cloudy water

[backagain]

I have a 100gl tank, am runnig UGF and two fluval 304 canister filters. My water paramaters are 0 amonia, 0 nitrite, high 80 nitrate, I do weekly water changes, generaly. The water in the tank is VERY cloudy, I cannot seem to get it to clear up. The LFS told me to "leave it alone" for one week. Didnt help. I checked both filters for clogs, nothing, cleaned them out and replaced sponges. I replace the charcoal 3 weeks ago, I didnt want to change everything at once. The tank is stocked with: 6 medium angel fish, 7 skirt tetras, 1 blue gourami, 1 plecto, 1 farlowella, 4 neon tetra, 1 clown loach, 2 corey cats, 1 upside down cat (small) 1 kuli loach, and 1 serpae tetra. Is my problem from overstocking? I would think with the two filters it would be enough to cover. The filters do seem to have a slow suction. Im not sure if it is normal or not for that type of filter. I do have a 50 gl tank cycling right now and am planning on moving most small fish and a pair of "breading?" angels into it. any advice or help to get this tank cleared up would really be appreciated. Oh it has been running for 10 months, and has been mostly cloudy since. It just keeps getting worse. HELP

 

[freddyk]

Is this a green or a white cloudy? Are you using a substrate that might be contributing? How long has the tank been set up? How long has it been cloudy?

WIthout other info, typical white cloudiness is caused by bacerial bloom and this will correct itself, though it might take more then a week. Feed lightly, do water changes, and don't clean the filters unless they really do need a cleaning in which case do so in a way that preserves bacteria.

 

[backagain]

Is this a green or a white cloudy? Are you using a substrate that might be contributing? How long has the tank been set up? How long has it been cloudy?

WIthout other info, typical white cloudiness is caused by bacerial bloom and this will correct itself, though it might take more then a week. Feed lightly, do water changes, and don't clean the filters unless they really do need a cleaning in which case do so in a way that preserves bacteria.

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the tank has been set up for 10 months as mentioned, it has had a cloudy appearance most of that time, (only about one month of clearness) most of this time i have changed about 25% of the water weekly. i feed enough that it is eaten within two minutes, usually less, twice a day. what do you mean by a substrate?

 

[freddyk]

what do you mean by a substrate?

Substrate is the gravel or sand on the bottom. Sand has gotten more popular and many types can be very cloudy.

Also, are you using any additives in the water besides conditioner? I wouldn't call your tank overstocked.

 

[backagain]

what do you mean by a substrate?

Substrate is the gravel or sand on the bottom. Sand has gotten more popular and many types can be very cloudy.

Also, are you using any additives in the water besides conditioner? I wouldn't call your tank overstocked.

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I have standard gravel in the tank. I have used stress coat, and salt (as a medicine). I did have a few live plants in the beginning, I removed them about 2 weeks ago, they were looking ragged. I thought they might be contributing to the cloudiness. I have 3 powerheads in the tank, connected to the uplifts on the UGF.
one of them shoots out a blast of debree occasionally. I shut them off last night. I dont understand why it would be doing that. I have had power heads before and never had that problem.
I wouldnt really call it a green cloudy, but if there is only the two, I would have the say green (maybe more of a brown or yellow tint) the gravel is a natural looking color yellows and browns(sorta like river rock)

I would really appreciate any Ideas I can get. And thank you for any input.

 

[xamdarb]

i have the same prob know clue why i would love for this to be solved

 

[OohFeeshy]

I checked both filters for clogs, nothing, cleaned them out and replaced sponges. I replace the charcoal 3 weeks ago, I didnt want to change everything at once. The tank is stocked with: 6 medium angel fish, 7 skirt tetras, 1 blue gourami, 1 plecto, 1 farlowella, 4 neon tetra, 1 clown loach, 2 corey cats, 1 upside down cat (small) 1 kuli loach, and 1 serpae tetra. Is my problem from overstocking?

[snapback]921329[/snapback]​

Did you cycle the sponges you put in? Or just shove them in? For stocking, i'd say your OK, but a lot of those need to be in groups and youonly have a few, eg, clown loaches, cories, UD cat, serpae and khuli.

 

[backagain]

I checked both filters for clogs, nothing, cleaned them out and replaced sponges. I replace the charcoal 3 weeks ago, I didnt want to change everything at once.  The tank is stocked with:  6 medium angel fish, 7 skirt tetras, 1 blue gourami, 1 plecto, 1 farlowella, 4 neon tetra, 1 clown loach, 2 corey cats, 1 upside down cat (small) 1 kuli loach, and 1 serpae tetra.  Is my problem from overstocking?

[snapback]921329[/snapback]​

Did you cycle the sponges you put in? Or just shove them in? For stocking, i'd say your OK, but a lot of those need to be in groups and youonly have a few, eg, clown loaches, cories, UD cat, serpae and khuli.

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I have well water, I washed the sponges in the water and just put them in. I also have charcoal, prefilter, and fluval biomax in the filter chambers(i didnot change anything else). we started with more of the cories, serpae, and neons, but they have died. how many clown loaches, and khulis would be considered a group? I do not want to over stock the tank. I am also leary about adding anything else until I know my filtering is adequate.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Mhm. You have likely gone into a mini-cycle. Definately since you changed the sponges. Luckily you have a UGF, so you won't have lost all the bacteria, but keep an eye on the water levels and do lots of water changes.

 

[backagain]

Mhm. You have likely gone into a mini-cycle. Definately since you changed the sponges. Luckily you have a UGF, so you won't have lost all the bacteria, but keep an eye on the water levels and do lots of water changes.

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ok,
so I tested the water today, it is still 0 amonia 0 nitrite 80 nitrate. I did turn on two of the 3 powerheads.
is there any other ideas out there? Even during cycling It wasnt as cloudy as it is now. water changes help clear it up some, but in two to three days it looks bad again. Suggestions?
Can anyone give me information about the Fluval? How well they really work, What is the best media to put into the baskets, etc. ? Our water is very hard here and I was considering some kind of peat. I have read the peat can actually discolor the water, so I am holding off, especially with the current cloud problem I am having. Is there a better way to soften the water?

 

[freddyk]

I guess shutting off the powerheads didn't help, but I think you would need to give it more time - running the powerheads reverse through the UGF could be endlessly disturbing the finer waste and forcing it into the water column. In truth I find this might be far fetched, but at this point in your position I'd try anything. I'm far from a fan of UGFs.

There are certainly better filters then the Fluval available, but it's not a bad filter. I've used them with success, but only in combination with another filter (usually Aquaclear). I set it up with filter floss in the bottom tray and bio-media in the other two. Is the pre-filter there for a reason?

Peat does discolor the water, and the harder the water is, the less affect it will have. If your PH is in the low 8's I would expect it to make little difference. Unless your PH is very high (approaching 9) I wouldn't worry much about it - fish do adjust to the PH to a certain degree, and most of the fish we buy from the stores have been bred and raised in neutral to alkaline tap water anyway.