Cloudy water

[Morganna]

Hey y'all. Sorry that my problem couldn't be a little bit more interesting.
Anyways, it's a 10 gallon shrimp tank. Other than dechlorinator, I don't add anything to this tank. Filtered with a sponge filter, heated, and hugger light. Lights on for 12 hours ( I know), but fairly dim. The setting for the light only gives me a few hour options, so I went with 12.
Heavily planted with crypts, java ferns, rotala, salvinia minima, and Christmas moss. Scaped with pool filter sand, some maple wood, and a few IA leaves. I have a little cyanobacteria, but I don't think it's the culprit for the cloudiness.
All of my parameters are good, no nitrate, nitrite, or ammonia. I make sure to siphon the sand during cleaning, and the tank has been cycled for well over 6 months.
Any thoughts on the cause and a solution would be much appreciated.

FYI, the tank isn't as yellow as the pic makes it look.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Looks like algae bloom = too much light

Try cutting back to a photoperiod of 6 hours a day...manually turn the light on and off, if you have to

Do this for a week, see if it improves

 

[10 Tanks]

Hey y'all. Sorry that my problem couldn't be a little bit more interesting.
Anyways, it's a 10 gallon shrimp tank. Other than dechlorinator, I don't add anything to this tank. Filtered with a sponge filter, heated, and hugger light. Lights on for 12 hours ( I know), but fairly dim. The setting for the light only gives me a few hour options, so I went with 12.
Heavily planted with crypts, java ferns, rotala, salvinia minima, and Christmas moss. Scaped with pool filter sand, some maple wood, and a few IA leaves. I have a little cyanobacteria, but I don't think it's the culprit for the cloudiness.
All of my parameters are good, no nitrate, nitrite, or ammonia. I make sure to siphon the sand during cleaning, and the tank has been cycled for well over 6 months.
Any thoughts on the cause and a solution would be much appreciated.
View attachment 310076
FYI, the tank isn't as yellow as the pic makes it look.

Hello Morganna. In my humble opinion, this can be cleared up with a more frequent water change routine. You could add a small filter that hangs on the back of the tank. AquaClear has a good product. The added filtration should help remove the floating particles that can make the water a bit hazy.

10 Tanks

 

[Morganna]

10 tanks,
I would normally agree, except that I have been doing more water changes. Also, I don't want an HOB because of the risk of sucking up my shrimplets. (The tank is also positioned in such a way that actually filtration would be a hassle). Thank you for sharing your opinion though.
If limited light for a few weeks doesn't work, I might try a new bigger sponge filter that allows for an air stone.

 

[Byron]

Cloudiness can be caused by several things. If it is due to microscopic particulate in the tank water or tap water coming in, then fine filtration like a sponge/foam is indeed the best remedy. But that does not seem to be the issue here. That leaves a bacterial bloom, organics bloom, diatom bloom [nothing to do with diatoms the brown algae per say) or an algae bloom. The latter is also called green water due to the appearance (the others are all whitish), and I think that is what we have here. Water changes may or may not help, and extra filtration not likely to at all.

I agree on the lighting aspect, but this is only part of the story. Green water needs two things, light and nutrients/organics. The light may or may not be the primary factor. The mention of also having/had cyanobacteria is telling, because this without question is caused by high organics in the presence of light. What this tells us is that the light may need to be reduced, but there would seem to be a lot of organics/nutrients, and these must be lowered.