Cloudy/Dirty looking water after four months

[BrightnNerdy]

I have a 190L/55ish US Gallons corner aquarium. It's looked beautiful for months, but two weeks ago it started to look cloudy after weekly maintenance. Now I can hardly see the back of the tank. I have a few theories why this is happening, please let me know if I'm on the right track:

1. I have an Eheim 2224 canister filter. And I have learned recently that I've been cleaning it too often. I've been emptying it out every week and rinsing all the baskets twice in siphoned-out aquarium water. And changing the fine white filter every two weeks, and I changed the coarse blue one two weeks ago as well. Now I'm reading that I shouldn't even really touch the thing more than every few weeks?

2. I've never cleaned the hoses and I bought the canister used. The seller unplugged it from his aquarium and I brought it home. So they are pretty gunky. They are also much longer than necessary. I'm considering cutting them to make the trip from canister to tank shorter. I'm not sure if I should try to clean the hoses, as I'm sure a lot of good bacteria are in there.

3. I have a bit of a snail problem. I have four Yoyo Loaches, but they don't show much interest in them.

4. When I do my weekly water change, I remove all accessories and scrub them, and vacuum the sand. Maybe I'm cleaning too much?

I'm guessing I interrupted the nitrogen cycle with my overboard cleaning. My plan is to change about 15% of the water every day for a few days. Also because of the weird shape of the aquarium, I'm guessing that water circulation is lacking. I'm considering adding a third, or even fourth sprayer to increase flow. I've been told the Eheim 2224 should be enough filtration, any thoughts on that?

Would more plants help? People seem to suggest fast growing plants as a solution for a lot of problems, any species to recommend?

I'd be very thankful for any and all tips!

 

[SherLar]

You may just be having a bacterial bloom, which can cloud water. It usually isn't harmful, just unsightly. I usually rinse my filter media every couple of weeks, and change it only every 5-6 weeks. When I change it, I normally only change 1 type of media at a time, so there's always a good crop of bacteria in the filter. I would probably shorten your hoses so you filter doesn't have to work as hard, but I don't know if long hoses would cause your problem or not. I vacuum my substrate weekly, especially tanks with sand. If sand isn't agitated regularly, you run the risk of unsightly, and potentially dangerous bacteria deposits. Your Yoyo loaches should help to agitate your sand somewhat though. I'm a bit surprised they haven't eradicated your snail problem. Mine have voracious appetites for snails.

 

[BrightnNerdy]

Thanks for your answer! I'm hoping it will get better. I've changed out about 10% of the water for the last two days, it isn't getting worse! Maybe it's even a bit cleared up. The fish still seem to be healthy, no one has died.

How long does a bacterial bloom last? Should I give it a week before I consider something else, or longer?

As I changed the water yesterday, I also vacuumed up some debris, and I sucked up a plug of dead micranthemum plant that had been under the sand for some time. Now I'm wondering if maybe decaying plants are also playing a role. But I guess that would have started problems sooner than four months.

My loaches are still small, maybe when they get bigger they'll hunt more (I hope). If I pre-kill the snails, they'll eat them! Maybe I have spoiled loaches!