Cloudy Water for over 4 months.

[MacDuff]

Hi Guys,

I've got cloudy water for the past 4 months, and since I was busy at work, I hadn't much time to look into it.

It happened after I cleaned the canister filter.

I thought that cloudy water issues usually cleared up in about a week.

After about a month with no results, I cleaned the filter again, again with no results. Then with work and other distractions, I let it get to almost 4 months without it getting any better.

It is at least a 4 year old tank.

Any help on how to proceed would be appreciated.

Thanks,
MacDuff.


Tank Dimensions (LxWxH, specify units): It is a 2 ft. Tank. @85 liters.

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) :
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) : PL
Age of light bulbs : Around 1 year.
No. of hours your lights are on : Around 16 hours.

CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : 0
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) : NA (for now)
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) : NA

Liquid fertilisers Used (Product name. E.g. Seachem Flourish) : NA
Fertilization regime (Frequency and amount per dose) : 0

Other fertilisers (Product name. E.g. Root Monster) : ADA Active Soil Substrate.

Other additives (Product name. E.g. Seachem Prime) : 0

Type of Filter (overhead/internal/canister, Product name/model if possible) : Canister.
When was the filter last washed : @ 1-2 months ago.
Filter media used : Ceramic Rings, Bio Balls, Sponges
When was the media last changed : Not changed, just rinsed.
What was changed : NA

Age of setup (i.e. since initial setup or last major re-do ) : 3 years.

Water change frequency : 1x / 3 mo.
Amount changed : 50%

Water surface movement (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle
Circulation (None/gentle/turbulent) : Gentle

Tank Temperature :26C

Chemical Properties (Fill what you can)
-------------------------------------
KH (dKH): ?
GH (dGH): ?
pH : ?
NH4 (ppm): ?
NO2 (ppm): ?
NO3 (ppm): ?
PO4 (ppm): ?
Fe (ppm): ?

Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
------------------------------------------
SAE x 6
Pelvicachromis Pulchers x 6
Yoyo Loach x 2
E Tellenus.
Saggitaria.

[torque6]

Macduff, you can stop by "not" cleaning your filter, you should be experiencing bacteria bloom, similar to "new" setup. This is because when you wash them, you are basically resetting the age of your tank, so your tank techically isnt 4 years old anymore. Perform this step first and let us know in a week if you still have problems.

[MacDuff]

Dear Torque6,

But it has been around 2 months since the tank's filter was last cleaned. And I ALWAYS rinse the filter using water from the aquarium so that the filter would not be reset.

Surely this cannot be it.

Also, I checked, I have 2 x 36W PL lights over the tank.

Macduff

[properfool]

This is a stupid suggestion, but have you cleaned your tank glass ?

I just ended a week of changing water nightly after suddenly realising that the water looked clear from the top of the tank and murky from the sides

[Fei Miao]

Mmmm... you mentioned your tank is 4 years old, try poking into the substrate and see if there are any gas bubbles, it could be the substrate gone bad, anaerobic and affecting the water column.

[adalatla]

That happened to me once for no apparent reason. Have you changed your ceramic rings and bioballs over the last 4 years? My bacteria bloom problem quickly disappered when I replaced the creramic rings, bioballs, and sponge filters. But becareful to leave some of the old rings to help colonise the new substrates. Now i know that the reason for my problem was that the lifespan of the ceremic rings and bioballs although can reuse many times was not infinite.

[barmby]

Add UV - it helps tremendously.

[torque6]

Dear Torque6,

But it has been around 2 months since the tank's filter was last cleaned. And I ALWAYS rinse the filter using water from the aquarium so that the filter would not be reset.

Surely this cannot be it.

Also, I checked, I have 2 x 36W PL lights over the tank.

Macduff

Ok, you worded in such a way that you keep washing your filters, so you are always resetting your bio filters resulting in its ineffectiveness.

[rick]

Unclear water could be due to different reasons, hence each calls for different remedies. If: 1)green water = use UV or change water plus..., 2)bacteria bloom = change H20 and .... 3) old substrate with plant debris = clean/change substrate, 4) dirty glass = ... clean glass (duh), 5)... and so on.... So I think you should figure out the situation first. You change water every 3 mths? ermmm..... ok.

[KeIgO86]

sounds like green water to me. 16 hours of 2x36w over a 2ft is an awful awful awful lot of light. Especially when there is no CO2 and liquid fert being added regularly.

Try lowering your light to 36w or 55w and drop your lighting hours to 8 hours. If the tank clears up, you will know its the lighting problem. Then you can increase it to about 10 - 12 hours.

[torque6]

As discussed with many of us on this thread, you just have to experiment with each variable to pinpoint the problem, it will take awhile to verify the root causes.

[MacDuff]

It doesn't solve the problem, but the tank does look better after the glass is cleaned.

[torque6]

Mac,
Your tank has been cloudy for 4 months, any solution suggested here will not provide an instant rectification, you need a couple of weeks to observe if some methods working. If it doesnt move on to the next step.

[MacDuff]

Mmmm... you mentioned your tank is 4 years old, try poking into the substrate and see if there are any gas bubbles, it could be the substrate gone bad, anaerobic and affecting the water column.

I tried poking the substrate, but no bubbles came out.

[MacDuff]

sounds like green water to me. 16 hours of 2x36w over a 2ft is an awful awful awful lot of light. Especially when there is no CO2 and liquid fert being added regularly.

Try lowering your light to 36w or 55w and drop your lighting hours to 8 hours. If the tank clears up, you will know its the lighting problem. Then you can increase it to about 10 - 12 hours.

I tried a blackout from Tuesday to Sunday, and while the cloudiness improved. It is still there.

[torque6]

?? i didnt see any suggestions on blackout in this thread ?

[MacDuff]

Torque,

In the past, I've used blackout as a remedy for green water.

Mac

[torque6]

oh i see, you mentioned cloudy, didnt know you meant green water.

[properfool]

whoa, I just realised your PL lights are on 16 hours a day...that may be a bit long.

I would try the following:

Some websites suggest changing light bulbs 6 mth- yearly - because of loss of intensity in the bulbs. Long photoperiod at low intensity may mean your light might not be getting to your plants and encouraging other populations to gain dominance eg algae

Try a broken photoperiod : at least 5h on. break for at least 2h then second photoperiod up to 12 hr total

Blackwater or ketepang leaf extract - tints the water and this hampers algal photosynthesis

Reduce feeding


Cheers. Just some stuff culled from reading the 'net.

[torque6]

I take a break of 2hrs as well on my lights, but i only read this on CA. There isnt any "official" grounds that this will keep algae to minimum.