cloudy water

J

JON5800

AC Members
Jan 9, 2006
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Having a cloudy water problem. Just can't seem to get it clear. Have a 20g
tank with a emperor 280 filter. My ph is at 6.8 and nitrates is between 20 to
30. Did a 50% water change on friday. Cleared up for about two days and is
now starting to get cloudy again. Any suggestions would be greatly appriated. :dive:
20g---
4- neon tetras
4- zebra danios
3- cory cats
1-clown tiger pleco
 
do enough water changes to get nitrate down to 10ppm- that's the highest you want it to get

then continue to do 50% water change everyweek with gravel vacume and wait it out in a new tank this can happen and the healthiest thing to do is keep the water fresh

don't add chemicals for water clearing, or anything except water conditioner- it will create osmotic stress for your fish and problems become MUCH more likely with fish health
 
Does the cloudy water look like it has a white-haze with the lights on and greenish with the lights off?
 
With that fairly high nitrate level and its persistance it sounds like it might be a bacterial bloom, everything <kyle3> said will help if that's the case. Basically the aim will be to lower available nutrients in the water as much as possible.

The most likely cause I can think of is overfeeding, so be careful how much you're feeding your fish, you may need to take the time to slowly add food as they're eating and get to know how much you need to feed them so very little goes to waste. Also if there is dead plant matter in the tank remove it as well.
 
Yeah, well if you look at some of that white haze with no bright lights shining on it and a white background behind it, I bet it looks murky green.

One readily available source of food that bacteria finds to eat is very often found in your tap water. Trying to water change away a algae bloom doesn't work all that great unless you have really pristine water.

I have it in my 75 gallon right now and I change out 90% of the water a week. Guess what? Bloom going strong. But get this...there is nothing in the tank. No plants. No animals. Nothing being added but straight, untreated tap water.

If you feed lightly (or really even normally for an experienced fish keeper) all you need to do is hold off on the water changes. I know this from personal experience many times. It will be cloudy probably for two weeks, maybe three. But when it starts to die off you will have beautifully clear water within 48 hours of when it uses up all the available nutrients in the water.

I've held off on water changes on a tank for over a month before. No "bloom" occured even though I kept feeding normally and the nitrates pushed up to around 60 ppm. So the bloom you describe does not feed on the nitrates.
 
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I use only R O water from the local fish stores. The local tap has to much
junk in it with the drought going on. The tank was starting to look clearer this morning. So fingers crossed. Thanks for your help. :dive2:
.
 
kyle3 said:
don't add chemicals for water clearing, or anything except water conditioner- it will create osmotic stress for your fish and problems become MUCH more likely with fish health
Click to expand...

Really? I used Acu-Clear on my 36g tank and it really works as advertised. I've used it 3 days straight because the tank would start to get cloudy again after about 24 hours. I have since lost a guppy and a molly. There deaths were a mystery to me since they both appeared perfectly healthy, but I kind of suspected the Acu-Clear.

I've cut back on the amount of food I've been putting in the tank instead of relying on Acu-Clear. I figured using Acu-Clear everyday couldn't be good for the tank, and it'd probably get expensive in the long run too.
 
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