Maida_gc

Water has been cloudy for a few weeks now. Water levels are all good. Fish seem happy. I've cut back on feeding, even though it wasn't too much anyway. And it's not exactly particles of things floating in the water causing the problem, but tiny bubbles it appears. Anyone have a suggestion for clearing my water? Should I try a new household water source on my next PWC? Chemicals? Suggestions would be great. Thanks.

EmpPleco

No chemicals, although I would recommend using a gravel siphon to lift 30% of the water out of your tank daily, and replace it with new dechlorinated water. This should help, and the cloudiness should go away in less than a week

Maida_gc

Yeah been doing that, should have mentioned it. Thats the funny thing. I do a gravel vac quite often with my Python and replace w/ dechlor water frequently as well. I'm wondering if the water I'm using sounds like there are a lot air bubble, and if so how to get rid of them. As mentioned, it's not typical debris floating in the water, but perhaps a) the water itself, or b) tiny bubbles appearing to make the water cloudy. Keep the suggestions coming, thanks. g.

EmpPleco

well air bubbles are wonderful! IT means you have a lot of oxygen in your tank

Jon

what type of filter does the water go trhu... if you could try to run it thru an RO/DI filter if you can and see if that helps

rob2uk

If you can, try leaving the new water to sit for 24 hours before you add it to the tank

Butterfly

Sounds like a minor bacteria bloom. Are you vacuuming the gravel more than once a week?
Carol

vin

Not necessarily...One of the drawbacks with python gravel vacs is that the water from the tap may not be aerated enough and have a chance to "gas out". This creates an excess of gasses resulting from the water being under pressure in the pipes.....The excess gasses could be absorbed into the bloodstream by the fish and actually stress them out.....The best thing to do when refilling the tank is to aerate the water....Make BUBBLES!!! The more bubbles, the more the gasses are released......I think you can do this with your pyhton, I'm just not sure how as I don't have one....I use the ancient bucket method but either aerate the water overnight with a pump and air stone or allow it to sit out for a day or two allowing the gasses to escape.

Butterfly

In the case of too much oxygen, it would show up as bubbles on the glass and the bubbles should be gone in a matter of hours while the water would not remain cloudy
Carol

EmpPleco

Well that's what I was thinking, about the air stone. I have a bubble wall in my tank, and there are alot of air bubbles throughout.. So in my case it is well oxygenated But I guess I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions Thanks for pointing that out

Butterfly

no problem I have bubble walls in a couple of tanks also. But when doing water changes sometimes I will get tiny bubbles settling on the walls, especially if I fill it with the pressure on high.Then in an hour or so they are gone.
So I think its more than bubbles. a bacteria bloom can look cloudy, and can happen if vacuuming the gravel a couple of times a week or too thoroughly in a new tank. I still get one if I clean my twenty G breeder tank too thoroughly
Carol

Butterfly

Maida be careful vacuuming more. If you are vacuuming more than once a week you maybe pulling some of your beneficial bacteria out. A good bit of the BB is on the gravel. vacuuming once a week is plenty and some even vacuum every other week.
Carol

Maida_gc

I ended up doing one more water change, this one seemed to have more of an effect? Probably because it was the one following this post

I also followed the instructions on a bottle of P-Clear. Basically a cap full of debris clumping water cleaner. One or the other did the trick. The water is much better. Not sure what it was. My best guess, complaining about it helped the most.

Butterfly

well you know.... Sometimes you just have to vent
Carol