1 year old aquarium suddenly cloudy

As the title says I've had this tank for almost a year and it's never been crystal clear but it's been ok. I have hard water but even ro water never made a difference. I have a hob filter. Marineland 255 or something. I have filter floss in it as well. It started getting cloudy for about 3 days. I took and did a 50% water change. Water was better the next day. But no where near where it was as a normal. I vacuumed almost every bit of gravel and I did it deep. Water had a fishy rotten kind of order. All fish are alive. Ammonia is 0 nitrates and nitrites low as can be read. I stopped deep gravel vacuuming because about a month ago I started putting live plants in it. I do a 15% water change weekly and I use water column fertilization. After this like I said I did a deep vac even up by the plants and got a lot of junk out but 2 days later it's going right back to how it was. Plants are not decaying and fish are fine. I realize 2 of the plants are not for tanks but they havnt started to melt so I havnt pulled them out yet. Thanks for any advice

 

Is the cloudy green or white in color? It looks green in the photo.

 

I would say that it's more white. But I'm bad with colors. No algae on glass in months either

 

Are you changing the filter pads in your filter? What kind of fertilizer are you using?

 

Using api leaf zone. Filter pads are changed 2x a week now up from 1x a week. Usually their green about 1/2 way thru when changed weekly. I have a second stock carbon filter in the secondary spot in filter
Here is a pic from a distance

 

Have you been changing the pads the whole time you have had the tank? I can see why it has never been clear for you. Those pads (cartridges) hold the most amount of your beneficial bacteria in your tank. When you change them you basically throw out your cycle. There is some left on your gravel and decor but your filter is your tanks lifeline. You are more than likely seeing a bacterial bloom from a continuously cycling tank. What kind of test kit do you have?

Well if they are green halfway through the week I may think the cloudy is green then? How long are your lights on for? Also API leaf zone is not really fertilizer per say. It is only Iron and potassium so it really is only a supplement. You may want to look into something different. Look into some "all in ones" like Nilocg Thrive line or Aquarium Co-Ops Easy Green. Both are easy to use.

 

I always have a regular filter in as well. That gets rinses in the bucket of siphoned out water weekly. Just the filter floss gets tossed.. I figured the api was good. I will get a different kind. And I have api test kits with water and the chemical u add
Lights are on maybe 6 hours a day. I had a lot of algae in beginning. But it's been months now since I had to scrub spots off the walls or decorations or the glass silicone. I use algae fix weekly

 

Ok so the filters are out. Sounds pretty normal to just toss the floss. Your test kit is good. If your lights are on only 6 hours a day you should not have to use Algae fix. I am wondering if that may be the issue?

 

I can try stopping use of it. I have been using it for several months tho. I feel it happened from not cleaning the gravel enough but I heard not to with plants. I have them spread out enough it would make vacuuming away from them impossible.

Do you have experience with uv sanitizing filters for this?

 

No I dont. You could always try it. I have seen others recommend it for tough green water tanks.

What are the parameters of your tap water?

 

0 ammonia and nitrites less than 5 nitrates ph is around 7.2. Total solids are around 300 softened and 600 hard

 

Maybe try cutting out or back on fertilizer since you said plants are a fairly new addition to the tank. You may find that you don’t need to dose fertilizer as often as recommended with your water. I don’t have RO, but I do have well water and plants do fine without fertilizer. In fact I’ve had things die/melt with using them so stopped.
Since your tank is established and stocked just hold off on ferts for a week or two and see if that clears the water up.

 

I will give that a try and see. Thank you all

 

Do you have experience with uv sanitizing filters for this?

That definitely looks like an algae bloom to me, especially since you mentioned the floss is green.

I have used the GKM (green killing machine) UV filters and love them. They keep my tanks crystal clear, they get rid of both algae blooms and bacterial blooms. Once it’s under control you can put it on a timer so the UV light is only on for 12 hours a day to extend the life of the bulb. I like that it also is a filter with floss so helps move the water in addition to the HOB I have.

 

That definitely looks like an algae bloom to me, especially since you mentioned the floss is green.

I have used the GKM (green killing machine) UV filters and love them. They keep my tanks crystal clear, they get rid of both algae blooms and bacterial blooms. Once it’s under control you can put it on a timer so the UV light is only on for 12 hours a day to extend the life of the bulb. I like that it also is a filter with floss so helps move the water in addition to the HOB I have.

Just went and ordered one. Hope it works for me.

 

Just updating tank got much worse and definitely got green from the top looking in. Got the green killing machine Monday night when I got home. Been on non stop since and pic is Wednesday night. So two full days and it's clearer then it ever been.

 

Definitely can see a difference! Once it’s clear you can put it on a timer to save the life of the UV bulb.
I also find using something like SeaChem Excel helps with algae.