I have a tank that has never seen clear water. I have been keeping fish since my dad built me my first 80 gallon tank when I was 8, 25 years ago, and I have never had a problem like this. This tank has been my baby, but I am ready to take a bat to it, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
I know this is a long post and would like to apologize ahead of time.
History:
May 15 – I finished setting up the aquarium with plants and soil and first filled it up. It was cloudy, but every other tank I had used Amazonia on had been and would always clear up overnight.
June 27 – I had been doing a 50% water change every week. The plants are growing great and the tank has finished cycling, but the water is just as cloudy as day one. I decided to start moving fish into the aquarium anyway so I don’t have to keep my quarantine tank going forever.
July 3 – All the fish and in the tank and seem healthy. The plants are growing fast and pearling, but still as cloudy as day one.
July 6 – I decided to try some seachem purigen after doing some research. I add 100 ml to the fluval 206 and 250 ml to the eheim pro3e 2074
July 18 – The purigen did not help at all so I add a coralife turbotwist uv sterilizer in line to the fluval 206
July 28 – the uv sterilizer has been running 24/7 since being first installed and has not done a thing. I get desperate and add some seachem clarity, even though I usually done believe in using water clarifier. The tank gets even more cloudy at first, but I figure that is how it is supposed to work.
July 31 – Thanks to the clarifier the tank is now cloudier then even. The initial fog it created has not cleared up in the least and after all that work and money I am ready to just throw it away. There has not been one day in the entire time that this tank has been clear.
Water parameters:
Tank size: 40 gallon breeder (36x18x17)
pH: 6.9-7.1 (Milwaukee controller)
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
KH: 7 degrees
GH: 5 degrees
Temp: 78 degrees
Water source: Local fish store. The same place I bought the fish, plants, and soil from. It is RO/DI water with seachem equilibrium and alkaline buffer added.
Equipment:
Lighting: 2x 24” marineland plant LED’s
Filtration: Eheim pro3e 2074 and fluval 206
Pressurized CO2 with Milwaukee controller
Coralife turbotwist uv sterilizer
Plants:
Dwarf grass, Red Ozelot sword, Anubis Wrinkle leaf, Anubis Nano, Ludwigia Palustris (both red and green kinds)
Fish:
4 rummy nose, 3 Harlequin Rasbora, 3 Guppies, 3 Galaxy Rasbora, 4 Cherry Barbs, 2 Peacock Gudgeon, 8 Amano Shrimp, 3 red fire shrimp, 2 Nerita Snail, 3 Marble Hatchets
Soil:
ADA Amazonia aqua soil
Other Notes:
There was a bit of an algae bloom in June that lasted a few weeks, but cleared up about the same time I was adding the fish.
I know this is a long post and would like to apologize ahead of time.
History:
May 15 – I finished setting up the aquarium with plants and soil and first filled it up. It was cloudy, but every other tank I had used Amazonia on had been and would always clear up overnight.
June 27 – I had been doing a 50% water change every week. The plants are growing great and the tank has finished cycling, but the water is just as cloudy as day one. I decided to start moving fish into the aquarium anyway so I don’t have to keep my quarantine tank going forever.
July 3 – All the fish and in the tank and seem healthy. The plants are growing fast and pearling, but still as cloudy as day one.
July 6 – I decided to try some seachem purigen after doing some research. I add 100 ml to the fluval 206 and 250 ml to the eheim pro3e 2074
July 18 – The purigen did not help at all so I add a coralife turbotwist uv sterilizer in line to the fluval 206
July 28 – the uv sterilizer has been running 24/7 since being first installed and has not done a thing. I get desperate and add some seachem clarity, even though I usually done believe in using water clarifier. The tank gets even more cloudy at first, but I figure that is how it is supposed to work.
July 31 – Thanks to the clarifier the tank is now cloudier then even. The initial fog it created has not cleared up in the least and after all that work and money I am ready to just throw it away. There has not been one day in the entire time that this tank has been clear.
Water parameters:
Tank size: 40 gallon breeder (36x18x17)
pH: 6.9-7.1 (Milwaukee controller)
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
KH: 7 degrees
GH: 5 degrees
Temp: 78 degrees
Water source: Local fish store. The same place I bought the fish, plants, and soil from. It is RO/DI water with seachem equilibrium and alkaline buffer added.
Equipment:
Lighting: 2x 24” marineland plant LED’s
Filtration: Eheim pro3e 2074 and fluval 206
Pressurized CO2 with Milwaukee controller
Coralife turbotwist uv sterilizer
Plants:
Dwarf grass, Red Ozelot sword, Anubis Wrinkle leaf, Anubis Nano, Ludwigia Palustris (both red and green kinds)
Fish:
4 rummy nose, 3 Harlequin Rasbora, 3 Guppies, 3 Galaxy Rasbora, 4 Cherry Barbs, 2 Peacock Gudgeon, 8 Amano Shrimp, 3 red fire shrimp, 2 Nerita Snail, 3 Marble Hatchets
Soil:
ADA Amazonia aqua soil
Other Notes:
There was a bit of an algae bloom in June that lasted a few weeks, but cleared up about the same time I was adding the fish.
