Tank cycled but still cloudy. Frustrated...

[Wspanic]

Took about 5 weeks to do a fish in cycle. Tank has been cloudy through most of the cycle. I have a 40 gallon with a fluval 406 and 4 yellow lab cichlids. In my filter I have 2 bins of biomax, purigen, and filter floss. As of three days ago I have had 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 10 nitrate. The cloudy ness looks no better now then while it was cycling. Am I doing something wrong? Is this still a bacterial bloom? 50% water changes do not help.

 

[Wspanic]

Also, I do have algae growing in my cichlid rocks but no where else. The water does not appear to have any hint or tint o green. As far as my eyes can tell, it is the same cloudy ness that I had through the entire cycle.

 

[jaguargod]

If it has been this way from the start, and 50% water changes don't help, perhaps it is your tap water. Maybe you just have a lot of particulates in your water.

 

[Wspanic]

I'm running well water. Not sure of to test for this or fix it. Would'nt my filter clean this out? I pulled the carbon from my filter. Should I put it back in?

 

[jaguargod]

I would think you would be much more likely to have cloudy water coming out of a well than city water. As long as all of your other parameters are okay, it is probably just something that you will have to deal with using well water. Is your water more on the alkaline side (greater than 7)? I would recommend that you test your well water that you are doing WCs with every time, since it is much more likely to change than city water that is produced to consistently meet certain standards.

 

[Wspanic]

My well water is 6.2 from the tap.

 

[jaguargod]

Okay, well it sounds like your well water is not in a limestone formation. I'm not really sure why your water is cloudy, although I am no expert. Putting your carbon back in may help. With pH in that range, if you have metal pipes for plumbing, you may be getting trace amounts of metals from corrosion, in your water. You may want to be sure to treat your WC water with a water conditioner that can detoxify heavy metals.

 

[Wspanic]

Hi. No metal pipes. House is only 5 years old. Could it still be a bacterial bloom?

 

[jaguargod]

I'm not too sure. Maybe someone else will chime in who might have a better idea. I did fishless cycling, and my water never got cloudy. I still think it is probably just your well water. Can you recall filling a glass of drinking water and noticing that it was cloudy? Or is it just in the aquarium?