cloudy planted tank
 

Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

Anyway, the tank is heavily planted with compressed CO2, and 7cc of
TMG dosed daily and ~210w of cf. Anyway, just the past week the water
has had this milky color to it. The plants are still doing great with
no adverse affects that I can tell and the regular 50% weekly water
changes is only clearing it up temporarily. About 24-26 hrs after the
water change, its back to being milky. No adverse affects on the fish
that is noticeable.

Anyone have any ideas of the cause and a really low cost solution.

thanks

cloudy planted tank
 

typically this is a sign of bacteria. vacuum if possible and don't feed for
a day or so.

ease off on the amount of food.

jtm

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"Bugbear" wrote in message
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

Anyway, the tank is heavily planted with compressed CO2, and 7cc of
TMG dosed daily and ~210w of cf. Anyway, just the past week the water
has had this milky color to it. The plants are still doing great with
no adverse affects that I can tell and the regular 50% weekly water
changes is only clearing it up temporarily. About 24-26 hrs after the
water change, its back to being milky. No adverse affects on the fish
that is noticeable.

Anyone have any ideas of the cause and a really low cost solution.

thanks

cloudy planted tank
 

Overfeeding has been ruled out. I feed about 3 times a week and the
fish get just enough to keep them from snacking on one another (there
all small fish anyway). A few pellets hit the bottom for the corys
but other than that, thats all. Will be doing regular water changes
for awhile until I can get it back to its original view. Thought
about putting a carbon filter in to help clear it out but am unsure if
this would help in the long run or not. Anyone else have an idea of
what could be causing this?

thanks

"Jim Miller" wrote in message ...
typically this is a sign of bacteria. vacuum if possible and don't feed for
a day or so.

ease off on the amount of food.

jtm

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Remove NOSPAM for email replies
"Bugbear" wrote in message
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

Anyway, the tank is heavily planted with compressed CO2, and 7cc of
TMG dosed daily and ~210w of cf. Anyway, just the past week the water
has had this milky color to it. The plants are still doing great with
no adverse affects that I can tell and the regular 50% weekly water
changes is only clearing it up temporarily. About 24-26 hrs after the
water change, its back to being milky. No adverse affects on the fish
that is noticeable.

Anyone have any ideas of the cause and a really low cost solution.

thanks

cloudy planted tank
 

Anyone else have an idea of
what could be causing this?

It might help if you post your parameters. pH, KH, nitrate, etc.

Is it possible that your cloudy water is actually the beginnings of green
water? Often, a slight green water problem looks whitish or milky. It's not
until the algae gets really bad that it starts to look green.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

cloudy planted tank
 

Make sure your CO2 injection is working properly. I had a very similar
experience with my 70 gal 240 watt tank. Water crystal clear, plants
pearling all the time... and then over a 2 day period BAM! cloudy. Water
changes had no effect. I couln't see through to the back of the tank-it was
so cloudy. So.... I checked everything and my CO2 reactor was
malfunctioning. Cleared the problem and two days later the water began to
clear. In 5 days the tank was crystal clear again... worth a try!

Djay

"Bugbear" wrote in message
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

Anyway, the tank is heavily planted with compressed CO2, and 7cc of
TMG dosed daily and ~210w of cf. Anyway, just the past week the water
has had this milky color to it. The plants are still doing great with
no adverse affects that I can tell and the regular 50% weekly water
changes is only clearing it up temporarily. About 24-26 hrs after the
water change, its back to being milky. No adverse affects on the fish
that is noticeable.

Anyone have any ideas of the cause and a really low cost solution.

thanks

cloudy planted tank
 

Overfeeding has been ruled out. I feed about 3 times a week and the
fish get just enough to keep them from snacking on one another (there
all small fish anyway). A few pellets hit the bottom for the corys
but other than that, thats all. Will be doing regular water changes
for awhile until I can get it back to its original view. Thought
about putting a carbon filter in to help clear it out but am unsure if
this would help in the long run or not. Anyone else have an idea of
what could be causing this?

Throw a diatom filter on it. In half an hour it
will be crystal clear. Don't be surprised if the
filter turns green.


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cloudy planted tank
 

Hi,

as one of the other posting sais, I think it's bacteria'bloom'; cloudiness
in this case should look a bit 'silvery'. It should disappear/decrease
within about 24-48hrs. Best thing to do is to let it rest, but keep an eye
on O2/CO2!
If this is not the case, better check your whole chemical scenario and post
it again.

Jos.



"Bugbear" schreef in bericht
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

cloudy planted tank
 

The tank is still cloudy. Here are the specs

pH 7.2
kh 20 dkh
gh 16 dh
p 0
ammonia 0
nitrites ~.15 if that

Haven't had a chance to check the CO2 reactor as mentioned earlier.
Will give this a shot. Its looking as if its an algae bloom.
Overfeeding is not an issue. Not a lot of mulm in available areas.
Fertilize ~8 cc daily, 210w cf, ~11.5 hrs of light daily, 20-50% water
changes weekly. Am still baffled at the cause. Have some string
algae growing and the SAE dont touch it (worthless things) and there
true SAE. Anyway, what's everyones thoughts on this. Plants are
doing just fine. Have thought about reducing fertilizer amount and
light lvls or one of the two.



"J. Toonen" wrote in message ...
Hi,

as one of the other posting sais, I think it's bacteria'bloom'; cloudiness
in this case should look a bit 'silvery'. It should disappear/decrease
within about 24-48hrs. Best thing to do is to let it rest, but keep an eye
on O2/CO2!
If this is not the case, better check your whole chemical scenario and post
it again.

Jos.



"Bugbear" schreef in bericht
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

cloudy planted tank
 

check your nitrAtes. that's where my algae bloom comes from. Adding
plants will get rid of it.
cheers

(Bugbear) wrote in
m:

The tank is still cloudy. Here are the specs

pH 7.2
kh 20 dkh
gh 16 dh
p 0
ammonia 0
nitrites ~.15 if that

Haven't had a chance to check the CO2 reactor as mentioned earlier.
Will give this a shot. Its looking as if its an algae bloom.
Overfeeding is not an issue. Not a lot of mulm in available areas.
Fertilize ~8 cc daily, 210w cf, ~11.5 hrs of light daily, 20-50% water
changes weekly. Am still baffled at the cause. Have some string
algae growing and the SAE dont touch it (worthless things) and there
true SAE. Anyway, what's everyones thoughts on this. Plants are
doing just fine. Have thought about reducing fertilizer amount and
light lvls or one of the two.



"J. Toonen" wrote in message
...
Hi,

as one of the other posting sais, I think it's bacteria'bloom';
cloudiness in this case should look a bit 'silvery'. It should
disappear/decrease within about 24-48hrs. Best thing to do is to let
it rest, but keep an eye on O2/CO2!
If this is not the case, better check your whole chemical scenario
and post it again.

Jos.



"Bugbear" schreef in bericht
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.

cloudy planted tank
 

nitrites ~.15 if that

This might be the problem. Nitrite should be zero. If nitrite is measurable,
your tank is cycling. Cloudy water is to be expected.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

cloudy planted tank
 

On Thu, 02 Jan 2003 12:18:22 GMT, Moose
wrote:

check your nitrAtes. that's where my algae bloom comes from. Adding
plants will get rid of it.

Nitrates will usually not cause an algae bloom. What several people
have found is that if the ammonia being produced isn't being used up
quickly enough (by either the bacteria or the plants) then it will
cause algae problems. The ammonia might not be measurable, but it's
still the most likely cause.

My 75g tank was running for 4-6 months with nitrate level of 50ppm+
with zero algae problems.

Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

cloudy planted tank
 

Not clear on that, Chuck... ammonium nitrite nitrate, right? Assuming a
fully cycled tank, whatever ammonia isn't being used, ends up as nitrite,
then nitrate. Or am I putzing up the chemistry thing again?

The presence of nitrates is symptomatic of an algae bloom but not the cause
of it. If there is more ammonium present than the plants can use, the
excess will be available to be converted by the bacteria to nitrite
nitrate. Algae are opportunistic and will use the ammoium or nitrate
indiscriminately whereas higher plants will exhaust available ammonium
before using nitrate.

kush

Chuck Gadd wrote in message
...
On Thu, 02 Jan 2003 12:18:22 GMT, Moose
wrote:

check your nitrAtes. that's where my algae bloom comes from. Adding
plants will get rid of it.

Nitrates will usually not cause an algae bloom. What several people
have found is that if the ammonia being produced isn't being used up
quickly enough (by either the bacteria or the plants) then it will
cause algae problems. The ammonia might not be measurable, but it's
still the most likely cause.

My 75g tank was running for 4-6 months with nitrate level of 50ppm+
with zero algae problems.

Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

cloudy planted tank
 

On Thu, 02 Jan 2003 20:16:05 GMT, "kush"
wrote:

Not clear on that, Chuck... ammonium nitrite nitrate, right? Assuming a

Yes, ammonia-nitrite-nitrate.

So yes, the ammonia will eventually be converted to nitrate.

The presence of nitrates is symptomatic of an algae bloom but not the cause
of it. If there is more ammonium present than the plants can use, the

In my experience, nitrate level itself is un-related to an algae
bloom.

In my tank, the rate of nitrogen production is higher than the plants
can use, so the nitrate level in my tank constantly rises. But,
because of the massive biological filtration capacity of a wet/dry
filter, the ammonia is converted QUICKLY into nitrite/nitrate.

In my 10g quarentine tank, with no fish in it, if I add lots of KNO3,
to get a nitrate level of 50ppm, I get no algae bloom except for an
increase in green-spot algae on the glass. I've held the nitrate
level steady at 50+ for over a week testing this. If do a 100% water
change, and then add enough ammonia to reach 10ppm ammonia, I'll have
algae soup in just a day or two.

Algae seems to be able to utilize ammonia MUCH more efficiently than
it does nitrate.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

cloudy planted tank
 

Kind of odd for it to start cycling again as it was already cycled
before the bloom. I did do a no, no. I cleaned the filter when I did
a water change but this was after the initial bloom started so this
probably didn't help any. Will do regular water changes every couple
days in hopes that this will help clear it up and leave the filter
alone. Thought about doing something like a 95% water change,
otherwise, suck all the water out down to the gravel and refill but
this may be a bit drastic. The fish may suffer a bit but but there
all hardy fish anyway and they've been through worse. Will try to get
the nitrites to 0, clean the CO2 reactor. Unfortunatley, funds are
tight, so a UV sterilizer or a diatom filter are out of the question.



tose (LeighMo) wrote in message ...
nitrites ~.15 if that

This might be the problem. Nitrite should be zero. If nitrite is measurable,
your tank is cycling. Cloudy water is to be expected.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

cloudy planted tank
 

Kind of odd for it to start cycling again as it was already cycled
before the bloom.

Did anything happen that might have affected the biological filter? Dead fish
or snails, medication added to the tank, food you don't usually use, plants
pruned severely, power outage, new fertilizer, etc.?

Unfortunatley, funds are
tight, so a UV sterilizer or a diatom filter are out of the question.

It might be best to just let the tank alone. Let the biological filter
re-establish itself, and the problem may go away on its own.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

cloudy planted tank
 

LeighMo wrote ...

It might be best to just let the tank alone. Let the biological filter
re-establish itself, and the problem may go away on its own.

Or temporarily add several bunches of hornwort or duckweed or cheap stem
plants like pond penny and two teaspoons per gallon of A.C.T. by Markel.

My 2 cents U.S.,
kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

cloudy planted tank
 

No dead fish that I'm aware of. Kind of hard as the tank is heavily
planted and if any died or where half eaten it would be hard to find
but I doubt this as everyone is accounted for except the ones that are
always hiding and only visible at night. The only snails in the tank
are the small pond snails and I don't think a few of them dying would
cause a major swing. Did do some trimming but I wouldn't say anything
severe and most of the clippings where replanted. We did have a power
outage for a couple hrs. Same fertilizer and food. Thought about
leaving it alone and had for about 2 weeks without a good change but
instead it got thicker. So we spent last night cleaning the tank and
sucked up enough detrius around my 6x10 liliopelis clump to fill a
small bucket. The lili had basically died and then regrew on top of
the dead part so this may had caused an increase in the nutrients in
the water throwing the balance off. Hopefully this is the cause.
Believe so after reveiwing a number of plant books and other
resources. We'll see how it goes.

tose (LeighMo) wrote in message ...
Kind of odd for it to start cycling again as it was already cycled
before the bloom.

Did anything happen that might have affected the biological filter? Dead fish
or snails, medication added to the tank, food you don't usually use, plants
pruned severely, power outage, new fertilizer, etc.?

Unfortunatley, funds are
tight, so a UV sterilizer or a diatom filter are out of the question.

It might be best to just let the tank alone. Let the biological filter
re-establish itself, and the problem may go away on its own.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

cloudy planted tank
 

Here's a scenario for ya... I've got a tank (75G) that has been
established for over 2 years. I just started the live plant thing
recently. The plants did and looked great for the first month... Until
they depleted their natural reserves. The water clouded up (but wasn't
green) and I got a horrendous algae outbreak. Almost to the point that
there was a green sheet covering everything in the tank. I upped the
fertilizer dose rate, (bright cf's and pressurized co2) in the hopes
to get the plants going again like they were when they were purchased.
I was a little concerned that the algae might use all of the added
nutrients to their benefit. To my amazement the plants took off and
most of the algae was eradicated in very short order. As I type I can
see that the algae is slowly turning black as it dies and is sheeting
off of everything.


On 2 Jan 2003 15:19:31 -0800, (Bugbear) wrote:

Kind of odd for it to start cycling again as it was already cycled
before the bloom. I did do a no, no. I cleaned the filter when I did
a water change but this was after the initial bloom started so this
probably didn't help any. Will do regular water changes every couple
days in hopes that this will help clear it up and leave the filter
alone. Thought about doing something like a 95% water change,
otherwise, suck all the water out down to the gravel and refill but
this may be a bit drastic. The fish may suffer a bit but but there
all hardy fish anyway and they've been through worse. Will try to get
the nitrites to 0, clean the CO2 reactor. Unfortunatley, funds are
tight, so a UV sterilizer or a diatom filter are out of the question.



(LeighMo) wrote in message ...
nitrites ~.15 if that

This might be the problem. Nitrite should be zero. If nitrite is measurable,
your tank is cycling. Cloudy water is to be expected.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

cloudy planted tank
 

Well, after going through everything on the aquarium, found the cloudy
water to be a bacterial bloom. After reviewing everything I've done
to the aquarium over the past couple of weeks and thoroughly
discussing this my significant other, she brought to my attention of
the floss I placed in the filter a couple days before Christmas.
Anyway, it looks as if I put so much floss in the filter that it
reduced the flow rate significantly enough to kill off half the
bacteria in the filter, thus, as you guessed, a bacteria bloom.
Anyway, I've pulled out majority of the new floss and will have to
wait for the recycling process to finish before the water becomes
clear again.

What's come up now is that I would like to put in a type of biological
media that would help greatly. Right now, all I have are sponges and
a bit of floss in the canister filter. I'm considering ceramic rings,
bio-stars, or bio-glass. Anyway, I am unable to find much information
on the bio-glass. Here is a link to the product I'm thinking of
adding. Any comments or suggestions.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...=6&pCatId=4173

thanks

"J. Toonen" wrote in message ...
Hi,

as one of the other posting sais, I think it's bacteria'bloom'; cloudiness
in this case should look a bit 'silvery'. It should disappear/decrease
within about 24-48hrs. Best thing to do is to let it rest, but keep an eye
on O2/CO2!
If this is not the case, better check your whole chemical scenario and post
it again.

Jos.



"Bugbear" schreef in bericht
m...
Need some feedback on possible causes and solutions to my 75g tank.
The tank is already established. Before this the tank had really
clear water. Filter is clean as well or as clean as I guess a
canister filter can get.