Cloudy Water

[ctm78]

I know there are a ton of posts on this, but I've read through them and tried everything I can think of to try to clear my water.

Water changes do very little, even at 50% level. Aqueon Clarifier has done nothing. Added a 1300 gph circulation pump, which did nothing. Have been running the water through a house-level 1 micron sediment filter at >1500 gph with no change. Cloudiness is *very* slightly green (no glass green algae, none growing on rocks.) Approximately 2 months ago had a blue-green outbreak, treated with UltraLife BG Slime Remover (and no issues since.)

Any other ideas? I'm at wits end!

TANK
220 gallon
LED hood lighting, reduced level, <8 hours/day (no direct sunlight)
Fluval 405 filter
Artificial plants
Artificial cichlid holey rock
2/3 River rock substrate, 1/3 cichlid sand
Driftwood
Dual 300 watt heaters
* all totally unchanged since setting the tank up

WATER SPECS
pH - 7.8 - 8.0
ammonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 20ppm
* water is from a personal well, no chlorine/fluoride, softened

FISH LOAD
1 18" clown knife
1 12" oscar
1 6" random cichlid (looks like a convict, but rounder like a discus)
1 7" special needs jack dempsey
1 3" jack dempsey
4 5" angel fish
* no new fish added in 3 months, 1 oscar fatality

[1midniterider]

Are you using multiple Fluval filters? The capacity of a single 405 is insufficient for your tank size. The whitish color of the water suggests a bacterial bloom and not an algae bloom, as if your tank is cycling again. How often do you feed your aquatic friends?

Is it possible to vacuum your substrate to remove any excess food and/or waste? Keep performing the water changes. Bacterial booms typically clear up on their after a few days.

[ctm78]

I was hoping it wasn't filtration-related. I knew the 406 was undersized; but it's been a non-issue. If it's bacterial, it has not been clearing up, this is going on three weeks. If anything, fish are a bit underfed at this point.

For *years* everyone has been baffled how only a 406 has been enough (especially since until recently I really only did water changes every 3-plus months because getting the water down to the tank and back out was such a pain.) Recently put in a water feed down to the tank, and have been more regular.

Broke down and ordered a FX6.

[1midniterider]

Have always had the same number of aquatic denizens? Any major recent changes to your setup?

[ctm78]

No additions; actually one large drop in biomass when I lost a 10" oscar about 6 weeks ago.

The only real change is I actually started doing more regular water changes!

[1midniterider]

Here is an article on cloudy water that you may find interesting.

Edit: Here is another article.

[ctm78]

Have had a Fluval FX6 (which is significantly oversized for the tank) running for over a week now (used my original ceramic bio rings, so there should already be the bacterial action.)

Tank is still cloudy. Doing water changes every other day, which brings some clearing; but within 48 hours its back to being so cloudy that I cannot even see the back of the aquarium.

There's something biologically weird with this tank; none of my others (using the same well tap water) are having this issue.

[1midniterider]

That is very strange..

[Caliban07]

Perhaps it is precipitation of calcium and phosphates causing cloudy water? If you have hard tap water and a heavy bioload you may get certain reactions that contribute to cloudiness. It’s not a certain but not one to overlook either. This happened to me a lot especially when dosing phosphates. Could explain why water changes are not solving the issue. I tend to to water changes very infrequently and I keep issues to a minimum this way.

[Cottonball]

For new rock and/or decorations they say to rinse first then soak for a couple days before placing it in the aquarium. Is it new decor or new rock?

[King Fisher]

You didn't have enough filter Media to colonize the BB to support the bioload from the fish you put in. That's my guess.

The FX6 should work and it's not significantly oversized for a 220 gallon tank. In fact, you should run two FX6's IMO.