Cloudy Water

[lwhite281]

I know this topic has been in the forum many times and believe me, I have read majority of them. I've followed the different suggestions and it hasn't helped much.

The problem started about 3 months ago when I did a 50% water change. I did this because I had 3 fish die on me within a 2 week time frame and I wasn't sure what the cause was. I figured do a good cleaning and maybe that would solve the problem. Well it did solve the problem of my fish dying, but now my water clarity has never been the same.

First it was a white cloudiness. Probably from a bacteria bloom. After that it became a green cloudiness. Algea bloom. I've cut my feedings down to once every other day. I leave the light off during the day when I'm at work and keep it on in the evening when I'm home. The light goes back off when I go to sleep. For a couple of weeks I did a 10% water change every other day. Now I just do it a 20% water change once a week.

Yes, I have live plants in the tank. I put a liquid in there which supposed to help the plants stay healthy. When I first set it up, I had white sand at the bottom and only a couple of plants. It was so clear. Now i have added gravel which is a natural stone color (browns, dark reds, etc) and thrown in some bulbs. Some of the bulbs have sprouted with big red leaves.

My water is still cloudy, but it's hard to tell if it's a greenish cloudy or a white cloudy because of the dark gravel and dark leaves of the bulb. All I know, is that it's cloudy.

I am stumped. I don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any suggestions to the cause of this cloudiness and what I can do to make it clear again?

 

[theotheragentm]

White generally means bacteria bloom. If you don't have fish dying, it's probably not due to bioload. It's not likely to be just particles floating in the water, especially if you have done water changes. You can use a diatom filter to help clear up the cloudiness. You can also try a 5-day blackout. Completely cover the tank from any light and no feeding. That will clear up green water algae.

 

[Zagz]

Have you been cleaning your filter a lot? My step mother had 8 months of cloudy water until I found out she was cleaning her filter every water change. She was killing off so much beneficial bacteria that she was suffering from a really long bacterial bloom. Once she let the filters go and not clean them each time her cloudy water went away.

 

[lwhite281]

Have you been cleaning your filter a lot? My step mother had 8 months of cloudy water until I found out she was cleaning her filter every water change. She was killing off so much beneficial bacteria that she was suffering from a really long bacterial bloom. Once she let the filters go and not clean them each time her cloudy water went away.

No, I haven't been cleaning the filter a lot. I did switch filters out compeltely. Put in a whole new one. But that was about 2 weeks after the cloudiness began in the first place. The filter I had in there was really old and it was time for a new one anyway. I didn't kow if this new filter would help any, but it doesn't appear to have. In the sense of clearing the water.

 

[theotheragentm]

Replacing the filter instantly will definitely not help the matters. Normally you want to seed the new filter and keep the old one running as well for a couple weeks. Water changes don't help?

 

[lwhite281]

So far the water changes haven't helped. I've had this new filter in for over a month. I have still been doing a small water change every couple of days. It's still cloudy. I keep thinking that it's clearing up a little bit each time, but then I look again later or the next day and it doesn't appear to be.

I am moving from an apartment into a house this weekend. So I have to empty the tank of most of the water anyway. When I go to put the fish back in, do you recommend I put the old tank water back in or should I put new water? Do you think this may help with the cloudiness? Or will this cause a bacteria bloom all over again and still be cloudy?

 

[theotheragentm]

Your beneficial bacteria should be on surfaces, such as the glass, substrate, and in the filter. You want to keep the substrate a little wet if possible in existing tank water when you do the move. Also, if you can keep the filter media wet during the move, that would be good. Use new water, treated for chlorine and chloramines when you add it to the tank.