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#1
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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 |
#2
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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 -- 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 |
#3
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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 -- 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 |
#4
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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/ |
#5
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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 |
#6
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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. -- Richard Sexton | Mercedes Parts: http://parts.mbz.org http://www.mbz.org Mailing lists: http://lists.mbz.org W108, W126 Mercedes Classifieds: http://ads.mbz.org ** new -- Watch list: http://watches.list.mbz.org |
#7
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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. |
#8
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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. |
#9
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cloudy planted tank
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#10
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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/ |
#11
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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 |
#12
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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 |
#13
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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 |
#14
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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/ |
#15
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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/ |
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