My pain in the neck tank.

[Arashi]

I heard a girl should never have to ask.....just point and snap fingers.

Yay! Freshmike understands us women! You're the best Freshmike!

....errr, wait. Maybe that's men

...and I take back what I just said...



Joke

 

[freshmike]

Listen. I didn't add ANYTHING for 3 months. I am pretty sure that this approach wasn't doing me any good....apart from restarting the tank (cop-out) I am going to try and learn what to do....I am not compounding treatments, I am doing one thing, waiting...refreshing and trying another. If you were having the same problem with such a large, stable tank, you would probably be doing the same thing as me. Literally, I will shut the tank down and sell it before I ever restart it....I want to learn, and I can't do that by ruling out doing things that just may help. I honestly don't expect anyone to know what I should do in this situation, I don't expect that anyone is going to have the miracle answer for me.
This tank is set up, pretty much exactly the same as all of my other 13 filtered "crystal clear" tanks....actually, probably a lot better and I am still having these problems. Thanks for your help.

 

[freshmike]

Guess it's women....thought I got that right the first time.


woman----> *SNAP* man -----> "Yes dear?" Like that?

 

[Wyld-Fyre]

Cloudy water. Process of elimination...

1) It isn't from your rocks
2) It isn't from your gravel
3) It isn't from your plants
4) Not an algal bloom
5) It isn't because of 'dirty' glass
6) It isn't how many times you've fed your fish
7) It isn't the type of lighting
8) Too 'clean' to be rotting detritus

There is perhaps two other possibilities:

1) your fishes are breeding regularly to turn the water 'milky'
2) the type of food you're feeding them may discolour your water

If I'm right, how about letting me have your 90?

 

[Arashi]

Guess it's women....thought I got that right the first time.


woman----> *SNAP* man -----> "Yes dear?" Like that?

*nodnod* Now ya got it.

 

[Small Fry]

I had the same problem with my 90 and the only thing that worked was the addition of a UV sterilizer. Noticeable change in 12 hours and crystal clear in 48 hours. Might be pricey though - cost me ~$300 Cdn for UV and filter to drive it.

Avoid chemicals if you can as they tend to affect the balance of the tank. Try shrouding your tank and keeping it in total darkness for 2-3 days (no more or your plants will let you know by dying...)

 

[asmack]

Would either of these help? Or are they just band-aid solutions?

http/www.cloudytanks.com/reviews/filters/diatom.htm

http/www.cloudytanks.com/reviews/aquariums/purigen.htm

 

[Max]

do you have carbon running in any of your filters?

 

[freshmike]

No carbon in any tank...except for the emperors....but that only lasts so long.

As for a new filter, no way, I have too many already.

Purigen, have loads of that....so expensive. I am just going to wait for a week to see if what I have done worked. Hopefully so.

 

[Colin_BC]

I'm thinking since you've been fighting thsi problem for this long, you've done your research and tested all your levels. I had a similar problem with the water always going cloudy. I accidentally fixed it and it hasn't been a problem since. I was trying to treat a phosphate problem (testing off the charts) so I took phosguard, stuffed it in portion of nylon (1 pair makes many sacs) and secured it over the outlet spray bar for my Eheim 2213 (60G) canister filter. By the next day the water was crystal clear. I looked at the nylon that was over the outlet bar and saw the inside was filled with tons of tiny, tiny crap that had been bypassing my filter. I then took an algae magnet and scrubbed furiously to clean crap off the glass. Again, the nylon in a short time caught all the floating crap. I only had the nylon on for a few days before I packed the PhosGuard into my canister, but I'm definately trying it again if it clouds up again.

If you one of your filters has something like an outlet bar (rather than a HOB), perhaps try securing a nylon over it and see what it catches overnight. On the bright side, if it does nothing, at least there were no chemicals added...

Colin

 

[Colin_BC]

By the way, Very nice tank!

Colin

 

[Wisperian]

preTtY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[nightlife20]

fm.. have u got an additional airpump runnin?


just askin cause this may help it..



even tho ur havin problems with it, its still a lovley tank, id take it off your hands anyday.

 

[freshmike]

Yup. It is aerated as well.

 

[nightlife20]

im at a loss then hun

the only toher thing i can suggest if you havnt already done them is

1) mega turf out (ie take everythin out of the tank, plants gravel rocks and fish) and give them all a good clean (well.. not the fish obv)

2) try and read up about it?

3) give the tank to me an ill have a go <<best option so far me thinks