# Cloudy Water



## gjohnson1989

I've been some cloudy water issues the past 2 weeks and I can't figure out what's causing it. Just did a 20 gallon water change on my 75 and it helped none. Cleaned out all my filters thinking something nasty mIght be decaying, nope that wasn't it. Tested my water params and Nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia were all well within the safe zone (can't remember the specific numbers). The PH was pretty low but it always is so it's stable. I only have 2 live plants (amazon sword plant, and anubias plant) but they've been in there for months with no cloudiness. What could some other causes?


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Could be a bacteria bloom... What are your exact test readings?


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## gjohnson1989

I'll have to test again, but i remember that nitrites were 0 and ammonia and nitrates were both within the "safe zone" on the test strips. The nitrates were the lightest pink and ammonia was the lightest green.


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## davery08

noob


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## FEEFA

We need exact numbers of your params to be able to help u. Colors dont help much because different test kits colors could mean different reading.

You mentioned that u cleaned your filters, did you take the proper steps to keep your beneficial bacteria alive? Did u use tap water?
Cloudy water could mean that there is ammonia present, or like joe mentioned a bacterial bloom. without more info its hard to say though.



davery08 said:


> noob


We were all noobs once


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## davery08

I still am! lol I just like giving him a hard time because he is a buddy of mine.. I've seen his tanks (1 75 and 1 55) and the 55 had two HOB filters and the water is crystal clear but the 75 has two HOB and a 2217 filter and it has the cloudy water. I would have thought more filteration the better for cloudy water but I could be wrong


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## gjohnson1989

sh*t! Forgot to buy a master test kit at work today. The ammonia levels were just minimally above 0. I did take the necessary steps to keep my BB alive on my biomax and only used tap water on the mechanical filtration stages in my filters (I was told this was ok in another thread). It took me a while bc it was my first time cleaning my eheim. I kept all the biomax in a bucket of tank water but it took a good hour. So idk if the BB stayed alive or not.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Is it still cloudy?


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## gjohnson1989

Yes sir


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Do you have any pictures so we can have an idea of how cloudy it is?


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## gjohnson1989

yep, i know their arent piranhas in it lol i had piranhas before and decided to let them go until i can get a 120 or bigger so i can actually have a pygo shoal in a suitable size tank.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Is the water green or is that just the lighting?


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## gjohnson1989

It's a combo of the lighting and all the fake green plants


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Hmmm.... cuz in that pic it really looks like green water, which is a free-floating algae.


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## gjohnson1989

I mean honesty it doesn't seem green to me. But if you think it could be, I'll take your word for it. What's something I can try to get rid of this free floating algae? Just see if it works and go from there.


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Well in the pic it looks like green water, but in person it would look green as well -- if it's more of a white cloudiness, then it is probably something else. How long has this tank been set up and what do you have in there?


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## gjohnson1989

It's been up and running for about 2 months or so? It has a jack dempsey 7", firemouth 3-4", convict 3-4", blood parrot 2-3", and a green terror 3-4". It has a eheim 2217, AC 110, AC 70, and a cheap-o small top fin filter.


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## TheSpaz13

From that pic I'm thinking its free floating algae. What I would do is take the plants out and put them in the other tank for a couple of days and black the tank out. Turn the lights off and throw a blanket or towel over it so absolutely no light gets through. That should starve off the algae and leave everything else completely fine. Or your other option is to just use a chemical to clear it out. I know API makes a product called Algaefix and it's safe for plants as well as fish. That stuff works pretty slow but it will get the job done. Personally, I don't like just dumping chemicals into a tank to make it look pretty, but it's still an option

My other thought is that you may have had some kind of interruption in the nitrogen cycle and a bacteria bloom is the filter's idea of compensation. But that doesn't make sense if your ammo level is as low as your saying...keep an eye on it. If your ammo starts swinging then its a re-cycle and its no big deal as long as you just keep doing water changes to keep the levels manageable.


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## gjohnson1989

Awesome spaz, thanks for the advice! I'll take a water sample into work in the morning and check out my params.


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## TheSpaz13

No prob man, either way it's not going to be the end of the world. If I were you I'd grab some test strips at least, in times like these it might not be a bad idea to check the water twice a day. Is the tank near any windows, or direct light by any chance?


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## gjohnson1989

Not really, it never receives direct light but only about 8 feet away from a window. I really just need to sack up and buy a damn master kit, I mean I get a damn 15% discount so I might as well.


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## TheSpaz13

Oh that's not that bad then. If you have a tank in direct sunlight it turns into an algae factory. I was in AE one day talking to Alex and they had a couple of tanks in the front window of the store. Those tanks were so green that you couldn't see through them even when you were looking out to the street, it looked like a green piece of paper.

And WTF are you waiting for if you get a 15% discount on stuff?!?! lol


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## gjohnson1989

Haha bc I already spend half my money on fish stuff and stuff for my dog, she's a chewer!

But I'll just grab a master kit tomorrow.

Yeah I don't suspect it to be an algae problem due to sunlight. What is the cause of this algae problem I seem to have?


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## TheSpaz13

Normally there's a high nutrient content and the live plants you have now are not absorbing them fast enough. The free floating algae (or any type of algae) use that surplus as their main food supply. Every bit of extra food or fish poop is essentially fertilizer for any plant life. I don't mean to say your tank isn't clean, but a friend of mine has cichlids and feeds flake, the fish eat half the flake and then it breaks down in the tank. I was at his house one day and he wanted to know why his tank was cloudy, I took an ammo reading and it was off the chart...as in above 7. You wouldn't have guessed it by looking at his tank because he keeps it spotlessly clean, no chunks of anything around anywhere, just high ammo


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## Guest

That pic looks like green water. How long do you have the lights on?

If it isn't, seachem make a product, I think its called "clarity". I've used it before and it really clears everything up, but it'll leave some stuff on your plants and deco that you'll need to siphon out. If you've tried everything else, give this product a try, it's worked for me in the past.


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## gjohnson1989

Lol maybe I'm just an idiot and can't tell the difference between cloudy and green. Could I maybe add some more live plants to eat up the excess nutrients? 
And trav, I leave the lights on anywhere from
12-16 hours depending on when I get home from work and what not. 
I don't feed flake, just pellets and I'm pretty sure I get all the uneaten pellets out after about 30 mins or so.


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## MFNRyan

I didn't get a chance to read over the post. I just skimmed through, seen a pic with super cloudy green water. I would say if you have live plants or have put stuff in this tank from a pet store or some sort you have some kind of alge. Dunno if you have any sticking to your equipment or the sides of your tank?? if not it's some kind of free floating.. best thing to do it take all possible light from the tank. This will kill off any alge. If you do this an the cloudy does not clear up then I would say its probably due to ammonia, if you have put new filters on the tank, or never let it cycle that will cause this? when i re-cycled my 55g it did this for a few days. Didn't have a green tint but that could be due to plants or fake plants reflecting it. Thats my 50 cents. I'm not as good at this stuff as most guys but the good side is those guys have taught me everything I know about it lol. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes man. I'll go back an read this thread over when I get home


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## TheSpaz13

I'm going to assume you have algae man, 12-16 hours is a TON of light for a tank and that's just feeding into the algae. On my planted tanks I only leave the lights on for 10-12 hours MAX, normally less, and my tanks are fully planted. What kind of lights do you have?


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## gjohnson1989

TheSpaz13 said:


> I'm going to assume you have algae man, 12-16 hours is a TON of light for a tank and that's just feeding into the algae. On my planted tanks I only leave the lights on for 10-12 hours MAX, normally less, and my tanks are fully planted. What kind of lights do you have?


its just one 48" bulb, T8, idk about anything else bc its just the bulb that came with it when i bought off a guy on craigslist

i covered up the tank with a big black blanket and turned the light off, how long should i do that before some of this stuff starts dying off.

And MFN, i dont have any algae on the walls, just the water being cloudy/green.

Not being properly cycled is a possibility. I did my best to cycle it when I got it by putting established media in the filter. but its been a couple months and this is just becoming an issue so who knows. ill try all non-chemical related options first and try that algaefix or clarity as a last resort.


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## MFNRyan

Man leave it under the blanket for 4-5 days.. that will ensure all the alge is dead. Non on the walls means it will be easier to get rid of. After the algae is gone drop a few pieces of shrimp in the tank and once every 3-4 days test your water with an api master test kit. You will get a ammonia spike, then it will drop and a nitrite spike, then it will go away then you will end up with nitrates. Do a 10-25% water change and you should have no problems with cloudy water, or any param spikes when you get your fish in the tank. I made the mistake of not properly cycling and when you have a nice fish thats hard to get in there and you can't get the params under control it sux. then you end up like all these guy that put Nitrites spiked for no reason how do I get it down etc.. etc... just like I did lol. get that stuff out of the way now. could take a week could take up to 6! If the media was already established an was on a good tank with messy fish like your P's will be then I would say the mini cycle shouldn't take long


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## gjohnson1989

Ammonia is anywhere between 0 and .5 on the test strips. I'd guesstimate like .2 or .3


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## MFNRyan

I would get a master test kit for best results. That will surely cure all your issues though if you do that process.


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## FEEFA

lighting schedual is def the problem, keep it blacked out for a few more days and then start off with only 4-6hrs of light a day then gradually move up to 8hrs but no more then that.

Also if you are not sure how old that bulb is then it might be a good idea to replace it, they should be changed every year anyway so it may be time. I've been told that the light will start to produce more algae after a year


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Green water should go away after a 3 day blackout, but if it doesn't -- stay away from chemicals. As a last resort, I would look into a UV sterilizer over chemicals, since you'd only need it for a day or two, you could buy one and return it or see if your LFS or a local hobbyist has one you could borrow/rent for a couple days.


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## gjohnson1989

that black out worked! looks so much better, still gonna change the light out though seeing as its probably pretty old. thanks guys!


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## MFNRyan

I'm glad it worked for ya man. Do a mini cycle to make sure your tank is properly set up before adding fish.


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## gjohnson1989

just got super green again. idk what the deal is. my params are exactly what they were last time. i did a 25 gallon water change and it looks quite a bit better but we'll see. man this is frustrating.


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## MFNRyan

What do you have in it for decor an substrate... where did this come from.. also what is in your filter?? Where was it used before

how much sunlight does it get


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## gjohnson1989

It's just got some fake plants and ornaments i got from work ( Petsmart). Black gravel substrate. No direct sunlight. My eheim 2217 has all the stuff that came with in it, AC 110 in stuffed with sponges and biomax in the intake compartment, and same thing with the AC 70, and I threw on a small top fin filter with clearmax in just to see if it'd help. Lights are barely ever on now since this whole thing started like 2 or 3 weeks ago. I did that blackout for a good week and don't leave them on for anymore than 3 or 5 hours at a time now.


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## MFNRyan

Where did the tank come from before an have you put any fish or anything in the tank man? Whatever it is.. you need to kill it off some how.. I don't know whats the best way to do this.. with alge remover stuff ( I doubt it works well) start all over with your water.. Clean your filter or what.. usually the black out kills it off and it doesn't come back for me... Its the stuff that sticks to the glass that's hard to kill and clean off.. you have to razor blade it!!


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## gjohnson1989

I bought the tank off a guy in like may and had 4 pygos in it, sold them, and have cichlids in it now. The tank has been crystal clear since I bought it and this started like 3 weeks ago, whenever I started the thread. I put like 30 gallons of the 55 tank water in there and switched over one of the filters to help with the cycle. I let it run for about 10 days before adding the pygos. The params have always been good since I cycled it.


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## BRUNER247

Too much light. Try closing that blind on the window by the tank. Leave that light off. Was there fish in there or were you feeding the tank for those 10days?


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## Guest

^^ Agreed. Cut all light to the tank for a couple days, same goes for the filter, so give that a clean after you're done with the blackout. Green water can be annoying to get rid of, but if you take all precautions it's pretty easy to eradicate for good.

Also you can add some fast growing plants (hornwort etc.) to compete with the algae.


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## gjohnson1989

I just cleaned the 2217 a few weeks ago, do it again? And clean all of them at once?

Their was fish in it during the black out and only fed them 2 in that week


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## gjohnson1989

Help guys! This stuff is annoying!


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## JoeDizzleMPLS

Blackout or UV sterilizer to get rid of it and once it's gone, add some fast growing plants such as wisteria or anacharis to help eat up extra nutrients and out compete the algae, also eliminate any sunlight that may be hitting the tank.

Floating plants such as Salvinia minima or water lettuce would be good options as well.


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