Cloudy water suggestions???

[Aiken Drum]

I've used one of these before the "fish r fun green killing machine" before. They come in different sizes for different aquarium volumes. Cost effective, just put it in the aquarium, turn it on, in my experience it cleared up cloudiness in 24 hours.

AA Mini Green Killing Machine UV Sterilizer | From Aquacadabra

AA UV Sterilizer will help eliminate the problem of green water with in your aquarium. Perfect for aquariums around to 80 liters of water.

aquacadabra.com

It lasted 5 or 6 years without needing the lamp changing, when it packed up the impeller stopped turning and I couldn't get it running again. It might not be a quality brand, but I liked the product.

I now have an inline one connected to a canister filter. It doesn't take up any space, and uses less power.

Personally, once running, just leave it. Put it on a timer so it's not running 24/7 to preserve the lamp. Once the water is clear, I found that running 8 hours a day was enough to keep it clear going forwards. If you get an inline one, it would be a bit of a faff to keep disconnecting it and reconnecting it when needed, but you could just turn it off. If it was one that went in the tank, you could easily remove and just return it to the aquarium to clear up issues when they arise. But your water is cloudy for a reason, and if you don't resolve the reason it will just keep coming back.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

I've used one of these before the "fish r fun green killing machine" before. They come in different sizes for different aquarium volumes. Cost effective, just put it in the aquarium, turn it on, in my experience it cleared up cloudiness in 24 hours.

AA Mini Green Killing Machine UV Sterilizer | From Aquacadabra

AA UV Sterilizer will help eliminate the problem of green water with in your aquarium. Perfect for aquariums around to 80 liters of water.

aquacadabra.com

It lasted 5 or 6 years without needing the lamp changing, when it packed up the impeller stopped turning and I couldn't get it running again. It might not be a quality brand, but I liked the product.

I now have an inline one connected to a canister filter. It doesn't take up any space, and uses less power.

Personally, once running, just leave it. Put it on a timer so it's not running 24/7 to preserve the lamp. Once the water is clear, I found that running 8 hours a day was enough to keep it clear going forwards. If you get an inline one, it would be a bit of a faff to keep disconnecting it and reconnecting it when needed, but you could just turn it off. If it was one that went in the tank, you could easily remove and just return it to the aquarium to clear up issues when they arise. But your water is cloudy for a reason, and if you don't resolve the reason it will just keep coming back.

Thank you. I just purchased that mini green killing machine. I also purchased some Biomax as well to swap out the Siporax I’m currently using. One thing I’ve learned however when researching a little bit about the UV sterilizers is that they can kill beneficial bacteria. I’m hoping having the new Biomax in there will help to maintain that biological filter despite the UV exposure.
I also just received the new sponge for the filter. So I removed the carbon filter, and installed the sponge along with the polishing pad. Once I receive the UV light I will install that and swap out the Siporax with the Biomax when it arrives. Aside from all of this and regular water changes and testing, I’m not sure there’s much else I can do but hope any of this works eventually.

 

[Andy Sager]

You just need to let the adjustments you've made have a bit of time to work fully.

 

[Aiken Drum]

You can't kill beneficial bacteria with UV. UV will only kill the bacteria if its exposed to the UV. Beneficial bacteria live on surfaces in your aquarium, like on your filter media, or your aquascape, or the glass your aquarium is made from. It doesn't live in the water, so unless you remove all your filter media and break open the UV and start shining the light on your filter media there is no way for the UV to get at your beneficial bacteria.

The only exception would be in the very early stages of cycling an aquarium before any of these organisms have had chance to populate your surfaces and start to grow from there. These organisms start out in the water, and as they pass over a well oxygenated surface, they will attach themselves. They will start to spread out from there, not needing that initial seeding of waterborne organisms any longer.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

You can't kill beneficial bacteria with UV. UV will only kill the bacteria if its exposed to the UV. Beneficial bacteria live on surfaces in your aquarium, like on your filter media, or your aquascape, or the glass your aquarium is made from. It doesn't live in the water, so unless you remove all your filter media and break open the UV and start shining the light on your filter media there is no way for the UV to get at your beneficial bacteria.

The only exception would be in the very early stages of cycling an aquarium before any of these organisms have had chance to populate your surfaces and start to grow from there. These organisms start out in the water, and as they pass over a well oxygenated surface, they will attach themselves. They will start to spread out from there, not needing that initial seeding of waterborne organisms any longer.

Thank you for the clarification. I was under the impression that the beneficial bacteria live in the water as well as on surfaces. Either way, hopefully I’m headed in the direction of clearing up this cloudy water condition.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

You just need to let the adjustments you've made have a bit of time to work fully.

Thanks. Yeah, I did just try a few different things & thought about that. It’s not going to clear up in a day most likely. I’ll have to wait and give it time to hopefully work.

 

[Andy Sager]

Thanks. Yeah, I did just try a few different things & thought about that. It’s not going to clear up in a day most likely. I’ll have to wait and give it time to hopefully work.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

One more question…
Since I have limited space in my filter to keep some bio media after the mechanical media, would it be helpful to drop some directly into the tank in some mesh bags?

 

[CfishGo]

If you want to use Purigen just know it is rechargeable and not a one time use product so it's potential to last a long time may be worth the cost to you.

 

[Andy Sager]

One more question…
Since I have limited space in my filter to keep some bio media after the mechanical media, would it be helpful to drop some directly into the tank in some mesh bags?

Nitrifying microbes need oxygen and are usually found in areas of the tank with the highest levels of oxygen. In most every tank, that is inside the filter. So just because it's exposed to water does not mean it's going to be as effective as being in the filter. Also, placing a media like this in the tank, it would need to have really good highly oxygenated water flow through it to have it be effective.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Just received and installed the Biomax and the mini green killing machine UV filter. Wish me luck!

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Update… it’s been only a couple days running the UV filter and I think I’m starting to notice a little bit of an improvement in the water. Still pretty cloudy, but slightly less dense than it was. I should’ve taken pics each day to better see it. Hopefully this is working.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

What does anyone recommend for doing a filter cleaning on this GKM? Not sure how often I should be doing it. It’s been running on and off on a timer for the last 3 days or so.

 

[Aiken Drum]

I had mine running for 5 years and opened it up maybe 3 times just to give the little bit of sponge a rinse out and the impeller a wipe down. Apart from that I periodically rinsed out the little blue sponge on the intake, maybe every 3 months. Depends how quickly it gets clogged up.

 

[Aiken Drum]

And I would run it 24/7 until the water is clear. Put it on a timer once it's cleared and been been clear for a week or so.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Ok. I wasn’t sure if I should do that. I didn’t know if that would burn out the bulb too fast. I know they say it has something like 5000-7000 hours of life, but didn’t know for sure. My water still hasn’t cleared up, so I’m going to keep it running all the time until hopefully it does. Then I guess I’ll keep it in there and set it to just run 8 hours per day. I’ve reduced the lighting as well and am making sure I don’t feed too much.

And I would run it 24/7 until the water is clear. Put it on a timer once it's cleared and been been clear for a week or so.

 

[Airborne 82nd]

Depending on the type of bulb turning it on and off can shorten the life span faster than leaving it on. This is usually but not always due to the heat and cool cycles. This is also true with LEDs but the led does not fail it is the sorry cheap solder joints on the little printed circuit board that controls the led Saving money on energy is a whole different ball game.

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Depending on the type of bulb turning it on and off can shorten the life span faster than leaving it on. This is usually but not always due to the heat and cool cycles. This is also true with LEDs but the led does not fail it is the sorry cheap solder joints on the little printed circuit board that controls the led Saving money on energy is a whole different ball game.

Gotcha. I’m not worried about saving money on energy consumption at the moment. My goal is just to clear up this green cloudy water. Thank you

 

[TheDudeAbides]

Looks like it took a little time, but between running the UV filter constantly and doing a few water changes, the water is almost completely clear finally! Thing actually worked pretty well! I’m going to keep it running for a few more days then put it on a timer for 8 hours per day. I’ll attach a pic when I can…

 

[TheDudeAbides]