Persistent Cloudy Water

[Elaine Hill]

I have a 3ft tank which was set up just under a year ago. It is well planted and the residents are 4 corydoras, 2 bristlenose plecs, 3 platys, 1 golden gourami and 5 harlequin rasboras. The fish were introduced slowly after the tank was cycled (1 - 2 fish per fortnight). I change 20% of the water each week and clean one of the filter sponges each time in the tank water. The tank is not in direct sunlight.

About 12 weeks after the first fish were introduced the water started to become cloudy. This is a greenish cloudiness and the suspended particles in the water are clearly visible.This gradually got worse. I have treated it using flucculants but it clears for about a day and then returns to its cloudy state. I also got really bad hair algae in the tank which refused to budge even with algae treatment so in the end I changed the plants. For a short while I did get the water clear (about 3 weeks in August/September) through daily 10% water changes over about a week plus putting a filter media into the filter which removes the nutrients on which algae feed - my local aquatics dealer believes the problem is suspended algae. However, I once again started getting algae on the plants and removed the filter media in order to administer the algae treatment, according to the manufacturer's directions. Within 2 days the water started to cloud so I went back to using the nutrient removing filter media.

For the last 4 weeks now the water has been getting increasingly cloudy and flocculant works only for 24 hours (and even then it does not totally clear the water). I am back to trying 10% daily water changes but I appear to be getting nowhere.

The water test results are currently: pH 7.0, ammonia zero, Nitrite < 0.3 mg/l. The fish are not being over-fed (the food is consumed very quickly), I am not over-feeding the plants (at present I have stopped - not sure if this is a good idea) and the lights are on for 10 hours per day (I tried reducing this at one pointbut simply upset the plants). The tank is kept at 23 degrees C.

It may or may not be relevant to the cloudiness but I had a problem early on with hydrogen sulphide in one area of the gravel, so the fish etc. were moved out, the tank thoroughly cleaned then eveything (including the water) was put back, along with fresh gravel.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to deal with the problem I would welcome them as I am at my wits end with it. I have kept cold water fish for years and never had problems.The aquatics dealer is equally at a loss and the fish are obviously being aggravated by the water as they are flicking - they didn't when it was clear and clearing.

Many thanks,

Elaine Hill

 

[WILDER]

http/www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_algae.php

Notice you have a nitrite reading there it should be 0, do you have a nitrate reading, i wondering if your filter is up to the job, what type is it and how many gallons does it turn over an hour.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Don't feed the plants. It could be partly to do with nitrAtes. If there is a high reading the algea will flourish on it. Another thing to try is to put activated carbon in the filter for a fortnight. I found, with a cloudiness issue I had recently that it cleared it up. I also added a larger internal filter to replace the smaller internal I had running in there alongside my very large trickle filter as I found it wasn't efficient enough with my catfish.
Is it a deep tank? I'm guessing unlikely with it being a 3ft but I could be wrong. If not then no addatives for the plants should be needed. My 3ft tank has a single strip light in it on for 12 hours and the plants are mental in there. Never added any extras at all. Also the plants you are trying to grow may not be suitable for some reason.
But yeah, try the carbon. Worked for me.
Hugs,
P.
Edit:Wilder I think she said that because most tests don't say 0 they say less than .3 or <0.3. It's the lowest reading possible.

 

[Elaine Hill]

Don't feed the plants. It could be partly to do with nitrAtes. If there is a high reading the algea will flourish on it. Another thing to try is to put activated carbon in the filter for a fortnight. I found, with a cloudiness issue I had recently that it cleared it up. I also added a larger internal filter to replace the smaller internal I had running in there alongside my very large trickle filter as I found it wasn't efficient enough with my catfish.
Is it a deep tank? I'm guessing unlikely with it being a 3ft but I could be wrong. If not then no addatives for the plants should be needed. My 3ft tank has a single strip light in it on for 12 hours and the plants are mental in there. Never added any extras at all. Also the plants you are trying to grow may not be suitable for some reason.
But yeah, try the carbon. Worked for me.
Hugs,
P.
Edit:Wilder I think she said that because most tests don't say 0 they say less than .3 or <0.3. It's the lowest reading possible.

Thanks for the responses. I shall respond to some of the points raised.

1. Re. the nitrite reading the reason I gave it as < 0.3 mg/l is indeed because of the way the test kit states things - essentially the reading is zero.

2. Re. the activated carbon - I had that in the filter all along until I swapped it for the algae stopping granules. I had to remove it as there isn't room for both and the cloudy water problem did develop when I had activated carbon in place.

3. Re second filters - I am currently running two and have been for a while. The main filter (Eheim Aquaball) has a capacity well within the volume of my tank. I have 3 filter sponges, the granules to remove the algae nutrients and bilogical media in this filter. In the second filter I have fine filter wool and the algae stopping granules. I seem to be getting a lot of sludge and fine particles in both, especially if I use flocculant. The tank seems to collect a lot of fine debris in general.

4. The dimensions of the tank are 36" X 12" X 18" high

Most of the plants are thriving but a couple are starting to look a bit yellowed in places. Whether this is because they are not getting fed at the moment I don't know. If I do have a continuous excess of nutrients in the water, even without adding plant food, it would be interesting to know where they are coming from as I am not in agricultural area where fertilizer could be a problem in the water supply and the water is pretty local.

Things are still green and cloudy this morning and the fish are giving me disgusted looks!

Cheers,

Elaine Hill

Don't feed the plants. It could be partly to do with nitrAtes. If there is a high reading the algea will flourish on it. Another thing to try is to put activated carbon in the filter for a fortnight. I found, with a cloudiness issue I had recently that it cleared it up. I also added a larger internal filter to replace the smaller internal I had running in there alongside my very large trickle filter as I found it wasn't efficient enough with my catfish.
Is it a deep tank? I'm guessing unlikely with it being a 3ft but I could be wrong. If not then no addatives for the plants should be needed. My 3ft tank has a single strip light in it on for 12 hours and the plants are mental in there. Never added any extras at all. Also the plants you are trying to grow may not be suitable for some reason.
But yeah, try the carbon. Worked for me.
Hugs,
P.
Edit:Wilder I think she said that because most tests don't say 0 they say less than .3 or <0.3. It's the lowest reading possible.

Thanks for the responses. I shall respond to some of the points raised.

1. Re. the nitrite reading the reason I gave it as < 0.3 mg/l is indeed because of the way the test kit states things - essentially the reading is zero.

2. Re. the activated carbon - I had that in the filter all along until I swapped it for the algae stopping granules. I had to remove it as there isn't room for both and the cloudy water problem did develop when I had activated carbon in place.

3. Re second filters - I am currently running two and have been for a while. The main filter (Eheim Aquaball) has a capacity well within the volume of my tank. I have 3 filter sponges, the granules to remove the algae nutrients and bilogical media in this filter. In the second filter I have fine filter wool and the algae stopping granules. I seem to be getting a lot of sludge and fine particles in both, especially if I use flocculant. The tank seems to collect a lot of fine debris in general.

4. The dimensions of the tank are 36" X 12" X 18" high

Most of the plants are thriving but a couple are starting to look a bit yellowed in places. Whether this is because they are not getting fed at the moment I don't know. If I do have a continuous excess of nutrients in the water, even without adding plant food, it would be interesting to know where they are coming from as I am not in agricultural area where fertilizer could be a problem in the water supply and the water is pretty local.

Things are still green and cloudy this morning and the fish are giving me disgusted looks!

Cheers,

Elaine Hill

 

[yvez9]

i'm curious

what exactly are these algea stopping granules? sounds either like a gimick or some sort of phosphate absorber, which might or might not be necessary in your case...

 

[Elaine Hill]

The algae rstopping granules are a mixture of baked clay and resins designed to removed some of the nutrients which the algae are feeding on. Whether it was pure coincidence or not I don't know but they seemed to work with the original bout of cloudy water. Since my last posting the water has cleared again having put in a bigger second filter along with the granules. Again, whether the thing which has done the trick is the filter rather than the granules I'm not sure - maybe my main filter isn't really sufficient for the size of the tank, despite the technical information.

Hopefully the water will now stay clear! The fish are looking a lot happier too.Thanks to all who responded to the query.