Cloudy water

[Deenalove]

I have cloudy water in both tanks. My oscar tank has a white cloudiness to it and the Mollie tank has a yellow. I know they have diff lights to so maybe that is another thing, but how do I get rid of the cloudy water, aside from many water changes?

 

[carpus]

Clouds be Gone...

I would first worry about what has made the clouds. This is slightly concerning. Are you testing the NH3, NO2-, NO3- ??

Second, water changes to dilute WTF is going on.

Third, I just used Seachem's "Clarity" to clear up a new tank that had lots of substrate dust, heavy bacteriological additions, and dead plant matter (and associated bacterial bloom). The tank took two applications, but cleared up pretty well. The product, Clarity, is a flocculation agent which makes things stick together, which is good, as I rinsed the filter and all is well.

It seems like in your case there is maybe a bacterial bloom thing going on in your tank. But here is the thing, these blooms can be good indicators of a problem that you need to diagnose. If you have been playing around with something, that might be the cause.

Maybe look at the filters and see if they are clear and clean.

Maybe you should considering adding to your tank with some bacterial additives. Unlike some people, I am somewhat confident in the "biofilter" bacterial additives, like "Stability", "Cycle", and so on, and I pour lots of it through the filters to keep the bugs running. They don't act quickly, but there is a noticeable result from using them.

 

[Deenalove]

i will try some of what you said. Can you show me a picture of the bottle or whatever it is I need or should get? It was not cloudy the first week I had it set up then once the Oscars went in, it went cloudy. The Mollie tank is no longer cloudy, I think that one was cloudy due to being overstocked with not enough water changes.

I am still a noob and have never tested the water but I will ask the LFS about the kit to test as well. Thank you

 

[James10797]

You can buy this stuff that clears up cloudy water. Its sold at at many pet stores. So you dont have to worry about testing just buy that stuff.Its most likely by the water conditioner or the meds.

 

[Deenalove]

But it would be good to test too right?

 

[BigJim]

Hold off on the water clarifying chemicals. It's always better to treat the problem than the symptoms.

Looking at your "My Tanks" link, I'm seeing a lot of recipes for disaster. I see you realize your tanks are unbelievably overcrowded, so I won't harp on that much.

First things first: How long have your tanks been set up? Are they cycled properly? What are your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels? I see you don't have a test kit. Look at the API Freshwater Master kit. It's a little expensive, but it's cheaper per test and much more accurate than strips. The ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels provide a lot of information about the state of the tanks.

Cloudy water is usually due to a bacteria bloom or overfeeding. Either way it's an indication of poor water conditions. The yellow color in your 5g may actually be fish urine. I don't like to keep any fish in a tank smaller than 10g.