Cloudy Water Due To Chemicals?

[The Alchemist]

Hello all,

I have had 2 different tanks over the past year. Always the water is always cloudy. Im wondering if Im just feeding them too much or if the chemicals I add into the tank are causeing this.

Everytime I do a water change I always add aquarium salt to the water and also the water conditioner. Once a week I add bactira supplaments. Now My water is not toxic at all. Ph is 6.5, there is no n02 and no3 is minimal. Im not suffering fish loss or anything or the like.

Just a cloudt tank. Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[drobbyb]

Are you changing the filter inserts regularly?

 

[The Alchemist]

No i leave the filter alone and rinse it off with tank water. I dont believe that to be the case. I used to change filter catridges once a monthbut founs out that its better to leave the filter in thevtank due to the baterias on it

 

[drobbyb]

When you do water changes, do you vacuum the gravel? How much or how often do you feed? Is the cloudiness green or white?

 

[Aqua Tom]

When you do water changes, do you vacuum the gravel? How much or how often do you feed? Is the cloudiness green or white?

+1 white or green? My moneys on green.


Tom

 

[Sly13Cat]

It's the bacteria supplements. If the tank's mature enough the extra bacteria you add have nowhere to live and floats in the water therefore making it cloudy. So try to stop adding the supplement for a week or 2 and see if it helps.

 

[sadguppy]

It's the bacteria supplements. If the tank's mature enough the extra bacteria you add have nowhere to live and floats in the water therefore making it cloudy. So try to stop adding the supplement for a week or 2 and see if it helps.

No where to live???

 

[Sly13Cat]

Yes. As in what happens in a new tank when there's too many bacteria and a Bacterial Bloom is caused.

 

[drobbyb]

Ok, bacterial blooms are caused by heterotrophic bacteria taking advantage of organic material present in the tank's water. These bacteria were previously hindered by the chlorine/chloramine. The water authorities call this "turbidity". Now that the chlorine/chloramine is removed/neutralized these bacteria are free to multiply and use up the free organic material. Given enough time they will eventually use it up and in most circumstances the cloudiness will clear up on it's own. But if overfeeding is contributing to additional free organic material in the water column, then the white hazy cloudiness will continue.

You can try doing a large water change (80%) with a thorough gravel vacuum and feeding your fish every other day for 2 weeks (don't worry your fish will do just fine, fish can go for 2 weeks without food and survive) and see of the cloudiness improves.

Another possible source of the cloudiness could be particulate matter from the gravel/substrate. if you have coral sand or aragonite sand this can cause milky water until the filter is able to remove the particulate matter from the water and the particulate matter settles.

 

[The Alchemist]

I do a few water changes a week now adays since I got a bigger tank.

I always feed A little more than I probally should. I like to see the fish eat twice a day. So if I see a fish who doesnt eat I always leave a little more around their area.

The color cloud is white not green. If it was alge, It would be easy.

So pretty much any left over organic material in the tank allows for the bacteria to bloom? My gravel is clean.

So it seems like its a mixture of the chemicals and the food. Is it a good practice to use tap water conditioner?

 

[drobbyb]

You want to use the water conditioner. Over feeding can definitely cause cloudy water. Fish need very little food. They are cold blooded, not warm blooded like we are. I know they look like they are always begging for food, but in reality they need less then they appear to. The fish food tin says to feed twice a day, but they want you to buy more food than you need. In the wild it is rare for fish to eat every day hence the ravenous behavior we observe in the aquarium environment. They are opportunistic feeders taking advantage of every opportunity to feed. Also feeding too much at once, say one large pinch of food, and the fish miss quite a bit letting some settle on the bottom and some getting sucked unto the filter to rot and decay inside the filter. This gives those bacteria a perfect environment to thrive and make your water cloudy. It is far better to pinch a little and watch to see if it all gets eaten, then pinch a little more. Feeding like this is the proper way to feed than to scatter a lot of food in one go. It also will give you a sense of how much food your fish actually need. Only feed them what they will eat in 1 to 2 minutes. They really need only as much food as the size of their eye. That's it