Cloudy tank

[Kazzaye]

hi all , I have a 500 litre tank , 4 clown loaches , 1 gourami, 1 bristle nose, 2 other stripey algae eaters which I can't remember their names - they eat black algae. My water parameters are : General hardness 120, carbonate hardness 40, PH 6.7, nitrite 0, nitrate 40.

The tank has been cloudy for 6 months . Fish appear happy . Very annoying

 

[Colin_T]

You don't mention an ammonia level, do you have a test kit for that?

What colour cloudy?
Green cloudy is algae and reducing light or increasing the number of live plants will usually fix that.

Milky cloudy is uneaten food breaking down in the water and bacteria feeding off the rotting food. Dry foods are the worse for this. Reduce feeding and gravel clean the tank. Make sure the filter is working properly and when you clean the filter, wash the filter materials in a bucket of tank water. When they are clean, wash them in a second bucket of tank water then put them back in the filter. The buckets of dirty filter water can be poured on the garden.
Filter materials should be cleaned at least once a month.

 

[Kazzaye]

ammonia is lesser than .25 but not zero. The tank is white cloudy

 

[seangee]

Be aware that clown loach are very sensitive to ammonia. 40ppm is on the high side for nitrates so could contribute to algae over time. Agree with what Colin said about gravel and filter cleaning. How often do you do water changes? Most people find that 50% once a week works well and should keep both ammonia and nitrates under control.

 

[Colin_T]

ammonia is lesser than .25 but not zero. The tank is white cloudy

white cloudy is bacteria.
reduce feeding and clean the tank

 

[Kazzaye]

I do a water change once a week . Filer pads are changed regularly. Admittedly I don't gravel clean as much as I could cos there's rocks in the aquarium. Substrate is covered with rocks, gravel and earth. I paid a truckload for this tank and have had nothing but trouble. It's an akva stabil. Has a drip system at back of tank. Filters aren't terrific. I find one side works better than the other. One filter pad can be quite dry the other is soaked. I also notice these days a layer of mud near the entrance to the filter pads. This never used to happen. I guess I will have to do a thorough gravel clean see what happens. This does not however happen with my other tanks which were half the price

 

[Colin_T]

I can't find much info on akvastabil aquariums showing their filter setup but if the water is cloudy and sections of the filter are dry then it is not really suitable for the fish in the tank. You might be better getting a second filter to use in conjunction with the current filter or post some pictures of the filter and we might be able to offer some ideas to improve its efficiency.

If there is rock, gravel and earth on the bottom of the tank it could be anaerobic, and any uneaten food could be getting caught under the rocks and causing the cloudy water.

If you don't need the rocks in the substrate, then remove them and the earth because they are not necessary.

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Filter materials should not be changed unless they start to fall apart. The materials hold beneficial bacteria that keep the water clean and help prevent the white cloudy water

 

[Kazzaye]

 

[Kazzaye]

It's about 9pm in Australia and I've taken this photo of the tank. You can probably see it is reasonably clear. This is the maddening part. It goes cloudy can last for days then it clears. It is however mostly cloudy. This morning I could not see the fish in it.
I've taken a photo of the filter system

 

[Kazzaye]

 

[Kazzaye]

I also have this wiz bang useless contraption which is an extra filter.

 

[Colin_T]

Looking at the picture of the filter, I assume the tank water flows into a chamber on the back and flows down over filter materials. Then it flows into the chamber next to it and then gets pumped back into the tank?

Basic trickle filter design that should work well. Have some white filter matting on the top so it traps course material. Then have some rectangular sponges under that.

Take the white filter matt out and hose it off every week or so, depending on how dirty it gets. The sponges can be taken out once a month (or more often) and washed out in a bucket of tank water until clean. Then washed in a second bucket of water before being put back in the tank.
If you get sediment build up in the filter compartment, use a syphon hose to suck the gunk out.

Don't replace filter materials, and if you don't have sponges in there, find some sponges for another brand of filter or find somewhere that sells the sponge and cut it to size.

 

[Kazzaye]

Thank you I will follow your advice. I have included photos of the filter pads. I'm cleaning the tank in the morning. You will notice one is saturated the other isn't. I'm not sure if this is part of the problem

 

[Kazzaye]

B

 

[seangee]

Not seen that particular one but do you have enough water in the tank? Or are there any vents into the first chamber (or between the chambers) that are blocked. In my trickle system the water level in the filter chamber is the same as in the tank.