Cloudy Water

[qquake2k]

The water in my 20 gallon is cloudy. It's a long story, but I took it down and set it back up yesterday, reusing all the water and sand, and the decorations. It was cloudy before I took it down. I'm running a well established Fluval 206 canister, and just added an Aqueon QuietFlow 10 HOB on Friday. There is no carbon in the Fluval, but there is in the Aqueon. I know I need to do a water change, but will that help the cloudiness? I have attached photos of the test strips. Looks like there is some ammonia in the water. As for fish, there are currently five red eye tetras, one black neon, two Chinese algae eaters, and a zebra (nerite?) snail. By comparison, my 65 is crystal clear.

 

[PheonixKingZ]

The water in my 20 gallon is cloudy. It's a long story, but I took it down and set it back up yesterday, reusing all the water and sand, and the decorations. It was cloudy before I took it down. I'm running a well established Fluval 206 canister, and just added an Aqueon QuietFlow 10 HOB on Friday. There is no carbon in the Fluval, but there is in the Aqueon. I know I need to do a water change, but will that help the cloudiness? I have attached photos of the test strips. Looks like there is some ammonia in the water. As for fish, there are currently five red eye tetras, one black neon, two Chinese algae eaters, and a zebra (nerite?) snail. By comparison, my 65 is crystal clear.

Do I 50% water change, and filter clean. That should clear up the water pretty soon. You should also get the API master freshwater test kit. The strip test kits are highly inaccurate.

 

[Colin_T]

Milky cloudy water is normally caused by uneaten food being broken down in the water and a filter that is not functioning efficiently.

Reduce the amount of food you put in the tank.

Do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate every day for a week. Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

----------------------------
How often and how do you clean the filters?
How long has the Fluval been set up for?
What sort of filter media/ materials do you have in the filters?