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Odd cloudiness.. Advice needed.

3K views 20 replies 6 participants last post by  Reefing Madness 
#1 ·
One of my tanks has been cloudy for several months now. The "cloudiness" is greyish white.

I've assumed it was either a bacterial bloom or dirtiness from sand. (I washed the sand, but perhaps not enough.)

Both should have cleared up by now, but there's been no improvement. (The cloudiness clears with large waterchanges, but comes back in a few hours)

I've tried changing the filter media- No difference.
I've tried running no filter and letting the plants do the filtering- No difference.

I made my own 'polishing' filter, and it realy has me confused.. The filter media (polyester felt and cotton fluff media), quickly turned BLACK. The media smelled of rotten eggs, but the water has the normal aquarium smell. I'd assume there's some sort of anaerobic bacteria bloom, but its illogical that it would be in the water column without a tankfull of dead fish., plus all the fish are perfectly healthy. I haven't lost a single fish. I do have some driftwood I might yank out, but it doesn't make sense that it could be the problem. Any ideas?

I want to avoid chemicals, but I'm pretty fed up and might have to resort to using something.
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#2 ·
One of my tanks has been cloudy for several months now. The "cloudiness" is greyish white.

I've assumed it was either a bacterial bloom or dirtiness from sand. (I washed the sand, but perhaps not enough.)

Both should have cleared up by now, but there's been no improvement. (The cloudiness clears with large waterchanges, but comes back in a few hours)

I've tried changing the filter media- No difference.
I've tried running no filter and letting the plants do the filtering- No difference.

I made my own 'polishing' filter, and it realy has me confused.. The filter media (polyester felt and cotton fluff media), quickly turned BLACK. The media smelled of rotten eggs, but the water has the normal aquarium smell. I'd assume there's some sort of anaerobic bacteria bloom, but its illogical that it would be in the water column without a tankfull of dead fish., plus all the fish are perfectly healthy. I haven't lost a single fish. I do have some driftwood I might yank out, but it doesn't make sense that it could be the problem. Any ideas?

I want to avoid chemicals, but I'm pretty fed up and might have to resort to using something.
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Might try running some fresh carbon in the filter for a few day's.
The driftwood could be the source of smell and cloudinesss depending on how old it is(rotting is natural).
I have a couple pieces of four year old Mopani wood that stink's to high heaven when I pull it out for tank maint but it has had no negative effect on fishes.
Maybe filter does not have large enough surface area for mechanical media if it is turning black quickly?
 
#3 ·
I would suggest this is a bacterial bloom. I have had the same. As it is harmless to the fish, I just leave it to sort itself out. I find usually this occurs in a tank with a new substrate. When I changed my gravel to sand in five of my tanks over the past couple years, this bacterial bloom would appear; the length varied from tank to tank. My 115g was probably the worst, it ran for several months, then suddenly overnight, gone.

Had the same in the 70g with Flourite, this lasted for maybe 3 months.

For a couple years I had a slight cloudiness in my 90g. I often wondered if it was the gravel, which was unique to this tank. But this cleared up a few months back. It was puz\zxling, when only the one our of 6 or 7 tanks had this, and the light, water changes, plants, fish load, ferts were identical in all tanks.:question:

I usually see this when I clean the canister filters. Lasts perhaps a couple days, sometimes up to a week, but not heavy, just not quite clear.

Byron.
 
#4 ·
Well it's very worrisome.. I normally under-filter my tanks and let the plants do the work, but the plants are dying from lack of light. (swords and java moss are doing well, and the dwarf sag released from the substrate and is doing well as a floating plant. Everything else is dead and gone.)

I guess the filter I made is a waste of electricity.. Only as a way to diagnose the problem, could I dose an antibiotic and add a large floating mass of elodea to cover for the dead filter bacteria? (I have enough elodea to cover the whole surface to a depth of two inches)
 
#5 ·
Well it's very worrisome.. I normally under-filter my tanks and let the plants do the work, but the plants are dying from lack of light. (swords and java moss are doing well, and the dwarf sag released from the substrate and is doing well as a floating plant. Everything else is dead and gone.)

I guess the filter I made is a waste of electricity.. Only as a way to diagnose the problem, could I dose an antibiotic and add a large floating mass of elodea to cover for the dead filter bacteria? (I have enough elodea to cover the whole surface to a depth of two inches)
 
#7 ·
Well it's very worrisome.. I normally under-filter my tanks and let the plants do the work, but the plants are dying from lack of light. (swords and java moss are doing well, and the dwarf sag released from the substrate and is doing well as a floating plant. Everything else is dead and gone.)

I guess the filter I made is a waste of electricity.. Only as a way to diagnose the problem, could I dose an antibiotic and add a large floating mass of elodea to cover for the dead filter bacteria? (I have enough elodea to cover the whole surface to a depth of two inches)
The cloudiness is so thick the light is not getting through to plants?

I would never use an antibiotic with fish and plants in the tank. I have killed plants with antibiotics that were necessary for a fish problem. I maintain that one should never subject fish to any "treatment" or medication that is not essential to their health.
 
#10 ·
Well it has about three tablespoons of clay soil under a few inches of sand. I thought about silt from the sand being the culprit, but it usually filters out or settles.. Perhaps the cories' digging keeps it from settling? I'd hate to have to redo the whole tank...
 
#11 ·
K would kill the lights and suspend feeding until it clears.

then replace the plants with emphasis on fost growers like anacharis.


my .02
 
#13 ·
Its not 'green water' algae.

(thanks for posting though.)
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Welcome

IME any cloudiness will clear up with a combination of killing the lights and suspending feeding. When the water is clear you continue with reduced lighting and feeding to keep the water clear. And adjust both untill the water remains clear and the plants thrive.

works for green water, white water, brown water whatever.

my .02
 
#15 ·
I might try it, but technically turning lights off would help bacteria in the water grow..(Since the plants wouldn't be photosynthesising)
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If it's cyano then the lights off will kill the cyano.


Give it a try and see what happens.


my .02
 
#20 ·
Update:

Still never cleared up. Fish didn.t seem to mind, but I couldn't see them.

I finally gave up and ploppe them in another ten gallon...
i had the other one set up as a "dry start" tank to let some young crypts grow out and for grow for some dwarf hairgrass to fill in...


After I filled it and moved the fish, I found a piece of tiny malaysian driftwood that was probably the problem all along. (it was stinky)

At least I can wash the playsand and use it again.. It's cool looking: all the rotting wood stained the sand black. Yay! Black play sand!
 
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