# Bacterial Bloom lasting a very long time??



## Tomtech (Jan 16, 2018)

Hi guys!! I am having a bit of a problem. I have started up another tank. This is my fifth tank so far, and the ONLY one i have had this problem with!! Here are my details first...
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
pH-6.5

5gal tank Heavily planted with 
Dwarf baby tears
Microswords
...other plants that I cannot recall the name sorry...
1 piece of driftwood that has been leeched
Soil is fluval plant and shrimp stratum
Aquaclear filter for 10gal with carbon and filterfloss
Diy co2 system (1bubble per sec)
Dosed regularly with Seachem excel and flourish

NO fish in here, just a single snail. 
This bacterial bloom has been lasting for about two weeks now. I have tried to use Seachem Clarity, but to no avail. Plants are growing just fine, including the baby tears. I just cannot work out why my water is so cloudy! Its as if someone poured a cup of milk into my tank. I have not done any water changes yet; ive heard that it makes it worse. Is it possible to just drain the tank fully and start over? It has been cloudy for about two weeks now; most responses ive seen regarding bacterial bloom have lasted 4-10 days...i am tempted to get some Seachem purigen, but Im not sure how effective that would be.


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## blissskr (Oct 9, 2007)

How strong is the flow in the tank? As stratum can make a mess if it's getting disturbed to much. If it is just a bacterial bloom if you have some other well cycled tanks filter media available you could try shaking/rinsing the established media off in the tank with the clouding issue. I've done this successfully with cloudy tanks before and usually they clear up within a day or so of doing so.


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## Tomtech (Jan 16, 2018)

blissskr said:


> How strong is the flow in the tank? As stratum can make a mess if it's getting disturbed to much. If it is just a bacterial bloom if you have some other well cycled tanks filter media available you could try shaking/rinsing the established media off in the tank with the clouding issue. I've done this successfully with cloudy tanks before and usually they clear up within a day or so of doing so.


Thanks for that advice!! I'll definitely try that...my water flow is strong enough to distribute the co2, but doesnt bother the substrate.


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## JJ09 (Sep 11, 2014)

Is the tank still cycling? have you seen an ammonia and/or nitrite spike yet? If it's still in cycle, I'd be tempted to just wait it out. But then, I never had one last more than a few days. Worst bloom I had was due to impeller not seated down firmly in the filter, so it wasn't functioning properly. As soon as I noticed and fixed that, the cloudy water cleared up like magic. Check your filter? maybe it's performing below capacity.


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## Aquarium_Noob (Dec 9, 2017)

Might try several large water changes. I had cloudy water after adding ADA Aquasoil. Several water changes later and my water was clear.
When the substrate is agitated enough, a fine layer can be rubbed off and it rarely settles (based on my searches). It just needs to be removed from the water column.
Give your filter a look and see if the sponges are filled with the stuff.


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## rob_ma (Nov 19, 2017)

I had my very first bacterial bloom with my most recent tank. Never before had one but this one lasted a bit over three weeks. Water changes made it worse so I just had to be patient and wait. I did add some aeration in the second week. It made me feel better but I don't know if it helped.  

It did clear rather quickly by the fourth week and it is totally clear now.


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## Tomtech (Jan 16, 2018)

Thanks everyone for the input!! Unfortunately NOTHING has worked yet!!  I have tried using my cycled tank media, but nothing happened. I drained the tank completely, and the water is slightly clearer.... Slightly. I have seachem purigen, as well as seachem clarity, but still have that milky cloud. Im losing my mind here!! Seachem clarity does make little white clouds when i put it in however... So i felt as if it were working. However, again nothing happened.


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## Ridemcowgirl (Aug 11, 2017)

Ive had bacterial blooms in all of my new tanks. Turns out my county water is at the higher end for allowable organics. If this is the case for you as well, a big water change might actually make it worse by giving the bacteria lots of tasty things to eat. The bacteria needs to eat up all of the stuff in the water so it can begin to die back. You can either let it go and do its thing and it will eventually settle itself out or you can add more bacteria so it eats everything up faster and therefore dies off faster. Like what was said before, you can seed the tank with substrate or filter media from another tank or you can buy a bottle of bacteria specifically designed for starting new tanks. 

My husband started his first tank about 2 months ago. Had a bacterial bloom on all of the driftwood, but we figured it would go away on its own. Had a nitrite spike a few weeks ago so we did a good sized water change. Woke up the next morning and his tank water was a white cloudy mess, couldnt even see through it. Well his plants are still small and cant handle all of the organics in the water yet, so i knew another water change would just make it worse. I remembered i had a bottle of nitrifying bacteria so i put some in. The water was completely clear after about 6 hours or so and by the next day the bacteria on the driftwood was gone. The stuff i used was ready start by topfin. It was like $5 at petsmart. I dont normally use it to start a tank, but i have found that it works if you get a bad bloom. As an ecologist, im of the mindset that nature should take its course, but in the case of my hubby having a small freak out, i guess a little help from a bottle doesnt hurt lol.


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