Help with aquarium water, always cloudy?

Question

I have scrubbed my filter, changed the filter pad,and the won't clear up! it's a 10 gal with 8 small fish.

Answer 1

Please, don't use drops or tablets or other chemicals fom the pet store, they cause more problems than they correct usually. If the cloudiness is white / milky then it's a bacterial bloom and will clear up eventually on it's own. Just try to feed less during the bloom.

If the cloudiness is green then it's a free floating algae bloom. To control that do a good water change while cleaning the gravel at least once a week and keep the tank lights off most of the time. On only a few hours a day while you enjoy your tank. it will take a bit of time, maybe a week or two to clear up, but it's far better on your fish than the chemicals.

MM

Answer 2

Agreed, how long have you had the tank up and running.

There could be a few things leading to your tank becoming cloudy.


All too often too many new fish owners make the same common mistakes. Did you wash your tank out properly prior to installing? Did you wash your gravel thru a strainer (and I don't mean just rinse it off)? These are the two leading cause for cloudy water.

Your tank is not cycled properly. See web page.
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm


If your tank is new, less than two weeks, your biggest issue now isn't the cloudy water; it's the ammonia spike that will soon occur (if it hasn't already), followed by elevated nitrites. Both could result in the loss of some or all of your fish. I'd strongly recommend that you become familiar with the Nitrogen cycle, so you are aware of what will be happening in the upcoming weeks.
You should begin testing your water right away for ammonia and take appropriate steps to keep it below lethal levels. Hang in there; once you get your tank through the initial cycle the cloudy water problem will clear up
Do you or are you using a gravel siphon to clean the bottom when doing water changes? (Sorry forgot it is only 7 days old) Did you rinse out your filter and pads prior to installing them?

If you did not rinse the gravel well enough you can do one of two things, stir up the gravel in the tank really well. This will cause all the "dirt" particles to float in your tank. Keep the filter running and do a 20% water change. As long as your water "quality" is fine, do this every other day until the water is clear. Each time, be sure to rinse your filter out as well.

Answer 3

It always helpt so give as much detail as you can. How long has the tank been set up? What types of fish? Do you have plants? Do you use any additives?

New tanks will often get cloudy from bacterial bloom. This is completely harmless and clears up on its own if the keeper just has patience.

By scrubbing the filter you have actually caused a regression in the situation. Leave the filter alone for a full month. Do regular weekly water changes on the tank. You should see it clear up.

The other reason people get cloudy tanks is overfeeding. Most owners don't understand how little a fish needs to eat and how quickly uneaten food can decay and cloud a tank. Feed only tiny portions and make sure it is all eaten - vacuum out anything that goes uneaten.

Don't use chemicals -this is the lazy persons way of masking a problem instead of actually dealing with the cause.

Make sure you haven't overstocked the tank as well. The fish should all be very small, certainly not goldfish. If the tank was only just setup then the problem might also be contributed to adding too many fish at once.

Answer 4

It is probably a bacteria bloom. We had the same thing w/our 29 gallon after a few days of setting it up. You should not keep cleaning the filter and the aquarium because that takes away all of the good bacteria that is building up in there. You just have to wait awhile for the bacteria to settle and then the water will clear. The aquarium really needs to just be set up awhile and allowed to go through this process before the fish are put in. It's even good if you can take a little water from an established aquarium that already has the good bacteria in it and put it in your tank.

Also, when you change the water, don't change it all at the same time or clean a bunch of the things in the aquarium at the same time because that takes a lot of bacteria out that will have to regrow.

Answer 5

You don't say how long the tank has been set up. If it is a new tank or you recently did a 100% water change in addition to scrubbing the filter you have effectively removed all of the beneficial bacteria that are needed to help keep the nitrogen cycle going.

The cloudiness in that case is a natural part of the nitrogen cycle and will clear up on its own in about 7-10 days. You should be doing 20% water changes every 2 days until then. That will keep the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels from becoming toxic to the fish.

If it is not a "new water" tank, you may be overfeeding and have created a bacterial bloom. In that case, the 20% water change cure will work too. Feed only once a day and only as much as the fish will eat in 2-3 minutes.

Do not add chemicals to your tank, that is heading down a slippery slope to more and more chemicals and money down the drain.

Weekly partial (25-30%) water changes are the easiest and cheapest way to keeping your water clean and pure and your fish happy and healthy. I have tanks that have been set up without a teardown for over 6 years. Just regular partial water changes and gravel siphoning (or stirring, with sand).

Good luck, email me if you need further assistance.

Answer 6

Typically, cloudy water is caused by 2 things:
Overfeeding - feed them only what they can eat in a minute or two and be sure that the food is not falling into the gravel. It is better to feed a little, let them eat, feed a little more, etc.. rather than dump it all in at once. Rotting food will always cloud water.

Built up detritus (waste) in the gravel - Be sure to use a gravel siphon tube clear the waste out of the rocks on a monthly basis. They are under $10 at a pet store and a smaller one works best for a 10 gallon. Use this when you do your water changes instead of just taking the water out of the top of the aquarium.

Also, be sure that you are doing real water changes of 20-25% at least once a month. This means taking out the old water and replacing it with new, not just refilling to make up for evaporation.

Doing these things will go a long way to a healthy aquarium.

Answer 7

It sounds like your nitrites may be too high. Do you have water test dipsticks? They will tell you if your balance is off. Often times, this is a result of too much food - which is easy to do.

I would suggest doing 15% water changes every three days with a gravel cleaner, and cutting down on the food until the water clears up - give it two weeks. I prefer to try these methods before using an additional chemical that can harm your fish. I've lost fish to those algae control drops before even though I followed the directions to the letter.

Good luck!

Answer 8

What kind of fish are they? It could be too many fish, if they are ones with a lot of waste like goldfish. Or maybe a stronger filter could help -- unless the fish are one inch long each (which is possible), then it could be too many. Or maybe the food is making it cloudy, what kind do you use?

Answer 9

You probably need a better filter. Try the AquaTech 10-20. I have it for my turtles which are especially dirty in a 20 gal. so it would work miracles for you.

Genna

Answer 10

If you go to Pest Mart or Pet Co they have drops that clear up the water for you. I dont remember what the name of it is but MAKE SURE it kills green algae. Works on my 100 gallon tank like a charm.