# constantly cloudy water



## whitetiprs (Aug 28, 2009)

I forgot to say that I use only remineralized, heated, and aerated RO/DI water for all water changes and top offs. also only feeding every other day since the cloudyness started.


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## markstanfill88 (Jul 13, 2009)

UV Sterilizer. Believe me, it takes all the brains out of fishkeeping. 40 dollars at petsmart will keep your water so clear, you may want to drink it instead of your tap water. Ive had milky, bacteria infested water that wouldnt go away no matter how long I let it sit, and a mere 24 hours after installing a little 9w UV sterilizer it all was gone. Best investment I ever made. Sometimes I think no matter what you do, the chi, fung shooy, or whatever you wanna call it, is just not gonna go your way.

Oh and HOB is bad for your co2 in the water.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

That sure sounds like algae to me... I've never heard of a bacteria bloom lasting that long, unless you're keeping the tank from coming to equilibrium with those big water changes?

A UV probably would solve your problem the easiest.

However, I personally just don't like them (I like having microfauna in my water columns...) 

What I personally would do is experiment to try and find the cause. 

First of all- can you think of ANYthing that changed before this started happening? You said that the tank has been set up for 6 mos but the problem only started 2 months ago. Did you add any fish? Change the photoperiod? Adjust your ferts? Add or remove any plants? etc?

I'd start with a 3 day blackout to test and see if the problem is GW, and see if the water is cloudy when you remove the coverings. That should tell you for sure whether or not the problem is algae or bacterial. If the water is clear after the blackout but then clouds up again, you know the problem is GW.

If it's GW, I'd personally stop doing water changes, reduce the lighting and fert dosing, and just let it run its course. (Took 2 months for the GW to subside on my 90gal, but it's been crystal clear ever since! Of course, the UV would be quicker...)

If it's bacterial, I'd also reduce the dosing and water changes (no more than 25% weekly, if that- just keep a close eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels), and just give the tank a few weeks to stablize.

I think you should be able to go back to your large water changes down the road, but I'd reduce them now to try and let the tank come to equilibrium with its bioload, which I suspect is the underlying problem ATM.


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## alanzhao (Mar 1, 2007)

markstanfill88 said:


> UV Sterilizer. Believe me, it takes all the brains out of fishkeeping.


Agree, it also saves all the meds money.


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## shoteh (Nov 13, 2007)

You could try purigen first to see if that helps any. I would also ask myself the questions that lauralee suggested trying to find any changes (it could just be very subtle) that could have occurred, ie. one time I didnt know why my tank was cloudy until I found out that the ferts I was adding had bacteria in them the hard way. Good luck though.


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## TickleMyElmo (Aug 13, 2009)

Id stop doing such big water changes and definitely stop putting that Stress Zyme in. Maybe do a 20% water change every week. If you keep doing such big water changes and then adding even more new bacteria on top of it the problems never going to go away because the bacteria never has time to cycle. I used to work at PetSmart and people would always add API StressZyme in their tank and it always just made everything worse. The only time I see StressZyme being useful is when you first set the tank up, and even then its a stretch. I'd just let it run its course. I wouldn't even change the water for a while....at least a week maybe 2.


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## tyler79durdan (Jan 23, 2010)

I got an ozonizer for sale


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## whitetiprs (Aug 28, 2009)

I was planning on getting a UV at some point so I think I will be getting one now. It is looking better today so maybe it is on the mends. I went ahead and added some HCL to my liquid ferts incase there may be some bacteria coming from there. I will update after I get a UV up and running.

Thanks, Matt


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## willbldrco (Mar 24, 2007)

whitetiprs said:


> I was planning on getting a UV at some point so I think I will be getting one now. It is looking better today so maybe it is on the mends. I went ahead and added some HCL to my liquid ferts incase there may be some bacteria coming from there. I will update after I get a UV up and running.
> 
> Thanks, Matt


I had similar problems about 4mos after setting up my tank. I had UV filtration too. I bought a liter of Purigen and made bag for it out of 300 micron filter cloth, stuck it in my canister and the problem was gone within the week. If you don't want to make your own bag, you can buy one made for Purigen called "The Bag." That stuff is awesome and you can recharge it with bleach. Love it.

A few months later, I had a relapse which was caused, by all things, the lights reacting with surface scum! I posted a video of this in the first post of this thread. It's so weird to watch, but it was cleared up by adjusting water flow to get some surface movement (and thus break up the surface scum).

Good luck!!

Will


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