Is my water milky, or am i too picky?

sergemoscow

I have a 20g planted tank. Started with just a few plants and ended up with this. They are growing fast!

I have a school of Neon Tetras and had 2 Mickey Platties and now they bred into 6! And 2 algae eaters!

I have an issue with water clarity, it just doesn't seem crystal clear to me... i dont know if im being too picky but i see really tiny air bubles floating everywhere. I do regular water changes and clean and change filter every month but still not resolved... any suggestions?

You can really see the milky water in the 7th picture.

Thanks!

herefishy

Question, how old is the tank? It's look kind of reminds me of an uncycled tank.

Possible solution we be to filter with a smaller micron media in your power filter.

jeaninel

Bacterial bloom? Have you tested the water for ammonia and nitrite readings?

The other thing I thought of was maybe the driftwood is still leeching tannins. When you do water changes does the water you've removed have a yellowish tinge?

herefishy

Not tannins. Water would turn golden color and not cloudy. I do believe that the tank is uncycled. Very much likely that it is, in fact, a bacteria bloom.

sergemoscow

I've had my tank for about a year now... when i first added the driftwood my water was brownish color but eventually cleared.

My nitrate is about 10ppm, and the Nitrite is pretty much 0. Water is hard about 100ppm, Alkalinity is between 120-180ppm. pH is 7.2. Unfortunately i dont have an ammonia tester.

My water was actually a lot clear once tank finished cycling, took about 2 months for the reading to stabilize and water to clarify. And since i've added plants and a couple more fish i haven't had clean water.

As for the filter i have a Whisper Power 20 which came standard with the kit and i change out the filter cartridge evey month.

Someone outside the forum recommended i add aquarium salt? But i haven't done my research on that yet, any thoughts?

Thanks.

sergemoscow

Oh forgot to add that recently i had an algae bloom which got a little out of control so i cleaned my tank walls and scrubbed everything down and completely cleaned the filter media. Then bought 2 Rubber Mouth Plecos to clean up the job, and the algae is under control now.

Could it be possible that i partially destroyed the bacteria colony in my aquarium by cleaning out my filter which is now causing a bacteria bloom, or is there more than enough beneficial bacteria in the gravel to take care of nitrites?

Thanks.

jeaninel

It's possible that it may be going through a mini cycle since you cleaned out the filter. You may want to pick up an ammonia test (liquid) and check that.

It might also be that you need better filtration. I would look for a filter rated for at least a 40 gallon tank. When I had a 20 gallon tank awhile back I had a filter that was woefully inadequate. My water was always cloudy. I bought the Whisper 60 and my water cleared right up.

I would not add salt as the tetras are sensitive to salt.

Flashygrrl

It should be noted that your nitrite needs to be 0 all the time, occasionally when you just have added more fish they will produce more ammonia which makes your biological filter has to adjust itself but that shouldn't take very long.

It'sJames

I agree with Jeaninel about upping the filtration. Not that it's the cause of the milky water necessarily, but it might help. Maybe a penguin, aquaclear, or just a bigger whisper. Aquaclear is the best in my oppinion, but it's a little more expensive then other HOBs.

herefishy

Very possible that you may have lost some bacteria and you may be experiencing a mini cycle. I, too, would upgrade the filtration.