Advertisements
Aquatic Avenue Banner Tropica Shop Banner Fishy Business Banner
Results 1 to 2 of 2

Thread: Cloudy water in mature(?) tank

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
    Posts
    8,958
    Feedback Score
    1 (100%)
    Images
    104
    Country
    Singapore

    Cloudy water in mature(?) tank

    Advertisements
    Fresh n Marine aQuarium Banner

    Advertise here

    Advertise here
    Just some observations on an interesting incident.

    My 1m tank has been semi-neglected for some time now due to my 6ft tank. The maintainance routine every 2 weeks has been to trim the plants, change 25% water and sometimes clean out the 2 internal filters.

    In the last round, 2 weekends ago, I did the same thing including cleaning out the 2 internal filters, plus removing some hair algae that had been there for a few weeks. I usually just scrub out both filters and rinse the sponge, using tap water, which effectively destroys most, if not all, the beneficial bacteria. Doesn't matter to me, as they are only for mechanical filtration and water circulation.

    No difference in maintainance, except removal of algae. But, the results were different. Most obvious was the onset of cloudy water the next day. It subsequently got worse over the next few days. The fishes seem fine, so I left the tank alone as I was busy, plus IME, bateria blooms tend to leave as unexpectedly as they come.

    What surprised me was that my plants showed better growth a few days later.
    - Hygrophilia polysperma put out larger leaves with a bronze tinge, instead of the lush green but smaller leaves it had been exhibiting for quite a few months.
    - APP showed accelerated growth.
    - Red Tiger Lotus which had been supplemented with Root Monster a few months ago had been growing small and short for a few weeks prior, just put out a taller leaf today... a bit early to tell for sure, but seems to be going back to large growth.
    - 4 Colour Lotus which had been hanging on to a medium sized leaf, starting to show new leaves.

    Unfortunately, algae seems to be showing stronger growth too. []

    Other then that, the only difference is the feeding of frozen daphnia (ran out of flake food) which started a few days after the water got cloudy.

    Was the tank N-limited? Maybe... as the tank has a low bio-load. On the other hand, the most recent NO3 readings a few weeks before showed at least 5 to 10 ppm. Where did the extra N come from, other then the frozen daphnia (FD)? The symptoms appeared before the FD, and although I noticed the better plant growth just after the FD, there was enough growth to suggest it started before. I also stopped the FD when the water got really cloudy.

    I doubt it was the algae grabbing all the NO3 as there wasn't that much algae to cause such a large difference. Besides, the algae is still showing strong algae.

    Well, I'm still mulling over it. At least it gives me a clue over what has been limiting the tank the last few months.

    Speculations, anyone?
    Vincent - AQ is for everyone, but not for 'u' and 'mi'.
    Why use punctuation? See what a difference it makes:
    A woman, without her man, is nothing.
    A woman: without her, man is nothing.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Dec 2001
    Location
    Bukit Panjang
    Posts
    1,433
    Feedback Score
    0
    Country
    Singapore
    I was speculating N deficiency even before you mentioned it... So I would agree.
    Allen

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •