White particle looking water

[Tom Pearl]

My 55g tank is not crystal clear after 7 weeks of existence and weekly WC, the water has white floating particles. I have upped the WC to 5 in the past week and I thought that would do the trick but it hasn't. The tank is planted with 40 fish and the quality of the water is good. Some algae does grow on the sides but since the 5 WC I don't find much there. Here's a pic to show the floating particles. Any advice is welcomed.

 

[Delapool]

Hi, the pic didn't make it?

 

[Tom Pearl]

here's a photo.


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[Tom Pearl]

also this is the whole 55 gal tank shot. Light is on for 5 1/2 hours. And I just did a 25% WC. I cleaned the canister and just rinsed the white and blue pads. Should I replace the white one? I started the tank 2 months ago and there are 39 fish - 11 rummynoses, 10 HY 511 tetra's, 7 Lambchop rasboras, 2 pearl Gouramis, 1 dwarf Gouramis, 1 opaline Gouramis, 2 clown loaches, 2 julii Cory's , 2 Matea Cory's and 1 red tail shark. Planted tank with sword, Anubias, Java fern and rotala and couple of moss balls. What can be done about the non-crystal clear water?


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[Delapool]

Purigen is well recommended.

Seachem. Purigen

I've also added extra cotton wool pads into the canister filter. I've lost a bit of water flow but the water is clearer.

 

[aqua_holic]

What exactly do you have for filtration and media?

 

[PB_Smith]

View attachment 257030also this is the whole 55 gal tank shot. Light is on for 5 1/2 hours. And I just did a 25% WC. I cleaned the canister and just rinsed the white and blue pads. Should I replace the white one? I started the tank 2 months ago and there are 39 fish - 11 rummynoses, 10 HY 511 tetra's, 7 Lambchop rasboras, 2 pearl Gouramis, 1 dwarf Gouramis, 1 opaline Gouramis, 2 clown loaches, 2 julii Cory's , 2 Matea Cory's and 1 red tail shark. Planted tank with sword, Anubias, Java fern and rotala and couple of moss balls. What can be done about the non-crystal clear water?


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if water quality is good, the best thing you could do right now is nothing. Cleaning everything at this point would be counter productive and would result in more issues.

It looks to me like a bacterial bloom, and at only 7 weeks, your tank has barely finished cycling.
Leave the filter alone and allow it to trap enough muck that it will start trapping smaller particles.

I also recommend getting some Purigen for a variety of reasons, crystal clear water being one of them.


AGAIN, you should just let it ride for a week or two, as long as the water parameters are good, doing that many water changes is actually compounding the issue.

Trust me, as long as the water quality is good, if you just leave it be, it will clear up on it's own.
you may want to cut back a feeding here and there as well to allow things to reach a better equilibrium.

 

[Tom Pearl]

Aqua Holic - I have a Eheim G65 canister with 2 types of hard media and 2 filter pads (blue and white). I'm going to try the Purigen and I'll leave the tank alone for away. I'll respond back in a couple of days. Thanks to all.


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[Tom Pearl]

Still have floating particles and did a 25% WC on Saturday. Here are the test results. I so live in Chicago so I'm pretty sure we have higher pH water to begin with.
pH - 7.4
High Range pH - 8.0
Ammonia - 10 ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 20 ppm
I'm open for suggestions about how to clear up the water


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[militantpotato]

10ppm of ammonia? Retest please. Anything over .25 is generally bad news. If it's above .5ppm do a very large water change of at least 75%.

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[ppo8820]

That ammonia level is off the charts BAD. Water changes and find out what is causing the spike. Is this tank cycled?

 

[Angela1108]

The ph is not a problem at all compared to the ammonia! You need to do 50% water changes every couple of hours. It needs to be at .25 or 0. There is no way your tank is cycled. 10 is crazy high!! I would also move all plants/decorations/wood and look for something dead that might be triggering the ammonia.


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[Delapool]

As a check I would test tap water as well for ammonia.

 

[Tom Pearl]

Sorry I forgot to add the . In front of 10. It's actually .10 ppm. It was yellow. Not green. I'm still going to do a WC and add more filter floss. I'll see how that goes.


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[Delapool]

Phew

 

[Tom Pearl]

I just finished with a 33% WC and changed the filter floss. I'll test the water tomorrow and publish the results. Hopefully the white particles will clear up. One question - Where is the proper placement of the intake and outflow tubes? I have the outflow kinda in the middle to left side and I have the inflow tube middle right side. This is the best way?


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[Delapool]

That's kind of how I have it.

 

[Tom Pearl]

Here's the results. so I'd say pH - 7.6
high range pH - 8.0
Ammonia - maybe .10 ish ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - maybe 30 ppm
I just did a 33% WC last night. Since I added more filter floss the particles have subsided but not crystal clear yet. I've had the tank going do 2 1/2 months with 42 fish. Are these perimeters good until my next WC in about 10 days?


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[Tom Pearl]

Also here's the whole tank


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[Tom Pearl]

Also my lights are on for 7 hours. Should I worry about the elevated nitrate level?


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