Cloudy Tank

[Allan87]

I've tried shrouding the tank in darkness for 72h to little success, any ideas?

 

[phoenix2081]

A little details about the tank would be useful?

Is it fully cycled? (That is the main one)

What is the question? You want the cloudiness to be gone?

 

[Allan87]

A little details about the tank would be useful?

Is it fully cycled? (That is the main one)

What is the question? You want the cloudiness to be gone?

It's been setup for a year or so, I would like to have the water crystal clear ideally, as close to that as possible otherwise.

 

[creeker]

Was it clear before? Did you treat with antibiotic? Change the filter media lately? Is something possibly dead and hidden? Any smell to the water? What are your tank parameters, specifically ammonia reading? In my experience, darkness only works for green algae cloud, which this is not.

 

[OldMan47]

A cloudy tank is often the result of green water algae. If that is your problem, the water will have a slight greenish tinge to it. If that is what you are dealing with, water changes will only have an effect that lasts a day or two. OK so where to next? I think in terms of biological controls when I can. That means that I can readily control green water by using something that eats green water algae. My favorite for that is daphnia. Daphnia are at their best when they get to fed on green water algae. They are also treated as food by most fish so I must protect them from fish. Where I end up is introducing a culture of green water eating daphnia that I protect from the fish by putting them in a breeding box like many people use for livebearers.

 

[Allan87]

Was it clear before? Did you treat with antibiotic? Change the filter media lately? Is something possibly dead and hidden? Any smell to the water? What are your tank parameters, specifically ammonia reading? In my experience, darkness only works for green algae cloud, which this is not.

Yes it was clear before, something has clearly changed but I haven't touched the setup for months so am clueless as to what is causing it. I have not used antibiotics but the filter has a UV element which is 'meant' to kill bacteria. Ammonia reading is in the safe zone on my indicator.

A cloudy tank is often the result of green water algae. If that is your problem, the water will have a slight greenish tinge to it. If that is what you are dealing with, water changes will only have an effect that lasts a day or two. OK so where to next? I think in terms of biological controls when I can. That means that I can readily control green water by using something that eats green water algae. My favorite for that is daphnia. Daphnia are at their best when they get to fed on green water algae. They are also treated as food by most fish so I must protect them from fish. Where I end up is introducing a culture of green water eating daphnia that I protect from the fish by putting them in a breeding box like many people use for livebearers.

I have what I thought were algae eaters; plec, Malaysian trumpet snails, cherry shrimp and Singapore shrimp. Is this not enough?

 

[Gilli]

Clearly something has caused it - either decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten, insufficient filtration or too many fish in the tank can cause the milky water seen in a bacterial bloom which is what this is. Green water can occur in tanks with strong lights or excessively leaving the lights on, or after too large water changes or the use of chemicals that affects the bio filtration of the tank.

The problem happens when the aquarium’s nitrogen cycle is weak or unstable and when the filter alone is not enough to process all the waste. Assuming that you have not been cleaning your filter out with tap water and have been adding dechlorinator when you do your water changes then it must be one of the above. It will clear itself in time - just be patient and dont be tempted to use chemicals to get rid of it.

 

[Allan87]

Clearly something has caused it - either decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten, insufficient filtration or too many fish in the tank can cause the milky water seen in a bacterial bloom which is what this is. Green water can occur in tanks with strong lights or excessively leaving the lights on, or after too large water changes or the use of chemicals that affects the bio filtration of the tank.

The problem happens when the aquarium’s nitrogen cycle is weak or unstable and when the filter alone is not enough to process all the waste. Assuming that you have not been cleaning your filter out with tap water and have been adding dechlorinator when you do your water changes then it must be one of the above. It will clear itself in time - just be patient and dont be tempted to use chemicals to get rid of it.

Thanks for your suggestions, the snails devour any dead plant leaves pretty quickly and feeding is minimum and all gone pretty quickly. The tank is not filtered in that it does not have a sponge/carbon filter, the filter is just a UV one that irradiates the water it takes in. I have not used a filter as it's a planted tank but as I said the setup is over a year old and it is only recently this problem has arose. There are not many fish in there either for a 180L tank, 3 dwarf gouramis, a plec, 3 tetras and a red tailed shark. The shrimp/snails breed like rabbits though so they may be causing it?

 

[Aqua Tom]

Clearly something has caused it - either decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten, insufficient filtration or too many fish in the tank can cause the milky water seen in a bacterial bloom which is what this is. Green water can occur in tanks with strong lights or excessively leaving the lights on, or after too large water changes or the use of chemicals that affects the bio filtration of the tank.

The problem happens when the aquarium’s nitrogen cycle is weak or unstable and when the filter alone is not enough to process all the waste. Assuming that you have not been cleaning your filter out with tap water and have been adding dechlorinator when you do your water changes then it must be one of the above. It will clear itself in time - just be patient and dont be tempted to use chemicals to get rid of it.

Thanks for your suggestions, the snails devour any dead plant leaves pretty quickly and feeding is minimum and all gone pretty quickly. The tank is not filtered in that it does not have a sponge/carbon filter, the filter is just a UV one that irradiates the water it takes in. I have not used a filter as it's a planted tank but as I said the setup is over a year old and it is only recently this problem has arose. There are not many fish in there either for a 180L tank, 3 dwarf gouramis, a plec, 3 tetras and a red tailed shark. The shrimp/snails breed like rabbits though so they may be causing it?

What are your water perameter readings, I mean numbers not "fine" as is the usual response.

Tom

 

[Allan87]

Clearly something has caused it - either decaying plants or excess food that remains uneaten, insufficient filtration or too many fish in the tank can cause the milky water seen in a bacterial bloom which is what this is. Green water can occur in tanks with strong lights or excessively leaving the lights on, or after too large water changes or the use of chemicals that affects the bio filtration of the tank.

The problem happens when the aquarium’s nitrogen cycle is weak or unstable and when the filter alone is not enough to process all the waste. Assuming that you have not been cleaning your filter out with tap water and have been adding dechlorinator when you do your water changes then it must be one of the above. It will clear itself in time - just be patient and dont be tempted to use chemicals to get rid of it.

Thanks for your suggestions, the snails devour any dead plant leaves pretty quickly and feeding is minimum and all gone pretty quickly. The tank is not filtered in that it does not have a sponge/carbon filter, the filter is just a UV one that irradiates the water it takes in. I have not used a filter as it's a planted tank but as I said the setup is over a year old and it is only recently this problem has arose. There are not many fish in there either for a 180L tank, 3 dwarf gouramis, a plec, 3 tetras and a red tailed shark. The shrimp/snails breed like rabbits though so they may be causing it?

What are your water perameter readings, I mean numbers not "fine" as is the usual response.

Tom

I don't have numbers, my indicator is a colour chart from yellow to red, with yellow reading 'fine' as I said.

 

[Aqua Tom]

I don't have numbers, my indicator is a colour chart from yellow to red, with yellow reading 'fine' as I said.

When did you say that? I am just trying to help. "Fine" means nothing, when I asked for numbers I meant parts per million, ppm. What kind of test kit are you using, that doent give you ppm readings?

Tom

 

[Allan87]

When did you say that?

Ammonia reading is in the safe zone on my indicator.

I am just trying to help. "Fine" means nothing, when I asked for numbers I meant parts per million, ppm. What kind of test kit are you using, that doent give you ppm readings?

Tom

I didn't mean it harshly, apologies if the sentiment read that way. I do not have a test that reads ppm just one of these;

 

[Aqua Tom]

I didn't mean it harshly, apologies if the sentiment read that way. I do not have a test that reads ppm just one of these;

You realy need to invest in a Liquid Reagent Test kit. Not a lot of money & very accurate, this will give you those readings I was talking about. I dont trust those alert thingies. Any amount of ammonia is Toxic to fish, so how it goes from safe to alert to alarm then toxic is anybodys guess.

Tom