hazy water, have tried and read tons and no help

[skept]

hi. i moved from one city to another, set up a new tank for my fish and moved them in and i just keep have this hazy water problem.

30 gal with some larger adult fish and some small gouramis. the larger fish: angel, about 3 inches and a pleco, about 9 inches.

the tank has been cycled for months now. i have checked the parameters and they are all within the preferred ranges except the ph is a little low (about 6.8). the low ph is because i am using rodi water. the tap water at my new place is horrible. could the haze be from the extremely soft water? i do not have this problem in my sw tanks but the salt increases the ph greatly so maybe that is why? at one point in time i got an algae net/bloom in the fw tank but i got rid of it. now the water turns hazy. and it will do it almost sporadically. i have tried consistent water changes and that doesn't help. at one point in time i had to much gravel so i took a lot out and that didn't help. i upped the water changes and that didn't help. i tried a million stupid products that are total hoaxes so they didn't work. also the tank has a crappy hang on the back filter that doesn't have a bio wheel. maybe the filtration is the problem? i dunno but it is frustrating so any help would be greatly appreciated. if i need to supply more information please let me know. also the fish do not appear to be stressed, there is no ick or anything like that, they act fine. the only thing the cloudy water is stressing is me! ok thanks!!!

[FawnN]

What exactly are your water parameters? Is it a white cloud or green? What color is your water?

You have some very large fish for a 30 gallon tank.

That pleco alone produces tons of waste at his length. I would recheck your water parameters, because IMO, it sounds like your bacteria is having a hard time with your bioload.

[skept]

yeah that pleco is definitely too big. they will all be moved into a 55 gallon aquarium in the next month and i am trying to get a handle on the problem so that it doesn't happen in the 55. the water is a hazy white not green, i have had green water before. i will test the water parameters this evening and post some exact results. i had thought that it may have something to do with the adult pleco because i was told that as fish grow their waste grows exponentially.

i have been doing some more reading and i think it may also have something to do with the buffer. i am using rodi water so there is no buffer is this correct? what should i do to solve this, if this is the problem? i will try to continue reading about this.

[BrianNY]

Agree with FawnN here. That many fish and a crappy filter could mean there isn't enough space for all that good nitrifying bacteria. Keep an eye on your ammonia and nitrite levels. If they are more than zero, you need to increase the filtering capacity.

Are you doing your water changes with straight RO or tap? To learn more about buffering read the Article by Mark Lehr in the articles section. It's excellent.

[skept]

would adding a filter of the same size with a bio wheel help? if not what do you suggest i use for filtration. what should i use when i move them to the 55 gallon?

i am using straight RO.

[skept]

i accidentlly posted twice because of work's websense and i can't delete the post so ignore this one.

[BrianNY]

Straight RO needs buffering. period. It be causing probs by killing the bacteria with ph swings. Please read that article.

I'd buy a Fluval 304 for the 55. Cannister filters give you alot of options

[skept]

here are my water parameters:

amonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20
ph: 6.7

i won't have anything to test the hardness until tonight.

[xray]

I'm not sure but could it be suspended oxygen (bubbles in the water column).

[skept]

well i have read the article about ph in fw. i will begin adding buffer up to the water and other things it suggested in there. i hope this clears up my cloudiness but even if it doesn't this needs to be done regardless.

i have not had any similar problems in my sw tanks and the water in them tests very hard with a high ph even though it is also straight RO. is this because adding the salt increases the hardness and ph? with this in mind is there any need to worry about the hardness of the sw tanks?