Can't figure out cloudy water...tried everything

Ok, so I've tried everything to get rid of what looks like tiny bubbles all inside my 29 gallon tank. Not the bubbles on glass and decorations, but actual tiny bubbles everywhere in the water and collecting on the top. I've noticed my small 5 gallon and my brother's 10 gallon all do the same thing but are not that visible as the bubbles are so small, but mine are extremely visible, as you can see from the below pictures.






When I stand about 5 or so feet away it looks perfectly clear, but when I get up close it looks awful. I thought at first it was my filter pushing air into the tank, but I replaced filter with a new marineland 200 with biowheel to go along with my aqua tech 5-15, and the problem persists.

To me, it looks a lot like dust in the air, except in the water. Could it be a bacterial bloom, as I've just added a lot to the stock of my fish? But I thought these blooms looked like milky water, not thousands of dusty-like particles (tiny bubbles).

I don't think there is any possible way it is being caused by a chemical or soap getting into my tank, as I've had no cleaning supplies near it. But if I were to go about getting rid of this like it was soap/chemical, how would I do this without moving my fish, as I don't have the tanks or resources to do so?

For now, I plan on waiting it out as if its a bacterial bloom, but if I do go about cleaning the tank, I need to know how to do it without relocating fish.

Any other suggestions would be great as well.

Thanks

 

Turn off the filters, do the tiny things sink or continue to move around in the water?

 

I've done that, and they all collect on top and eventually go away, but I do feel like some of it stays floating. Most of the bubbles seem to float to the top when filters are running, but they never actually clear...

I had the filters off for several hours today, and the bubbles were basically gone. Tank was still little dirty as shutting off filters causes some leeching...but definitely a lot clearer.

 

Are you on city or well water?

 

I am on city water. I'm at my brothers right now, and his 10 gallon does the same thing (lots of very miniscule bubbles, but only visible if really closely look). I just can't figure out why mine is so noticeable. Could it be my blue background that just brings it out?

Or could I have too much aeration? Right now with my 2 filters I get about 300 gph with fairly strong surface agitation.

And it hasn't always been like this.

 

I doubt its the aeration, I actually wonder if one or both of your filters don't have a small air buble in the impeller, or an air leak into the line, this would constantly infuse the water with air bubbles and look like you describe.

 

So should I try to go with just the large new filter for awhile and see if that helps?

 

The 300GPH is about perfect for HOB filtration for that 29gal tank. What I am saying is that I think there is an air bubble somewhere in your filtration lines.

 

Ok but how do get those air bubbles out. Surely the new filter I bought doesn't have one too

 

Ok, so I turned both filters off and I noticed that while some of the bubbles went to the top, much of them just floated aimlessly in the tank. Which I'm guessing means that it could be debris and not all just tiny air bubbles. It could be that with the tiny air bubbles mixed in, it gave the illusion that it was all tiny air bubbles. That being said, I am going to start doing 30% water changes. 2 x today and 1x a day afterwords to see if I can clear this up. And I'll probably gravel vac with my first water change to stir up anything else. It's hard to believe that all that debris would stay in the tank and not filter it out. It could be just an overload since I've been constantly messing with my filters, which allows the debris to seep in.

Hopefully, with the water changes and my upgraded filtration, my water will be clear soon. If anybody else has any suggestions, please let me know.

 

What is the temp in your tank at the moment? They could be debris and will be easily removed with water changes. Where you had said they all floated before and are not now makes me wonder a bit thou.

 

Yes, I would agree, as my first shut down was with the old filter. But now I have the new filter and I highly doubt it has an air bubble in it too. The temp stays around 75-76ish.

What I'm thinking, is in my moment of panic...I felt like they were all bubbles, but after turning off both filters, it was clear that a vast majority of it was floating in the water (not surface) aimlessly like debris would.

After a few days of water changes, we will see.





Just did about a 40 percent water change, and plan to do another one about the same size today. If the problem does persist, and the cause is air bubble (air in lines) how do I go about fixing it? Since my large filter is new, should I turn the small, old one off for awhile and see if it goes away?


As of second water change(70% total), here's what it looks like.



As you can see, the bubbles don't look near as bad compared to first pics. I believe they are lot smaller, which leads me to believe that I was mistaking all of the larger debris to be the same as the smaller bubbles. I believe the smaller bubbles are normal, as I've seen them in my brother's and my smaller tank. But mine seem to be more visible to do lighting setup/background. But I'm going to wait it out and see. If that doesn't work, might try replacing smaller filter. And with two new filters and it still keeps going, I'll know it's not air bubbles in filters. The odds of me buying 4 filters that have the same problem is very unlikely.