Tank is cloudy again

My 125 is cloudy again and I only have 1 Oscar and a jd cichlid in it.I have has bad luck with tanks lately.people keep telling me it's the fish but I don't have them in this tank anymore please help.I have been having to do daily water changes

 

is it cycled ? if so its possably alggie blooms I would sugest a uv steralizer is it a white,green or brown cloud. white I would say bacteria bloom greeen or brown id say alggie

 

Yeah it's cycled and it's white

 

could the pad in the filter be bad? tank was extremely cloudy when I needed to rinse out the filter pad. after I cleaned that up in a bucket of old tank water the tank cleared up no problem.

 

Yeah I just bought new ones

There clean

 

do you have any of the wool in your filter it will remove the really small particles that go through the sponge

 

Yeah

 

hmmm do you have a uv steralizer other wise I'm at a loss ..... what are your readings ...... is it in direct sun light or in a really bright room and what do you have for lighting

 

Dark room

 

Yeah I just bought new ones

There clean

New ones? So you changed the filter media?

 

Yeah but I waited a week in between each filter

 

Good morning,

I have moved your thread from General Discussion to Aquarium Water/Cloudy Aquarium Water section of the forum.

Please update your Aquarium Profile Information when you have a chance

Are you using Activated Carbon in your filters? If not, I would recommend adding it. Activated Carbon will not remove a bacterial bloom nor an algae bloom but I would still give it a try as your water may just be cloudy from the tap?

Too, you could try using Micron Filter pads, cut to fit your filter. These pads will remove algae blooms but not bacterial blooms. Bacterial blooms have to run their course on their own.


Are your readings different than 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites and under 20 Nitrates? Is this why you are doing daily water changes?

Thanks!

Ken

 

What are your current parameters?

Did it get cloudy again after you changed filter media?

Are your filters all stuffed with lots of media along the lines of lots of surface area for bb to colonize, like bio media/ceramic rings?

I am really sorry you are having such a tough time with this tank. Hang in there.

 

Water parameters are all zero and yes I use black and ammonia carbon

I Also have bio balls and bio wheels in my filters

 

whats your nitrate.... a high nitrate will promote rapid algae blooms

 

My nitrates are 0 that's what my lfs says they test my water weekly they said there's nothin wrong with it it's just cloudy that said this is common for tanks and there's no solution just have to weight months for it to clear up.but thanks for ur help

 

Don't trust LFS without asking for actual numbers, if you've got 0 0 0 then your tank isn't cycled, which would explain the bacteria bloom as its starting to cycle (Again?).

Best approach is to get yourself a test kit, or get some real numbers off the LFS. Then back to back water changes to bring numbers back in line, and careful (every day if possible) testing of the water to check how the cycling is going.

 

What are you feeding the fish?

 

if your lfs is telling you your paramiters are 000 they aren't doing it right becauseif you have 0 nitrate you should have ammonia and nitrite showing up which means your not cycled and would explain the cloudy water from bacteria blooms and is dangerous to your fish but again if they are doing it wrong and you are cycled and have a high nitrate you can get explosive algae blooms which are harmless to fish but don't look nice

 

Water parameters are all zero and yes I use black and ammonia carbon

I Also have bio balls and bio wheels in my filters

For a cycled tank you should have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and have a reading of nitrates. Nitrates shouldn't be 0.

I recommend getting your own liquid test kit. Then you can test anytime. Especially when something doesn't seem right. It's also fun!

That may explain why you have white cloudy water. Didn't you upgrade to this tank recently too? I would also remove that ammonia removing media from your filters. Once the tank establishes its the beneficial bacterias job, it's food/energy.

 

My tank is already cycled.and I feed then cichlid pellets and algae wafers name brand

 

....Tetra is a name brand, and is utter .

 

How much and how often are you feeding your fish?

It is not common for tanks to be cloudy, and stay cloudy. It is usually because of overstocking, or overfeeding.

Is any direct sunlight getting in the tank? How long do you leave the lights on for?

 

I feed once a dayAnd I hand feed my fish so there's no food left over

It's in my basement so no direct sunlight at all

And my tank only has one small Oscar and a jd cichlid.my friend is holding on to all my other fish for now

 

How long are your lights on for?

 

12 hours daily

 

Usually a white cloudy tank is a bacterial bloom(Beneficial bacteria trying to multiply and catch up).

Green cloudy tanks are usually single cell free floating algae. This is called green water for a reason. algae feeds off of excess nutrients in the tank.

Since you have 0's across the board It sounds like the ammonia removing media in your filter is starving the beneficial bacteria in your tank.

If there isn't any ammonia there won't be Nitrites or Nitrates and your bacteria will starve. Then the tank will attempt to cycle all over again.
Carol

 

Butterfly that's a good point

 

Well I had too hive it a try because why not lol... but my tank is super cloudy from the sand.. I have about an inch of it... how long will it take for it to decloud... can I run the filter, I put a sponge strip inside the strainer tube so that big particles don't go in there... PS I HAVE A COUPLE OF FISH IN A 1 GALLON WAITING SO PLEASE HELP WITH IDEAS

 

Why not just take the sand out and re rinse it several times in a bucket till you see the water clear and then re add it. Thank You

 

Why not just take the sand out and re rinse it several times in a bucket till you see the water clear and then re add it. Thank You

Too much of a hassle.. but if it comes down to it I guess I will have too

 

Massive water changes. I’m assuming you did not rinse and or did not rinse enough? DONT start your filter that amount of sand in the water column will fry it.

 

Massive water changes. I’m assuming you did not rinse and or did not rinse enough? DONT start your filter that amount of sand in the water column will fry it.

I put a sponge strip inside of the strainer tube.. this will not help? And also what should I do with my filter and bio cartridge as it has beneficial bacteria on it...

 

Too much of a hassle.. but if it comes down to it I guess I will have too

Not really. Put in a bucket. Rinse it about 10 times and then you good to go in about a hour it will clear.

 

I put a sponge strip inside of the strainer tube.. this will not help? And also what should I do with my filter and bio cartridge as it has beneficial bacteria on it...

Just keep your filter media wet and it can wait. I've been in that situation and just done big water changes and left the substrate in the tank. If you have a big tube without the gravel vac part, you can siphon the sand out to the bucket easily for the rinsing option.

 

Just keep your filter media wet and it can wait. I've been in that situation and just done big water changes and left the substrate in the tank. If you have a big tube without the gravel vac part, you can siphon the sand out to the bucket easily for the rinsing option.

Unfortunately I don't have a vacuum... I have m decorations in another tank so that some bb can stay alive... so if I do some massive water changes in the tank the clouds might go away soon

 

Massive water changes in the tank is good. Like rinsing it in-tank instead of in-bucket.

 

Massive water changes in the tank is good. Like rinsing it in-tank instead of in-bucket.

Well what I am doing now is I just did a 90% water take out... so now do I just fill it back up and then drain it again?

 

I'd say at this point the damage is done, removing the sand won't really help at this point, that's why you pre-rinse sand. Major water change is your best bet.

 

I'd say at this point the damage is done, removing the sand won't really help at this point, that's why you pre-rinse sand. Major water change is your best bet.

So do I take out as much water as I can, fill it back up with new water, then take it out again until it is seeable?