Cloudy water - opinions please?

dmaccy · Sep 16, 2021

Hi, my aquarium is approx two months old and since set up has had a brown tint to the water. Initially thought it was from the wood and/or substrate, but is still present after two months. Be interested if others think thus could still be tannins or its something else? Algae, bacteria?

Ammonia = 0
Nitrites = 0
pH = 6.8
Temp = 24°
KH = 2.5 dkh
Phosphate (in case anyone was wondering) , PO4-P)= 0.25 mg/l
Size = 240l
Filter=internal Ciano bioflow xl with 2x bio bact and 2x cler and protect plus Coarse and normal sponges

Fish: 5x Black emperor tetra; 7x albino x-ray tetra; 4x cardinal tetra; 8x smudge spot corydoras; 4x venezuelan orange corydoras; 2x honey gourami.

Slaphppy7 · Sep 16, 2021

Looks like tannins, but hard to tell from the pic.

What kind of wood is in the tank? Was it boiled before placing in the tank?

dmaccy · Sep 16, 2021

There are 6 of these in there. Not entirely sure what they are though, the label said rosewood.
I did soak them but the water would only have been 30C tops .

Slaphppy7 · Sep 16, 2021

dmaccy said:
There are 6 of these in there. Not entirely sure what they are though, the label said rosewood.
I did soak them but the water would only have been 30C tops .

Hmmm...almost looks like mopani, to me...at any rate, I'm fairly certain the cloudiness is indeed tannins, which are beneficial for your fish...personally, I like that tinted look in aquariums, very natural looking

Myraan · Sep 16, 2021

I usually find tannins result in clear but coloured water, but I expect that might depend exactly how many tannins. Will free living algae last forever if the nutrients can't be used up on plants or surface living algae? I never test phosphate so I have no idea if 0.25 is excessive or not. Did you test nitrates? Have you tried simply doing several water changes to dilute the cloudiness out? If the water is clear but tinted, I wouldn't worry, sometimes it makes fish colours pop. Eventually the staining ability of wood wears out after weeks and weeks of normal water changing. In fact some people then add botanics, peat or even roobos tea or however you spell it to get the "blackwater" effect back.

dmaccy · Oct 10, 2021

Revisiting this to double check. Four photos of the tank now one month on.
General feeling this is still tanins?

Bruce Leyland-Jones · Oct 10, 2021

I can't tell...is this clearer than it was?

When I set my second tank up, with a predominantly sandy base, I had clear water for a while, but then it went cloudy. Turned out that my filter had been sucking sand 'dust' out of the water and had become a little on the clogged side. Cleaning the filter resolved this and it just repeated once more, before it settled down to clarity.

Cloudiness (if milky) would be a bacterial bloom, but that should've cleared up by now.
The other possibility is an algae...either brown diatomic or green. If you put some in a glass, you should be able to see what colour it it...it would also be particulate, ie be full of tiny particles. If it was still tannins, then the water should be brown, but still clear...like a good tea.

dmaccy · Oct 10, 2021

It's about the same, no better no worse

Bruce Leyland-Jones · Oct 10, 2021

dmaccy said:
It's about the same, no better no worse

So what does it look like in a glass, held up to a light?

dmaccy · Oct 11, 2021

Water up to the light looks clear!

Bruce Leyland-Jones · Oct 11, 2021

dmaccy said:
Water up to the light looks clear!

Wow!
Are you sure it's the water that's cloudy and that you haven't just got mucky glass?

dmaccy · Oct 11, 2021

Haha, it's not the glass (I don't think, unless there is something in the glass from manufacture).
I also made a point of collecting the water from different parts of the tank in case there was dead spots...

It's clear from the front view too. The photos that show it are from the side