Frustrated with cloudy tank

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

Rookiefish

New Member
Joined
Jun 9, 2019
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
my water has been cloudy for over a month.. at first it had a green hint to it so I setup the green killing machine for almost a week.. green hint was gone but cloudyness remained.. I’ve done 20% water changes weekly during this time but no improvement . Gave in and purchased seachem clarity and it worked amazingly ...for about 2 days and now back to cloudy.. I changed filter floss a few times as I have used clarity a few times ...
about the tank—
25 gallon
Ph 7.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5

Stocked
1 plant
2 Buenos Aires tetra
2 cherry barb
1 clown pleco
 
Your Nitrate is really high. How long has that been like that?

Any chance of a picture of the tank? (If your screen says, “File to large to upload”, then set your cameras resolution to the lowest setting possible, then take the picture.)

It could also be because of any algae bloom in your tank. How long do you leave your lights on in a day? :)
 
Post a picture of the tank.

How long are the tank lights on for?
What food do you feed the fish and how often/ much do you feed?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What substrate do you have?

Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate each day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
 
I would agree with Colin that you need to do larger water changes - like 75%. as well as follow his other suggestions. . I have the same problem with one of my tanks but in my case it's because I believe it's overstocked (I don't have too many fish but the fish grew far larger than was listed on the website - now I would consider it "overstocked") . I've purchased another tank and am waiting for it to finish cycling so I can add some of the fish from my cloudy tank . In your case it doesn't sound like your tank is overstocked so I think you just need to do larger water changes along with gravel cleaning. Make sure you are not overfeeding - you don't have a lot of fish so they don't need huge amounts of food. Excess food can cause the cloudy water - as I've found out by experience. Continue to use Clarify about every 3 days assuming the tank starts getting cloudy again. As far as high Nitrates - to me that just means the tank is dirty and, again you can solve that by doing larger water changes and especially removing any excess food and waste - so again, higher amounts of water changes should help you lower the Nitrates significantly. Any it should also reduce the amount of cloudiness in the tank. If it doesn't then post back and we can see what other possibilities there are for causing the cloudiness.
 
Your nitrate readings are just fine. 5 is absolutely ideal for an aquarium, 10 -15 on the max side.

Sounds like you are either feeding too much, not changing filter floss often enough, or exposing the tank to too much light.

I'd avoid using chemicals if possible. You really don't need any of that stuff.

I too would heavily recommend a 75% or more water change weekly. I think things would go much better for you with that alone.

Colin has asked some good questions that would help when answered.
 
I concur with other members on the need for much larger weekly water changes (not just to solve this but permanently for the health of the fish and to prevent these issues), and we need the requested data.

As for the Clarity, do NOT use this with fish in the tank. Clarifiers work by binding microscopic particulate matter into larger particles that can then more readily be trapped by the filter, at least that is the idea behind them. Problem is, they do this to fish gills. Never use any chemical/additive method to fix issues (other than some disease issues) with fish in the tank.
 
Post a picture of the tank.

How long are the tank lights on for?
What food do you feed the fish and how often/ much do you feed?
What sort of filter do you have?
How often and how do you clean the filter?
What substrate do you have?

Try doing a 75% water change and gravel cleaning the substrate each day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.
 
I have a FluvalSmart 206
I have been changing the filter floss every week
My filter maintenance is normally every 6-8 weeks just ringing out the medium,coarse, and biofoam and rinsing in bucket of tank water... a
I vacuum gravel every water change
I feed spiralina flakes daily in tiny amounts..
I have in the past fed frozen bloodworms but haven’t in a while.
Tank has fluval Aquasky light on for 8hrs a day
Gravel substrate..
 
Your Nitrate is really high. How long has that been like that?

Any chance of a picture of the tank? (If your screen says, “File to large to upload”, then set your cameras resolution to the lowest setting possible, then take the picture.)

It could also be because of any algae bloom in your tank. How long do you leave your lights on in a day? :)
I always thought below 10ppm was ideal ? Am I striving for 0?
 
I always thought below 10ppm was ideal ? Am I striving for 0?
You are right. Since nitrate is the byproduct of the cycle, you will always have some nitrates. Nitrates are removed by water change or plants.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 
I have a FluvalSmart 206
I have been changing the filter floss every week
My filter maintenance is normally every 6-8 weeks just ringing out the medium,coarse, and biofoam and rinsing in bucket of tank water... a
I vacuum gravel every water change
I feed spiralina flakes daily in tiny amounts..
I have in the past fed frozen bloodworms but haven’t in a while.
Tank has fluval Aquasky light on for 8hrs a day
Gravel substrate..
This all sounds just fine and is very similar to what I do.

Try bigger water changes and see how things go.

Is your tank exposed to any natural sunlight?

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for the help.. I have done a few 75% water changes and my tank is crystal clear last few days. I also think the way I had been gravel vacuuming in the past could have been an issue.. I was going all the way to the bottom of the gravel and lately I have just been gently vacuuming the top 1/3 of gravel.
 
Just wanted to thank everyone for the help.. I have done a few 75% water changes and my tank is crystal clear last few days. I also think the way I had been gravel vacuuming in the past could have been an issue.. I was going all the way to the bottom of the gravel and lately I have just been gently vacuuming the top 1/3 of gravel.
I always go all the way down into the gravel. Glad to hear things are going well.

Sent from my VS995 using Tapatalk
 
Your Nitrate is really high. How long has that been like that?

Any chance of a picture of the tank? (If your screen says, “File to large to upload”, then set your cameras resolution to the lowest setting possible, then take the picture.)

It could also be because of any algae bloom in your tank. How long do you leave your lights on in a day? :)
Put your glasses on, Pheonix. His nitrate is perfectly fine. :)
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top