Water Clarity Problems

[Aeropars]

Hello Guys,

Can anyone give me any help on my water clarity problems?

I have a Rio 180 and its now pretty heavily planted. The problem started when I added plants and I have a murky looking water. A friend has a similar tank but his water is crystal clear!

I have done the following to combat the problem:
Added a clearwater sack for algae control
Added 2 external filters loaded with floss to remove particles (as well as the internal juwel filter)
50% water change and gravel vac to remove substrate mess.

I did have an algae outbreak a few weeks ago and have since changed my lighting schedule to being on for 8 hours a day.

Can anyone give me an idea of alything else I could do or what the problem might be?

 

[glolite]

How long have the external filters been running for? I'd be a bit careful about testing for ammonia/nitrites as lots of new filter floss may remove beneficial bacteria. Personally, I'd do 10% water changes every other day, gravel vac once a week and add melafix for a few days, as this seems to help my water clarity. I'm not sure but I think melafix can also help with some algae problems.
Were the new plants in pots as sometimes the medium they are planted in can cloud the water, but it's nothing to worry about.

 

[Aeropars]

It was done gradually with the filters so it shouldnt be a problem.
Yes, plants were potted and the floss they were rooted to has now been removed. I hadnt thought about that so i'll see how things improve.

 

[Bignose]

Please do not add medications like Melafix on a whim or a hope that it will work. Melafix is for mild bacterial infections of your fish. NOT algae. There is one kind of algae, blue-green algae that is also called cyanobacteria, that is really an bacteria, but all the others will be completely unaffected by an antibacterial medicine.

Then, if you add Melafix antibacterial medicine, all you end up doing is culturing Melafix-resistant bacteria in your tank. That is, you begin selectively breeding baceria strains that are resistant to the medicine. Then, if you should happen to need the medicine -- guess what! I won't work since the bacteria in your tank are resistant to the medicine.

It is on a small scale in just your tank, but consider as an example, the ultra drug-resistant strain of staph that is out there today. Staph infections used to be minor, but these days many people die of this infection because they contract a strain that does not respond to any medicines today.

So, stepping off the soapbox now, please do not use any medication on a whim unless you are sure that it will treat the disease you have diagnosed.

glotie may have had success with Melafix because the cloudiness was a bacterial bloom of the beneficial bacteria and the inert bacteria. This is natural, especially if you have been rearranging and stirring things up in your tank. You also replaced some filter floss you said, so the bacterial population could just be reasserting itself -- recolonizing all the surfaces and media in the tank. It could also just be that you stirred up some of the substate while working in the tank.

I would just wait for a week or so and see if it doesnt go away on its own. Many tanks go through this kind of breaking in period.

 

[glolite]

Please do not add medications like Melafix on a whim or a hope that it will work. Melafix is for mild bacterial infections of your fish. NOT algae. There is one kind of algae, blue-green algae that is also called cyanobacteria, that is really an bacteria, but all the others will be completely unaffected by an antibacterial medicine.

Then, if you add Melafix antibacterial medicine, all you end up doing is culturing Melafix-resistant bacteria in your tank. That is, you begin selectively breeding baceria strains that are resistant to the medicine. Then, if you should happen to need the medicine -- guess what! I won't work since the bacteria in your tank are resistant to the medicine.

It is on a small scale in just your tank, but consider as an example, the ultra drug-resistant strain of staph that is out there today. Staph infections used to be minor, but these days many people die of this infection because they contract a strain that does not respond to any medicines today.

So, stepping off the soapbox now, please do not use any medication on a whim unless you are sure that it will treat the disease you have diagnosed.

glotie may have had success with Melafix because the cloudiness was a bacterial bloom of the beneficial bacteria and the inert bacteria. This is natural, especially if you have been rearranging and stirring things up in your tank. You also replaced some filter floss you said, so the bacterial population could just be reasserting itself -- recolonizing all the surfaces and media in the tank. It could also just be that you stirred up some of the substate while working in the tank.

I would just wait for a week or so and see if it doesnt go away on its own. Many tanks go through this kind of breaking in period.

Actually you can add melafix for three days after adding new fish or netting fish, and if you read the label it can also be added after water changes. Melafix does not contain any antibiotics that bacteria can become resistant to it is a completely natural product based on the extraction of aloe vera juice. I agree it is only mildly effective against cyanobacteria, but I still maintain it helps with water clarity. And no, it wasn't a bacterial bloom I had it was cyanobacteria.

 

[CFC]

Actually it is made from pure tea tree oil not aloe vera and tea tree oil has mild anti bacterial properties, plus all medications come from a natural product somewhere down the line. Like Bignose said if you continually expose bacteria to anti bacterial products then you eventually end up with super strains of bacteria which are resistent to that product. The one and only reason products like melafix tell you to use them regularly is so that you buy more of it and therefore stick more profit into the manufactorers pockets. Medications including so called natural remedies like melafix and pimafix should only be used when their is a direct need for them, ie when a fish has open wounds or torn fins which may become infected.

 

[boxman]

Agree completely CFC.

If you've got clarity problems do you mean lots of algae growth or the water is cloudy? (Probably haven't read this properly, on lunch so have to be quick).

If it's lots of algae it could be a sign of high nitrates. If it's cloudy water then I'd put something like polyfilter - I had brown water from bogwood tannins, I put his stuff in and it had cleared within a few hours.

 

[Aeropars]

Thanks for the replys.

The problem has been going on for some time to be honest so its not the good bacteria bloom as it has been like it for about a month. I have done a major re-arrange but have added more filtration as well to clear it quicker. The floss wasnt replaced but i merely added to the existing floss to give more surface area to pick up the particles in the water.

 

[glolite]

Ok point taken guys. I still liken melafix to an antiseptic gargle rather than antibiotics for a sore throat if you see what I mean, but yes, melafix etc shouldn't be used willy nilly.

 

[morgan]

I have a Juwel Rekord 96 and I recently changed one of the coarse blue sponges for a green Nitrate Removing Sponge. I saw it online and thought I'd try it. At first the water went a tiny bit cloudy, because the bacteria in the green sponge need time to mature. Now the tank water is clear again. You can keep all the blue sponges if you have room in the filter baskets but I didn't have room. I have never seen them in LFS. I am going to use it all the time now. The tank water was clear before but it sounded like a good idea anyway. Maybe it might help your cloudiness and it sounds harmless, unless someone knows different !