Please Help Me To Understand....

[nurglespuss]

Hey all. I've posted asking advice for various things, but one thing I have never really solved is my cloudy water.

My tanks has been set up for 6 weeks now, the fish are happy, growing, swimming with good colours, and feed very well (I wonder If I am underfeeding, but if I were they would be unhappy fish right )

Its planted with Alternanthera reineckii, Limnophila sessiliflora and Hygrophila corymbosa. all are growing well ( the A. reineckii excessivly so!)

There is also a moss ball for the cat fish to forage in.

The tank has only catfish (5 peppered cories, 2 young hoplos).

It has a laterite/gravel/sand substrate (aquarium sand). Bog wood, and is lit/filtered by the standard kit that comes with the Aquaart 60l, along with CO2 diffuser, and air curtain (on either side of the tank, so that the CO2 side is still).

Now, when I do a 30% water change every weekend, I replace with treated bottled water, and everyother week add some fertiliser liquid. When I add the new water the water is much much clearer. then after about 3 days it has gone cloudy.

It could very well be a bacterial bloom, I don't have a fancy test kit, but my multi strip reads everything a-ok (pH 6.8).

Any ideas? its not harming anything, just hazing my view

 

[ox5477]

Ph wont tell you anything about the health of your water. you need to go get a multi-kit that tests for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate along with the pH. It has been six weeks and I doubt your tank would still be cycling, but if you didnt cycle then it still might be part of this.

How long ago did you put the fish in, cause this would determine how long the tank has been cycling (if the tank was running for 6 weeks and the fish have only been in for two, then the tank has been cycling for two and the cloudiness would most def be the bacteria blooming)

But get the kit and if you have any ammonia or nitrite in your tank then its the cycle still going on.

and for future reference, i prefer fishless cycling as you wont put any fish through the stress of the blooms, just my opinion. (and if you have no idea what im talking about then refer to the top of the forum where you will see the link for fish/fishless cycling)

 

[nurglespuss]

the tank was cycled fishlessly for two weeks, fish cycling used to be the best method, but now with all the stuff avilable there is no need.

and the test strip reads ammonia and nitrate 0.

 

[freshwaterfishlover]

If you have Cloudy Water, it is because you have two many fish in the tank or more likely to big of fish in the tank.

 

[nurglespuss]

LOL, all my cories are 1inch long, and my hoplos are 1.5 and 2 inches respectively

I cycled the tank first, let it spike and calm down, and then added the cories one week and the hoplos a week and a half later there arent too many fish!

but thank you for your advice :>

 

[jayjay]

But there are fish which will outgrow the tank, the hoplo's

What sort of filter media are you using? Is the water cloudy or is it more tiny particles?

 

[my fat fish]

would a uv sterolizer work?

also i ahev the same problem my water gets a little clowdy not much tho i put that down to the black gravel reflecting the colour tho

 

[rubberdubber]

I posted the other day asking how to clear cloudy water after I added a nice piece of bog wood.
just found a cure that really I should have thought of. I use a fluval 4+ filter and when I added a carbon filter to it only yesterday the water has got much clearer in just one day
I have also been changing one bucket of water daily that helps.
The cloud was small particals not coloured water.

 

[fishwatcher]

Yeah, if it's more particles than actual color, I'd say rinse your filter media (in old tank water) and do a partial water change.

 

[nurglespuss]

I have ceramic media, bio balls and filter floss, and a final sponge (4stage filter).

The tank also has bog wood (I love the tanins) not sure whether its particulate, but it is definately lightly coloured, I shall check it out when I get back. Yeah the hoplos will go to a bigger tank when they get to 3 inches.

 

[vinylman]

Don't leave the carbon in there for too long; once it's soaked up as much as it can, it will leach it back out into the tank again.