Getting my water clear...

[abe]

I posted about this before, but now I'm really confused & don't know what to do so here we go again, hehe.

Ok, my tank is almost 6 months old I believe. It has always been a tad cloudy, but then again I was running a Tetra 10 filter on it so I figured that was the cause. So I went on vacation for a week, and my mom didn't read my fish instructions clearly (or at all, who knows) & left the light on all week. I returned to find that I could barely see my fish. Did many water changes & realized I had an algae bloom on my hands.

I know this is a big no no, but IME I haven't had any trouble w/ this in the past. I drained the thing, upgraded to an Aquaclear 150 filter, and am now feeding my fish twice a day, and still doing gravel vacs/water changes once a week.

The water was crystal clear for 3-5 days, now its cloudy again after about 3 water changes. It looks like it did before I also bought that water clearing solution, but it hasnt worked either.

I read somewhere that hard water can be cloudy? Is this true? Because I think I remember the lady at the pet store saying my water was hard... If so, what is the best way to fix this problem? Does anyone else have any other ideas?

 

[Vip]

you know what it might, your filter needs a good cleaning, if your tank was cloudy and you put the filter in and it cleaned it up then it might mean that the filter is dirty and needs to be cleaned, i know its happend with about 5 or so with my filters before.

 

[abe]

The aquaclear is brand new, but I do know what you mean. I took a small break from fish keeping before & wow was my filter dirty! I figured out why it wasnt sucking up as much water as it had been though, heh.

 

[Vip]

how long ago did you clean it? or are you doing it now?

 

[abe]

that was a while ago, but the one i'm using right now is brand new.

 

[Vip]

heh, i know what ya mean dude my brand new canister filter had to be changed after 2 days because it cleaned my tank much better than what my other filters would.

 

[Danno]

If you have fake plants, they might be harvesting bacteria and every time you change your water it blooms. try putting them in a bath of 5 gallons water and 1 tablespoon of Bleech. Then por boiling hot hater over them 3 times. If takes the bacteria and algie off of them.