white clouded water

[mrairportjunke]

ok gang, i have a 29 gallon that has been up for long time.  probably over yr now.  well for the first like 6 months or more white water always,  never got rid of it.  about a couple months back i added a aqua clear 50 to the tank. so i have 2 of them.  that night the water cleard up, no white water,  nice.  well that lasted about month or so.  white water is back and i have tried changin carbon, filter, tested parameters and all is perfect.  what gives.  i tried the white cloud water drops but no go.  is my light wrong, or is the tank just cursed?

[Zulaab]

Re: white clouded water

Check for Ammonia spike..
If you really want to get your water CRYSTAL clear I am going to recommend you get yourself one of those media bags and get yourself some Sechem Purigin or Kent Marine Organic Adsorbtion Resin.  Both have a good history of getting the smallest particles out of the water.

[mrairportjunke]

Re: white clouded water

im runnin carbon and the ammonia stuff in the media bags.  but no ammonia.  none ever.  its 0.

[Zulaab]

Re: white clouded water

Try the other suggestion then :)   It has done wonders for me.  Reason I brought up Ammonia is because I had to cycle a tank the hard way ie with more fish in it than I cared for and it caused a white cloudy water... after about two weeks the white cloudy water went away and I attributed that to the tank had cycled

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: white clouded water

What substrate do you have in the tank?
How many fish are in the tank?

Might be bacterial blooms over and over again.

[mrairportjunke]

Re: white clouded water

i have gravel.  fish like 5 rosy barbs, 5 black skirt tetra, and 2 small rainbow sharks, and 2 tiny baby koolie loaches.

[Brownsnoutuk]

Re: white clouded water

Have you checked to see if the gravel is breaking up in the water?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: white clouded water

More info?

Substrate?
How much substrate?
Feeding?
Amount?
Lighting?
Maintenance routine?
Filtration? Other then what's listed.
Checked NitrItes? NitrAtes?
Checked for those in the tap water?

[imagirlgeek]

Re: white clouded water

Does the water smell bad?  Or is it just visibly discolored?  And are the fish acting odd?  Fins clamped, gasping?

[mrairportjunke]

Re: white clouded water

substrate is aquarium gravel,  about 30 pounds
feeding,  not much they eat what i give all of it and clean up nice.  none left in filter.  brand is tetra crisps
lighting is a aquaglow 20w bulb
maintance is about a 10 percent water every couple weeks.  gravel vac and 50 percent about ever 2 months.
filtration 2 aqua clear 50's with carbon and ammonia chips in one.  
1 airstone for visual appeal
nitrates 0
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
havent checked the tap water but i dont have a problem in any of my other tanks with the water.  
no smell.
fish are fine.  acting normal, growing, eatin machines.  all fish have been in there for 6 months are more. newest are the kuhlis.  bu the were put in begining of nov or end of oct.  
water is just a white milky look to it.  not down at the bottom of the water to bad but top of water level to about 1/4 from bottom.  bottom 1/4 of water lever is not bad.  i have never been able to get rid of this though. had it for whole time the tank has been up except for like that month or so after i added the second aquaclear

[imagirlgeek]

Re: white clouded water

That's all good news!  I would be really worried if the fish were acting odd or there was a smell.  

So, have you tried a water clarifier?  We keep it on hand because sometimes our tanks will cloud up (usually because we've been messing with the sand or something), but regardless, the water clarifier takes all the small particles that are too small to be managed by the filters and clumps them together so the filter can take care of it.  It's worth a try if you haven't tried already.

[imagirlgeek]

Re: white clouded water

However, I do think it's odd that your Nitrates are at 0.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: white clouded water

Nitrates are suppose to show especially if its not planted.

I would up your water changes and if your carbon is old(3mths-older) I would ditch it and the ammonia chips too.

[Mzungu]

Re: white clouded water

I'd try Zulaab's idea with the Purigen, I've heard good things about that stuff.

Not sure if I would take out the carbon, but maybe the ammo chips?

Can you take a picture, so we can get an idea of what the cloudiness looks like?

Could it possibly be tiny air bubbles in the water column? Sometimes they can make water look cloudy and whitish.

[Zulaab]

Re: white clouded water

If the carbon or the ammo chips are more than 3+ months old.. they are used up and its basically a filler product in your filter.  Once the carbon and ammo chips surfaces have been covered (ie microscopically) they no longer can do any good...