HELP!!!! I've tried everything. How can i keep my fish tank water clear??

Question

I have to change out my tank water everyother day and it still gets very cloudy. How can I make it to where it stays clear?

Answer 1

You're probably trying to clean it too much!

As odd as that might sound, it's true. I'm thinking this is a tank that was set up fairly recently, you added the fish you wanted, and that tank first became cloudy 3-4 days after. This is because your tank is cycling.

When you feed the fish, they naturally produce wastes. The wastes contain ammonia, which is toxic to your fish. In a mature tank, there are bacteria that will break down the ammonia and convert it to nitrite (also toxic), then to nitrate, which is nontoxic in moderate amounts. But with a new tank, you don't have the bacteria needed to do this yet. There are bacteria that are introduced when your fish poo, and these will begin to colonize your tank. As long as there is more ammonia and nitrite than the bacteria can process, they'll continue to multiply at a fairly rapid rate, and it's this reproduction, or "bloom" that makes your tank appear cloudy. But by changing all your water, you're removing the bacteria that have been reproducing, so there is a continual excess of ammonia and nitrite, so they keep reproducing.

What you should be doing at this point is small, partial changes of 10-20% twice a week or 25% once a week, just to keep the ammonia and nitrite within levels tolerable to your fish. Once the bacteria population has grown to a point where all the ammonia and nitrite are being converted, the reproduction will slow down, and the water will become clear on its own.

It also helps to make sure you aren't overfeeding your fish during this time - excess food also produces ammonia as it decomposes. Only feed your fish what they can eat in 2-3 minutes, twice a day. If there's food left over after 3 minutes, use a net or siphon to remove it from the tank, and feed a little less the next time.

Answer 2

I have the same proplem with one of my many tanks. The one with my oscar and dino eel is always a little cloudy. I went and got a undergravel filter to add to the tank with the biowheel filter I have. Also a large pecostimus has been in there for a couple months. I also bought some clear water solution. It is very cheap and works very well. It doesn't harm the fish at all. I only do water changes on Sundays. My water is still not as clear as my 55 gallon however an Oscar is extremely dirty fish. The steps I have taken however has helped.

Answer 3

Cloudy water is one of two things.

If the water is green then it is an algae bloom. Algae blooms are caused by too much light and too many nutrients in the water. They are relatively easily cleared up by reducing the lighting, especially direct sunlight, and by lower the nutrients in the water. Reducing the lighting is easy. Simply shut off the light on the tank and only run it for 8-10 hours a day. You should also ensure that your tank isn't getting any direct sunlight as this will cause you algae problems, either as a green bloom or simply algae on the tank and ornaments. You lower the nutrients by doing more frequent and larger water changes and by feeding less. Fish should be fed only what they can eat entirely in 5-10 seconds. Any uneaten food should be netted out of the tank to prevent it from breaking down.

If the water is white then it is a bacterial bloom. These are caused exclusively by too many nutrients in the tank. To clear the water you will need to increase the frequency and size of your water changes, and decrease the feeding. Fish should be fed only what they can eat entirely in 5-10 seconds. Any uneaten food should be netted out of the tank to prevent it from breaking down.

Neither cloudy water situation is particularly harmful to your fish but are a symptom of a greater underlying problem that must be resolved.

One way to clear the cloudy water immediately is through the use of a micron or diatom filter. This will pull out the particles that cause the cloudiness, but it WILL NOT resolve the problem that caused the particles to be there. This is a short term fix and needs to be used in conjuction with the above fixes.

Answer 4

theres alot of un answered questions here in this question

1. filtered or not filtered and if so what size filter
2. what size tank
3. how many fish , what fish, what size
4. is the tank properly cycled?
5 how much are you feeding them?

if no filter you should get one and if it is filtered you dont buy a whisper 10 for a 10 gallon filter even though it says it can handle a 10 gallon tank. buy a whisper 30 for $5 more it is money well spent

tank size and fish also could be a problem if you are overstocked than you might have to change water daily as you are to keep the water clear but that isnt healthy for your fish they say 1" of fish per gallon as a general rule of thumb but i would say go with 1" of fish for every 2 gallons. under stocking your tank is the best way to clear water

remember to account for the size your fish will get not the size they currently are

cycleing is the process your tank goes through to turn you ammonia into nitrites then nitrites into nitrates then the nitrates need to be removed with regular 20%-40% water changes depending on your nitrate levels. when your tank goes through this it will have bacteria blooms which will cause your water to be a bit hazy but your tank will clear up eventually and will be safe fr fish. takes around 28days to properly cycle a tank depending on conditions.

overfeeding can also be a big part of cloudiness feed them what they wll eat in 2-3 minutes then remove the rest if you let the excess sit in tank it ill often cause cloudiness if you dont have a good enough filter

Hope this helps you
Dave Shepp
www.pa-cichlids.com
visit my chatroom and post in my forums to help me start my site

thanks you

Answer 5

Do you use a filter? That is the biggest thing. Also if your tank is in the sunlight, you might wanna move it. The sun will cause it to get cloudy and grow algae. If none of those solve it, I do not know how big of a tank you have but you can go to the store and buy some fresh water and try that.

Treasa

Answer 6

It has been several years since I have had a fish tank... I remember having to keep a pump and filter system running 24/7. If you are completly changing the water every day, you could be harming your fish. Then again, this depends on the type of fish you have.

Answer 7

you cant if you have tried everything! ;]

get a filter for your tank, get some of those sucker fish?

Answer 8

get one of em machines that help clean it.



and clean it too, even though the machine is suposed to do it for u.