Tank getting ‘cloudy’

[ColdKoi]

I know I’ve come across a thread about something similar to this but I can’t seem to find it and don’t recall the outcome of it...


Anyways, my heavily populated 29g water has slowly been getting cloudier by the day it seems

The tank had found its happy place about 6 weeks ago, water looked great, fish and plants were doing good and the water quality was perfect even after a couple weeks of no water changes (non detectable amm/nitrites and barely detectable nitrates)

Now over the last few weeks the water has started to become cloudy. Nitrate levels had started rising again over the last couple weeks and I’ve been doing ~30% water changes Every couple days to try and keep nitrate levels in check and eliminate the cloudyness whatever that is, but it still seems to be getting cloudier by the day

Fish are all doing good so I’m not too worried other than it just looks bad. I know I wouldnt want to live in that lol

 

[Aiken Drum]

This can happen with over stocked tanks. From recollection your tank is temporary until they can go in a pond? So you arent in a position to reduce the amount of fish just yet?

You could try over filtering the tank or increasing surface agitation/oxygenation. Using filter media that gets good water flow through it, like K1, can also help.

A surefire way to get rid of cloudy water is UV sterilisation. Its dealing with the sypmtom rather than the cause. An internal type UV like the link is easy to set up. The 9w version is good for upto a 50g tank.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/11032254191

Some cannister filters have integral UV also. Sunsun do one i think.

 

[ColdKoi]

Thanks. Yes this is just a temporary hone for these guys till they go to the pond. I’m not sure if you’d even call it overstocked at this point with their size, but it definitely couldn’t sustain these fish for their lifespan that’s for sure!

I’m running an aqua clear 70 on this tank, doubled up on the bio max and it seemed to be doing the trick after the tank had cycled. Then things started to go downhill a bit!

One thing I had done recently which may be the issue is I’ve raised the water level a bit so the filter isn’t making as much noise from the water splashing down. Maybe the reduced agitation/aeration could be to blame

 

[ColdKoi]

Something strange I’ve noticed now after the milky water thing started....

My red Ludwigia that was growing like a weed since I set the tank up has seemed to stall in growth. I started with 3 small clusters and propagated to covering the back wall, a side wall and a cluster in the Center within a month and they were all growing at a steady rate. Lately I haven’t noticed much or any growth from them. Possibly due to the milky water blocking some light?

 

[Caliban07]

Something strange I’ve noticed now after the milky water thing started....

My red Ludwigia that was growing like a weed since I set the tank up has seemed to stall in growth. I started with 3 small clusters and propagated to covering the back wall, a side wall and a cluster in the Center within a month and they were all growing at a steady rate. Lately I haven’t noticed much or any growth from them. Possibly due to the milky water blocking some light?

Are you feeding the plants with a fertiliser?

 

[ColdKoi]

I have been, yes.

I had planted the tank when I started it, and decided against fertilizers right away to prevent a massive algae bloom or anything fun like that lol

After a couple weeks I started Flourish tabs and I also give it a shot of the liquid every week. That spruced up everything and they were growing to the point that I needed to trim them once a week for a couple weeks. Then after this bacterial bloom or whatever it is, they seemed to have stopped growing completely

From what I’ve read, these things love their iron, so this is what I’ve chosen to try as they have some iron. Seemed to work for a while lol

 

[Caliban07]

I have been, yes.

I had planted the tank when I started it, and decided against fertilizers right away to prevent a massive algae bloom or anything fun like that lol

After a couple weeks I started Flourish tabs and I also give it a shot of the liquid every week. That spruced up everything and they were growing to the point that I needed to trim them once a week for a couple weeks. Then after this bacterial bloom or whatever it is, they seemed to have stopped growing completely

From what I’ve read, these things love their iron, so this is what I’ve chosen to try as they have some iron. Seemed to work for a while lol

It could be iron precipitation. As the iron reacts with phosphates it forms insoluble iron phosphate and comes out of solution showing as cloudy or milky water. Calcium will also react with phosphate.

If the iron is ‘chelated weakly’ i.e with gluconate like flourish iron, it has more chance of reacting with other ions. Iron needs to be chelated strongly with either EDTA or DPTA depending on pH.

Basically a chelate holds on to the iron so it cannot freely react with other elements in the water and rendered useless. Iron is very reactive.

Edit: also ‘milky’ water is much more typical of precipitation than clouding in my experience.

 

[ColdKoi]

I don’t know where you’d draw the line between cloudy and milky, but I guess at this time it’s more cloudy than milky. The water is still fairly translucent (can easily see the fish on the opposite side of the tank)and hasn’t seemed to be getting any worse over the last week.

Definitely not ‘milky’ like I’ve seen in some other pictures where the tank looks like it’s been filled with milk!

 

[Caliban07]

I don’t know where you’d draw the line between cloudy and milky, but I guess at this time it’s more cloudy than milky. The water is still fairly translucent (can easily see the fish on the opposite side of the tank)and hasn’t seemed to be getting any worse over the last week.

Definitely not ‘milky’ like I’ve seen in some other pictures where the tank looks like it’s been filled with milk!

Well you would notice the milky water appear a minute after adding the iron but if you have fast flowing water the precipitation would diffuse quickly making the water appear cloudy if that makes sense.

Could just be a bacterial bloom caused usually by disturbing either the filter sponge (washing vigorously or in tap water) or by uprooting plants/disturbing the substrate.

 

[ColdKoi]

This all started on its own. I hadn’t recently added any fert or done any cleaning. Just walked in the door one day and noticed the water wasn’t clear as usual. Then over the course of a few days it got worse and seems like it hit a plateau