Cloudy Water

[BangBangShrimp]

Background: My friend recently set up a 20 gallon freshwater tank with a few fish and ghost shrimp. When he initially set up the tank he noticed the water became very cloudy, I assumed it was from the new gravel. A couple weeks later the water still is pretty cloudy. The fish are all fine, no deaths but he's wants the cloudy water to go away. He hasn't done a water change yet because he thought it would settle down within a few days.

Question: Do you guys have any beginner suggestions to get rid of this cloudy water? Attached is a photo. Thank you!

 

[MattW]

Do you know if this tank was cycled before adding fish? I would suggest a dechlorinated WC as a quick fix and if the problem occurs again, a game of eliminating the potential cause will start Other members will have a better idea than me.

Another option could be to use fine filter floss in the HOB filter and see if that can reduce the cloudiness

 

[MaloK]

If it's dust from gravel, some are so fine they go trough filtration and never settles.

A big water change will fix that. Make sure you use temperature matching dechlorinated water.

Watch not to overfeed them, You're doing a cycle with fish, have you a test kit ?

 

[Essjay]

Or a bacterial bloom, common in new tanks.
These are not the bacteria we want to grow; they live floating in the water and multiply very quickly so water changes don't help. The good news is they die off once they've eaten all their food but as every tank is different it is impossible to say how long that will take.

As other have asked, was the tank cycled before the fish were put in or is this a fish-in cycle? If it's fish-in daily water changes are needed to keep the fish safe.

 

[Ceez]

Water change and you can use seachem purigen. Purigen works fairly well to clear water.