HDH wrote:

Thanks for the reply. For now I'm going to increase my water changes, add
some Flourish for the plants and cut back on lighting a bit.

(newbie question alert): Is it possible I have too much biological
filtration and could that cause the cloudiness? I fishless-cycled the tank
with ammonia, and the Emperor has a biowheel. Plus the plants of course, so
is it possible there's too much good bacteria in there?

Too much biological filtration is unlikely. The little buggers may convert the
ammonia to nitrate before the plants can eat the ammonia, but then the plants
eat the nitrate.

Cycling is an important issue in a fish tank. In a plant tank, it is much less
of one, since plants eat ammonia with great zeal.

The more relevant issue is disturbing bacteria colonies with chlorine or
chloramines during water changes. In a fish tank, this can cause the cycle to
reset back to zero, and result in ammonia and nitrite buildup in the tank-very
bad. In planted tanks, this can result in some short term white cloudiness, but
usually no crisis.

In any case, the solution is simple: always use dechlorinator (Amquel or Prime)
and wash your filter parts in tank water not tap water.