.

I would stick with daily 10-20% water changes.

 

[Faulty_Ground]

Oh yes, 100% change. Everything (tank included) was high and dry before I packed it up in the truck. Thats what confuses me so much. After the complete empty, clean and dry, it should be equivalent to a brand new, never established tank, but it has the same problem as it did before, almost immediately =/

I may give the daily changes a shot. A bit obnoxious to deal with, but if it works, it works.

Any other ideas?

 

[Blueiz]

A few questions about your tank...

- What are the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate readings?

- What is your routine maintenance schedule?

-How long do you leave the lights on- what wattage is the bulb, is it near a natural light source?

To also note as the previous poster said, you probably killed all your good bacteria when you bleached everything and that will cause your tank to cycle, which it is probably doing now. However, I think that something more is causing your algae bloom than the tank cycling because it was happening before you did all the cleaning.

 

[CA_BroncoFan]

Totally didn't think about the light situation. Yeah a friend of mine had the lower right corner of his tank in afternoon light and algae went nuts right there so light could be an issue.

As far as the water changes. It does become a hassle but the end result is so worth it.

 

[Faulty_Ground]

As for the chemical levels, I have no idea, I'm not very scientific about this fish thing...

As for routine maintenance, I dont have anything particular other than a fresh filter and about 40% water change every month or so.

As to the lightning, Its a 15w fluorescent, does not get any direct sun and very little indirect (Its on a book-case shelf) How long its left on could be measured in weeks, not hours. But I did consider that and went to a 10 on/14 off schedule for a couple weeks before the move, and had no success =/

 

[mfdrookie516]

in a tank with no plants, 6 hours is pushing it on lights, 10 hours is begging algae to take over. Try doing a complete blackout for a few days followed by a 50% pwc... also, make sure you dont feed the fish more than they eat in about a minute, and only feed them every other day...this should get rid of the green... as for a white cloud, you'll probably have one for a week or so since you didnt cycle the tank when you set it back up... your best bet is to get a liquid test kid for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, and do 50% water changes as needed to keep ammonia and nitrites as close to 0 as possible

 

[Blueiz]

Your lighting coupled with to many nutrients in the water is probably what is causing your algae. Lighting is a nutrient as well and since you don't have anything in the tank to utilize it, the algae is.

For a tank with no plants I would not leave the lights on more than 8 hours a day. Up your water changes to 50 percent every 2 weeks.

For now, do your water changes and leave the lights off completely for at least a week, this should solve your greenwater probs. When you start back turning the lights on, be extra careful on how long you leave them on. You can also get a timer for them for about 6 dollars so you don't have to remember to turn them on and off. The lighting in a FO tank is more for our pleasure in viewing them than it is for the fish, in most circumstances.

 

[joy13]

It looks like green water, if you can get your hands on some live daphnia they will take care of it and feed your fish. Another thing you can try is get some willow branches even if they are dormant. What is the K on your lights? I am finding only saltwater lights which is either 10 or 20k you are wanting a 67k light.