# HELP !! Cloudy tank for a week or two!!



## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

hello everyone! 

the cloudiness of the water in my tank is killing me ... and i realli have no idea y .. my fish and plants are all looking healthy or at least they do to me ... please advise ...

my tank is 20 gallons 

Total population : 5 glass cats, 6 fancy guppies , 3 otos and 1 pleco

temperature : 26 degrees celcius
PH: 6.3
NH : 1.5
FE:1.0
PO4: 0
CO2 : 10 ppm (when still using DIY, changed to CO2 tank with diffuser today =)) CO2 set at 1 bubble per second during photoperiod

lights are 4 tubes of T5 24 watts , 2 white and 2 blue 10000K turned on 7 hours a day.

Did water 50% water changes twice this week but still cloudy .. =(

am sarting to wonder if its due to a chemical reaction between my liquid plant fert and Excel and anti chlorine...

Dose excel everyday and plant fert once a week or after water changes.. anti chlorine onli after water changes and a few drops during water top up everyday ...

PPL! HELP!!!!! Would deeply appreciate it !!


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

_Is the cloudiness white or green?..._ If white a bacteria bloom, if green a algae bloom... Aquarium Plants | My views, Steve Hampton, on how to succeed with aquarium plants


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

white clouds .... bacterial bloom?? what will it do to my tank and how do i get rid of it????


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## FernMan (Jun 4, 2006)

Torquedj,

How long has your tank been set up?


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## Mud Pie Mama (Jul 30, 2006)

Don't worry, sometimes it can take a little detective work to get to the bottom of a problem. However, there is definitely enough knowledge and experience on this forum to help you get things back in order.

How much Excel have you been adding daily? It is important to be precise with your measurements as sometimes too large of a dose can harm your bacterial colony.

Also, what type of substrate? When I was a plant newby I had one tank in which I used a cheap pea gravel and when I started injecting CO2 had excessive amounts of limestone contaminates in the pea gravel start dissolving and clouding the water. THAT was a BIG headache...._and backache_.... when that required a total tank breakdown to correct!

Sometimes a greenwater episode is a better problem to have . One trick to tell for sure which color your water is actually going towards is to remove some from the tank and put it into a plain white pail or bowl.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

torquedj said:


> white clouds .... bacterial bloom?? what will it do to my tank and how do i get rid of it????


*From the site I provided...*

2) Bacteria bloom. For a variety of reasons a tank can experience a bloom in bacteria. While rarely problematic it is annoying. Bacteria blooms are cloudy and white in color AND, this is really important, the cloudy appearance is the same throughout the day. If the cloudy appearance worsens during the day under lights it is an algae bloom even though it may not look green. Most bacteria blooms last for no more than 10-14 days maximum. Any cloudy water that remains longer than two weeks is likely to be free floating algae. Bacteria blooms will end naturally on their own and are usually caused by overfeeding or organic decay from food, dead fish, snails, or plants


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

I've been overdosing Excel due to a past algae problem ... about 3-5 ml a day ... and i've just looked at the water in a white bowl ... no trace of green-ness in it ..

Here's a picture of my gravel ... think its pea gravel but it said artificial soil in the packaging .. used it in my last tank and didn't cause any cloudiness ....


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

hmmm ... can't seem to upload the image ... my gravel is brown in color , subtle hardness and pea shaped ...


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

Thanks Trenac ! But if its free floating algae shouldn't the dosing of Excel get rid of it?


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

torquedj said:


> Thanks Trenac ! But if its free floating algae shouldn't the dosing of Excel get rid of it?


An Excel OD won't get rid of free-floating algae (which could be the cause of green water).


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

-deleted-


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

hmmm .. ok ... in that case i'll try blacking out for a few days ... do i leave the CO2 on? and do i need an air pump for my fishes and plants?


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

A couple of things:

- You have 4.8wpg of lighting on that tank and low CO2. You need to get more CO2 into the tank or reduce the lighting. Once you get adequate CO2, you'll need to dose macro ferts (I assume your liquid fert is only a trace fert?).

- Also with that much lighting, you need a good amount of plant mass. How densely planted is the tank?

- What is NH? If this is NH3 or NH4 (ammonia/Ammonium) you should not have measurable levels of this. How long has the tank been setup? This can be the result of a tank not cycled (though planted tanks usually don't go through a cycle), a die off of your bacterial population or using a dechlorinator on chloramine treated water that only breaks down the chloramine, removes the resulting chlorine and leaves the resulting ammonia in the tank (in this case your need to use a good dechlorinator that can remove both the chlorine and bind the resulting ammonia from chloramine... Seachem Prime is good for this).


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

ok i'll increase the CO2 to about 2-3 bubbles per second .. the liquid fert i'm dosing is Ferropol from JBL .. contains potassium, sulphur , iron and the trace elements as well...

this tank has been up for about a month or so ... yes .. its NH3/NH4 ... hmmm .... i'll go get Seachem Prime later in the day i guess ... the anti chlorine i'm using now is something i grabbed off the shelf , doesn't say anything bout contents just that its an anti chlorine ...

my tank is moderately planted with 8 kinds of plants ..


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

And here's some good reading material that'll get you up to speed on the basics:

DFW Aquatic Plant Club Articles-- Beginner Basics: Introduction

Rex's Guide to Planted Tanks

And welcome to APC!


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## torquedj (Nov 9, 2006)

Thanks for all yr help ppl! all of u have been real helpful! I will upload a pic of my tank once i figure out how to !


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