Cloudy Water?

[Man of fish]

Sorry I've had a lot of questions this week lol.

Ever since I added fluval biomax ceramic rings to use as media my 29 gallon tank has gotten a little cloudy. I do weekly water changes and gravel vac of about 25% of the water and then once a month I do a 40-50% change and vac. What could be causing this? I added the biomax rings to my ten gallon and it's not cloudy? I don't really want to use chemicals to clear it but it is a little annoying. It may be a bacterial bloom, but what could have caused it and how do I fix it. The tank has been running for almost 6 months now. 6 months January 15th or so.

 

[Man of fish]

Oh and I added them at the end of November/ beginning of December if it makes any difference.

 

[micko]

Did you remove the old media completely or add to the media with the rings?

 

[Man of fish]

I added the rings with the old media.

 

[micko]

Ok, few more questions.
How do you clean your filter?
What does the "cloudy water" look like? Is it just in a single area of the tank or is it all over? How bad is it? Can you see the back of the tank?
Added anything new to the tank?
Water stats?

 

[Man of fish]

To clean I release motor from aqueon pf 29 take off intake tube take out impeller and rinse in old aquarium water. Once every 2 months.
It just has more particles than usual.
It's in all but the bottom 8th of the tank.
Yes I can see the back.
Only live plants 3-4 weeks ago.
Stats-
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Ph-6.8-6.9
Nitrate-4

For the particles it's like their is salt grain floating around (there's not just to say that lol)

 

[Man of fish]

?

 

[Prime Ordeal]

If the cloudiness doesn't cover the bottom of the tank it could be that your new biomax media is introducing microbubbles into the flow. You can turn your filter off for ten minutes or so and watch the cloud, if it clears from the bottom then it's microbubbles. Your description of the cloud as salt grains doesn't sound like that though so perhaps the biomax itself is introducing the cloud, easy to find out, remove the biomax.

 

[Man of fish]

What confuses me is my ten gal isn't cloudy.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

But does your 10gal use the same sort of filter? It depends upon the flow rate and how you distribute the media in the filter and how the filter inlet and outlet are positioned. Do a glass test. Fill a large clear glass/container with the cloudy tank water and watch what happens to the cloud (it could take a while). It'll either clear from the bottom upwards (microbubbles), or it'll settle to the bottom (debris or a precipitate) or it'll basically stay the same (bacterial bloom).

 

[Man of fish]

I turned off the filter for abut 15-20 minutes, and the cloud stayed the same. If it is a bacterial bloom how do I fix it? The filters are the same brand, same media, but ones a pf30 and the other a pf10.

 

[Man of fish]

Looks like bacterial bloom in glass test.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

If it's a bacterial bloom just make sure you have very good aeration, i.e. make sure your filter outlet is disturbing the surface a lot (the bacteria use up a lot of oxygen), and make sure your tank is clean as the bloom is caused by them feeding off organic material (left over food etc.). I have to say though that if it is a bloom it will always cover the whole volume of the tank so if you say the bottom is clear it doesn't sound like bacterial bloom. Leave the glass for a good while longer to see what happens.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

Forgot to say that your description of 'grains of salt' doesn't match with a bacterial bloom either, more likely a precipitate or debris. You need to give the glass test at least an hour.

 

[Man of fish]

Ok could I use a "fluval water polishing pad" to see if it helps clear the water?