Water clouding up

[Crippldogg]

My tank is clouding up recently. It's a 36gal that's been setup for about 8 months now and houses 7 african cichlids. It's been very clear up to about a month ago. Ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrates are about 10-20ppm. Filter seems to be running good. I do water changes once a week about 25% of the water. This past month I've done the water changes and it has cleared up for a day then it gets cloudy again. The cloudyness is whitish looking. Is this a bacteria bloom or what? Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

When you get up in the morning is the tank cloudy? or is it later in the day?

I had this problem and it was green water, but how cloudy are we talking? (I couldn't see 18" in the tank).

another person had that problem here, and it was an underpowered filter (what is your filter rated for and what size tank is it?)

 

[Crippldogg]

it's cloudy all the time, whitish or milky in color. It's 36 gal corner style and I have a penguin 170 filtering it. I've got a new penguin 200b I want to put on it but that's cycling my fry tank right now. Before I changed the water last night, I couldn't see the back corner which is probably about 20" back. After the change, I could see the corner.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

How long are you leaving the lighting on? and is it in direct sunlight?

Your problem sounds like mine, perhaps syphon a bit of water into a 2 litre clear pop bottle, then look at it in sunlight, see if there is a greenish/yellow tint.

 

[Crippldogg]

It's not in sunlight and the light is on about 10 or 11 hours a day.

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Try filling 3/4 of a 2 liter clear pop bottle, then in the sunlight look down through it, if it's green then there is an easy fix

 

[Crippldogg]

alright, i'll try it tonight. so, if it's green what's the fix?
Thanks for the help

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

leave the lights off all day, have them on for 1 hour, (1/2 hour on, feed the fish, leave on for half hour, then turn them off, after about 2 days you'll see an improvement, after 4-5 it should be cleared up.

 

[Crippldogg]

I didn't have a bottle for the water, but I used my python to drain some water into the sink (which is white). The water does have a green tinit to it. I started yesterday with the lights off.

Thanks for the help