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Old 02-02-2006, 01:08 AM   #1
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I need help!! cloudy water

Hello everyone. I have a cloudy tank and I can't seem to bring it back to being clear again. The water is milky with a greenish hue. I do regular water changes, The tank is not overcrowded, the filter is good. I took some of the water into a pet store for testing and they said my water reads perfect but they could'nt tell my why it's so cloudy. It's a 90gal. tank with 5 cichlids and two plecos. Any help would be great.

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Old 02-02-2006, 02:27 AM   #2
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I'm still pretty much a noob here myself, but I'm sure that to get an answer that you will find useful, you're going to have to include how long the tank has been established, how it was cycled, what type of live plants you have in there, what type and how big a filtration system you have in there and how big (or small) your water changes have been.

I've been following the forum pretty close and from what I've seen, all of these things are going to affect how your question gets answered.

Help me out here guys, lemme know if I've been reading you correctly . . . .a cloudy tank is usually bacterial bloom and not always necessarily a bad thing? Am I learning, or am I confused?
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Old 02-02-2006, 02:34 AM   #3
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how long ago you cleaned your filter helps to.
my guess is recently. which is why there is bacteria or "cloud" which is waterborn.
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Old 02-02-2006, 09:44 AM   #4
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my specs

The tank is 90gals, the filter is a Rena filstar xp3, I upgrated from a 55gal to the 90gal and used most of the water and fake plants and used the old filter with the new fiter for about 4 weeks (cloudy the whole time) I took the old filter off about 10 days ago and it's still the same. I took the wood out to see if that was the problem but it's still the same. When I do water changes every week I change 30 gals at a time with a python to vacume the gravel.
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Old 02-02-2006, 10:03 AM   #5
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What are you test levels? What color is the cloud?
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Old 02-02-2006, 04:04 PM   #6
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Green hue cloudiness is a common occurence in a new setup and usually clears with a little help of PWC. Based on your water perameters and test results, other cures may be necessary including a black out. Can you provide that information.
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Old 02-02-2006, 07:33 PM   #7
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Black out?

What do you mean by a black out? Could I put the piece of wood back in my tank? It's a piece of Hibiscus wood, really cool looking. Someone told me that the wood might be the problem, I hope it's not. I also read, on this site I think, that my filter might be pumping to fast to let the bialogical filter build up in the filter, could this be true?
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Old 02-03-2006, 09:40 AM   #8
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About your wood 8O Typically newly placed wood in an aquarium that hasn't been boiled or soaked leaks tannins (sp?) into the water. Naturally released color from your drift wood. Typically this makes the water appear to look like "tea". In my experience however, this isn't accompanied with cloudiness. If your tank is fairly new, I would guess that you have 2 things going on, #1 a bacterial bloom because of the instabilty of your new tank which should disappear over time (A white or fant green cloudiness)... mixed with #2 leeching colors from your wood creating a "cloudy tea" consistancy.

There isn't much you can do for either, the cloudiness from the bacterial bloom will disappear on its own and you should see it diminish from your weekly PWC, the brown color you are getting from the drift wood can also be taken care of. If you have a pot large enough, take the wood out and boil it changing the water until it boils clear, then put it back in your tank.

I will mention that neither of these conditions should be harmful to your fish, only effect the athestic value of the tank.

About the size of your filter. Bacteria that is necessary for the tank is on all components of your aquarium including, filter, bio-wheel (if you have one), gravel, plants, and decoration. I don't see how a powerful filter can impede the growth and development of micro-organizms. The only downfall for a serverly over powered filter is the currents that you would have in the aquarium from the discharge which some of your fish may not like and could stress them. If you have a control to reduce the flow on the filter I would do that.

Again, what are your water perameters, and what is the WPG the filter is pumping in relation to your aquarium?
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Old 02-03-2006, 09:43 AM   #9
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oh... and for futher information (which i dont think is necessary in your case)... a black out can be used to control annoying "green water" algea in an aquarium. Basically how it works is starving the algea for light. You cover the tank with some material that light can not penetrate, for a certain duration, not feeding, and NOT peeking in... and this should kill the algea with out too much harm to your fish or live plants if you have them. I have never attempted a black out because i have had no need, but im sure a simple search in these forums will provide you with many more answer than I can provide
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Old 02-03-2006, 12:33 PM   #10
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Thak you!

WOW, you know your stuff. Thanks a lot for the help, I'll keep up with the PWC's and hope for the best.
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Old 02-03-2006, 03:37 PM   #11
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A sap3 in a 90ga tank is turning over the water quite quickly, if its been cloudy for four weeks (with fake plants) I would remove the wood. Is that the only new item not in the 55ga? I would put the wood in a bucket filled with water and see if it gets cloudy.
Something is wrong for the water to be cloudy for that long. With no filter at all the tank should start to clear after setup (without fish or live plants) in 3-4 days! AL
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