Cloudy water

[Skibum98391]

I posted this in planted, but thought I would put here to get more eyes on it....

I am hoping you can help with cloudy water....15 gallon tank is 2.5 months old, fully cycled and stocked. It has been planted since the beginning. The plants were struggling with leaves yellowing, brown spots etc. all I had was cheapo incandescent lights, so earlier this week I changed them to 6k cfl daylight bulbs. I gave that a few days and then today I put in a few API root tabs. Within an hour or two the water is cloudy. By cloudy I mean a whitish haze (not green). I immediately tested the water, all good ammonia 0' nitrites 0, and nitrates 20. I did a large 70% water change, swished out the filter and added a little filter floss, only a little because it backs up the water and it flows through the bypass which is a little annoying because I had hope to put a bunch in there. So my question, do the root tabs cause cloudy water like that? Oh yea, and the lights I have been running only six hours. Also I have started to get diatoms, not bad. Because of this I added a mystery snail yesterday. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer....

 

[George9]

I posted this in planted, but thought I would put here to get more eyes on it....

I am hoping you can help with cloudy water....15 gallon tank is 2.5 months old, fully cycled and stocked. It has been planted since the beginning. The plants were struggling with leaves yellowing, brown spots etc. all I had was cheapo incandescent lights, so earlier this week I changed them to 6k cfl daylight bulbs. I gave that a few days and then today I put in a few API root tabs. Within an hour or two the water is cloudy. By cloudy I mean a whitish haze (not green). I immediately tested the water, all good ammonia 0' nitrites 0, and nitrates 20. I did a large 70% water change, swished out the filter and added a little filter floss, only a little because it backs up the water and it flows through the bypass which is a little annoying because I had hope to put a bunch in there. So my question, do the root tabs cause cloudy water like that? Oh yea, and the lights I have been running only six hours. Also I have started to get diatoms, not bad. Because of this I added a mystery snail yesterday. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer....

I heard of root tabs making the water all cloudy once from another person a while back. You buried them in the gravel/sand right? I would assume this is whats causing it because it seems to be the only thing you've done different. I'd let the floss do its job and it will probably clear up on its own.

 

[Skibum98391]

Yep, buried them in the sand....

 

[lamby]

It could take a few days to clear up if your still having problems with cloudy water try this stuff worked wonders for me.

 

[lamby]

It could take a few days to clear up if your still having problems with cloudy water try this stuff worked wonders for me.

 

[lamby]

It could take a few days to clear up if your still having problems with cloudy water try this stuff worked wonders for me.

 

[bluebirdnanny]

I posted this in planted, but thought I would put here to get more eyes on it....

I am hoping you can help with cloudy water....15 gallon tank is 2.5 months old, fully cycled and stocked. It has been planted since the beginning. The plants were struggling with leaves yellowing, brown spots etc. all I had was cheapo incandescent lights, so earlier this week I changed them to 6k cfl daylight bulbs. I gave that a few days and then today I put in a few API root tabs. Within an hour or two the water is cloudy. By cloudy I mean a whitish haze (not green). I immediately tested the water, all good ammonia 0' nitrites 0, and nitrates 20. I did a large 70% water change, swished out the filter and added a little filter floss, only a little because it backs up the water and it flows through the bypass which is a little annoying because I had hope to put a bunch in there. So my question, do the root tabs cause cloudy water like that? Oh yea, and the lights I have been running only six hours. Also I have started to get diatoms, not bad. Because of this I added a mystery snail yesterday. Thank you in advance for any help you can offer....

My Experience with root tabs is YES they will cloud the water for a bit. Also sounds like changing the lights may have cause a slight algae bloom which should also be short term. Kind of like a mini cycle (fert & light induced).

How is it today?

 

[Skibum98391]

Thanks for the replies. It is a bit better this am. Not crystal clear yet, but headed in the right direction.

 

[Rivercats]

I've kept tanks for 30+ years and never had root tabs cause cloudy water. What you might have expierenced is a cloudiness from slightly stirring up the substrate. I had this just the other day when I worked in my 220g planted. It is already clearing. You can see pic's of the haze in the links at the bottom of the post in the full tank shot on the second link.

 

[Skibum98391]

Thanks rivercats, I hadn't heard of the tabs causing this which is why I was confused. My substrate is gravel that is well vacuumed every week.... Leaning towards a bloom due to the new lights but who knows?? It is a whitish haze.....anyway, it is starting to clear, the fish seem happy and the snail seems to be doing his job....

 

[Rivercats]

Lights wouldn't cause it either. My issue was I had to pull some plants out and then put new ones in BUT I also had my FX5 canister down for a week and got it up and running with all new media, including new bio-media, again the day after planting so I got that slight haze. The metal halides I have on the tank makes any haze glaringly obvious which doesn't help either

 

[Skibum98391]

Hmmm, oh well as long as it clears. Hopefully the new lights and root tabs do the trick and get the plants looking better....thanks again.