Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 What would cause my water to get really cloudy. I know that the food I feed they eat everything so I know that there is no food on the bottom. The only thing that I did was dunk the media from the 2 AC 50's about 3 times each to rinse off the brown algae in old tank water. I noticed that 1 AC 30 had quite a bit of clear slime in it and the other filters are ok. What would the clear slime be? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporter Helen Posted November 25, 2010 Supporter Share Posted November 25, 2010 normally cloudy water is a sign of ammonia.. have you tested the water params lately? the other suggestion i have and speaking from experience is green water begining to form.. do you think it may be from this? if so, what i did to get my water crystal clear again is purchase a UV sterilizer. works a treat as for the slime, i haven't encountered this one before, so i have no suggestion to offer. best of luck 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member amynmitchell Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Or slimecoat sloughing off if the PH is different. Have you checked that? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I check my ammonia every day with API drops and 0, I just checked PH and 7.6. My water does not look green. Nitrite was 0 Is there any possible way that maybe my fish do not produce enough ammonia between the 4/ When I touch something in the tank I kill th bb's. My fish are all under 2.5 inches 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Mike, how long has your tank been cycled? It sounds like a bacterial bloom...and you could try a water clarifier to remove any suspended particles. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Mike also cloudy water can be caused by excessive nitrates which can be corrected by increasing the frequency and volume of water changes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I think that it is a bloom also. Why would I go through a bloom again. I don't do anything to cause the bloom. I noticed that my Nitrates are disappearing again. I always thought that water changes go according to the nitrates. I have been read different posts here on the forum about nitrates and cloudy water. I am wondering about the size of my fish and the size of my tank and I use 3 AC's 2 50's and 1 30 and maybe I am not building enough BB's. Maybe my fish do not poop enough? I feed them 2 times a day what they can eat in 5 to 7 mins. It puzzles me because I go through a lot of blooms. I can't touch anything in my tank or it will cause a bloom. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporter Helen Posted November 25, 2010 Supporter Share Posted November 25, 2010 I check my ammonia every day with API drops and 0, I just checked PH and 7.6. My water does not look green. Nitrite was 0 Is there any possible way that maybe my fish do not produce enough ammonia between the 4/ When I touch something in the tank I kill th bb's. My fish are all under 2.5 inches my tank water looked cloudy before it turned green... it took about a week to transform. but this is just a possibility i thought i'd share. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I have been through blooms before and never any green water. I am on city water. If it is the water would it not affect all my tanks? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporter Helen Posted November 25, 2010 Supporter Share Posted November 25, 2010 not necessarily.. i had a few tanks running at the one time, but only the main tank was affected. i don't know enough about this, so i will stop here. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Mike, Here's a good article on cloudy water...take a look and see if anything here may help. Cloudy Water-About.com Mike...second thing is feeding your fish for a duration of 5-7 min? They should be fed only enough that they can consume in 1-2 min maximum. Just wanted to clarify that as feeding them for 5-7 min could attribute to cloudy water. Hope that helps. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 Could feeding even though no food is left in the tank. I feed my fish individually so I make sure that they eat everything. My four fish do not poop much at least the bottom of the tank is usually fairly clean. I can try the 1 to 2 min but thats not much food. I usually feed them and wait till they finish whats in their mouths before I give them more. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Well if there's no leftover food on the bottom you can rule that out. I had a bacterial bloom in my tank about a month ago but it had to do with a media change that I did. I used Aqueon flocculent and it cleared the tank within three minutes. My ammonia was 0.0, nitrites at 0.0, and nitrates at 20 (consistent). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 The only thing that I did on Nov.13 was I rinsed 1 media from each of my AC 50's would that be enough to cause the bloom. I know that I have lost almost all my Nitrates. My ammonia is 0 and my nitrites are 0 for now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 The only thing that I did on Nov.13 was I rinsed 1 media from each of my AC 50's would that be enough to cause the bloom. I really don't believe that would do it providing that you're using tank water to rinse as tap water will kill the established BB within the media that you're cleaning. As a further precaution I would only clean the media from one of your AC's on a regular basis rather than doing all at once. If this is the issue then doing one at a time would still keep your BB consistent. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member shellbell4ever Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Do you have live plants in your tanks?I do and have no nitrates when was the last time you cleaned out your filter?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike and Linda Posted November 25, 2010 Share Posted November 25, 2010 I do not have real plants. I have 3 AC's. I have 2 bags of media in each AC. I have 6 bags of media total. I only cleaned 1 of the 2 bags in each AC 50 so out of 4 bags I cleaned only 2 of them. For the Nitrates could it be possible that maybe my WC are to big I do 50% weekly without fail. Maybe there is not enought time to rebuild before the next WC. Could I do only maybe 25%? When I do my WC when I hit the 12% mark all my poop is cleaned out. I have no gravel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member BenJoly Posted November 25, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted November 25, 2010 Mike, how long has your tank been cycled? It sounds like a bacterial bloom...and you could try a water clarifier to remove any suspended particles. I agree with blackteles..... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Katie Posted December 5, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 5, 2010 I am experiencing a similar thing at the moment My tank isn't very old and I've been told it's a bloom as it's a little cloudy with suspended particles. So water clarifier/flocculent can be bought at your LFS? I've only just noticed it today/yesterday. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kukana d Posted December 5, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 5, 2010 It is curious to me that you have no real plants AND 0 nitratesWhat kind of test kit are you using? 50% w/c/wk is not too much-I do that on all of my tanks,and so do most others here. Back to the test kit-what kind is it? Also,I had a cloudy tank last week-turned out that the media did need cleaning/rinsing-and it cleared right up 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admin koko Posted December 5, 2010 Admin Share Posted December 5, 2010 Mike ....... Ok I see the ph level but have you tested the tap water lately? If that hasnt changed I would get some "cycle" just to bump the cycle again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member kukana d Posted December 5, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 5, 2010 Sorry Mike,I see you use API drops. How old is your test kit? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member blackteles Posted December 5, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 5, 2010 I am experiencing a similar thing at the moment My tank isn't very old and I've been told it's a bloom as it's a little cloudy with suspended particles. So water clarifier/flocculent can be bought at your LFS? I've only just noticed it today/yesterday. Satchi, I use Aqueon Water Clarifier after I do a water change and gravel vac...add the recommended amount and it clears my tank within 5 minutes. Works great for me and is safe for your fish. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member Katie Posted December 6, 2010 Regular Member Share Posted December 6, 2010 I just used some water clarifier and the water seems cloudier then before but I was told by the shop (and reading the bottle) that it takes 24 hours for it to clear the water and collect suspended particles. I have no idea if this is true or not. Hopefully it works though! I have live plants and my nitrate/nitrite tests came back both 0? Ammonia is 0.50 so hopefully I've done the right thing. Hope your water clears up! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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