cloudy water

[mmd]

i can not rid myself of cloudy water.
i have a 150 gallon tank, 18 by 6 foot, temp 84 degrees, no2 undetectable, no3 between .5 and 10, ph unknown, i currently ran a high ph test (7.4 and above) and based on same my ph clearly less then 7.
9 discus between 3-6 inches, 15 tetra (cardinal/rummy nose), 10 small cory's. one large piece of driftwood, well aged pool sand substarte.
appears my cloudiness is from suspended particulate matter, when i ran a think pad (like a blanket) in my small fluval it clogged quickly and was brown in color, cloudiness appears white and no effect on fish, 2 pair discus spawn regularly.
filtration: fluval 304 with carbon and plenty of ceramic rings and a fx5 with ceramic rings.
i have had this issue for 8 months now
any ideas

[mmd]

tried water change 1 x a week at 50%
tried 3x a week at 30
tried no change in a week
usual maintainance is 2x a week at 30% each.
feed light tried als black worms, nls pellets, good quality flake, water always the same

[Skip]

did you take out the driftwood?

[cjr8420]

did you take out the driftwood?
+1 i tried a big nice piece pulled from a lake let it dry bleached it power washed it put it in the tank and had similar issues.tank was already up and running added it had issues removed it they went away.hth gl

[cooksa]

Do you use Prime for water changes? I've found when "overdosing" the tank, it ends up having a white cloudiness.

[mmd]

i use api tap water conditioner not prime
the driftwood was bought used (months in a tank prior), the cloudiness existed well before the driftwood was added
im trying some filterfloss (got the walmart type) later today

[Skip]

To me it seems like a algae bloom... Why... Idont know

[cjr8420]

i use api tap water conditioner not prime
the driftwood was bought used (months in a tank prior), the cloudiness existed well before the driftwood was added
im trying some filterfloss (got the walmart type) later today
make sure u dont have chloramines instead of chlorine api tap water conditioner when used on chloramines breaks the bond of the chlorine and ammonia but leave the ammonia as is and creates a mini cycle which can also create cloudy water but would clear up over time as ur ben.bact. would eventually eat it up.

[mmd]

api tapwater conditioner aquarium declorinator

[cjr8420]

api tapwater conditioner aquarium declorinator
if ur water has chlorine only this is fine but if it has chloramine its not good.which is what most water treatment plant are changeing to because its cheaper.mine switched last year w/o telling me i screwed some fish up good.e1 says change water as 1st thing to do everytime i did i made it worse next day would be ok change again it would be bad again til next morning did that for a week b4 i found out what the issue was amquel/prime/safe all convert ammonia to a non toxic form until BB eats it up not sure if ur having this prob cause my fish were in bad shape after each water change but worth looking into

[Trashcore]

I have found filter floss to really help that issue. But have not had that issue in a long time. Could it be your splashing the sand around alot during a waterchange? Is there sand in the bottom of the bucket you use to put new water in the tank?

[mmd]

no sand splashing
i tried acurel f and the water is like glass, i know this is prob only a temporary fix
i did get a new ph kit, my water is 6.0 or less (6.0 is bottom of scale), perhaps this effects biological filter.

[applekrate]

I had the same problem with my tank--looked like white dust everywhere.
Is there a foam or bubble film at the top edge of the water? Was there a reason your running carbon? Many people dont use it unless your removing meds or specific toxins. Because of the dust I had a tendency to "over clean" the tank which also added to my problem. By "over clean" I mean I scrubbed to much of the good bacteria out of the tank every WC and my bio was not set up correctly to handle any removal of good bacteria. Once I got the bio set up correct and removed the carbon my issues cleared up in my situation.

[discuspaul]

8 months seems like a long time to have cloudy water without any seemingly adverse effect on the fish - also makes me feel it isn't a bacterial bloom being present for that length of time.
I've had great results keeping water crystal clear by using Purigen in my filters on a regular basis, re-charged every 2 or 3 weeks, coupled with doubled-layered filter floss, removed every ten days or so and replaced with new, and pre-filter sponges on the filter intake tubes, rinsed twice a week at least.
Occasional use of a UV sterlizer also appears to assist with water clarifying.

[TNT77]

If you use a water clarifier make sure you clean the inside of your filters really well afterwards. It tends to gunk up the filter which starts the cycle over each time.

[Orange Crush]

If you use a water clarifier make sure you clean the inside of your filters really well afterwards. It tends to gunk up the filter which starts the cycle over each time.
Why does it start the cycle again, the DOCs were in the tank already, how does them moving into the filter cause a problem (other than the clogging). Less O2 reaching the BB perhaps?

[Greenheinie]

Maybe Purigen will help out? I put it in my filter and it really helps with water clarity.

[DerekFF]

Overfeeding or rotting materials in the tank will make it cloudy

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[mmd]

dont over feed, infact i have gone to very little food to try and keep it down, i clean filters monthly and theres vey little sediment
tank looks like this:

[mmd]

72596

[mmd]

also with my 2 w/c changes weekly i vacum 1/3 the tank with a python

[mmd]

additionally
ph in the tank under 6.0 (test limit)
150 gallon tank, right after 30% water change ph in the tank under 6.0 (test limit)
ph of the tap water is 7.6

[DerekFF]

dont over feed, infact i have gone to very little food to try and keep it down, i clean filters monthly and theres vey little sediment
tank looks like this:

Yeah overfeeding and rotting stuff makes water nasty cloudy

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[little-minx]

Anytime the water is a white/gray milky white (cloudy) it usually means its a bacterial bloom ....usually happens when bacteria needs to be established in your tank -Nothing to worry about - it will clear up on its own (only time its of concern if its very whiteish and hard to see fish - bacteria will consume the oxygen of the fish). When I do my annual cleaning and I boil all the rock, clean my filter hose, etc and I quarantine fish for about 2 weeks my water turns a very light greyish white - it happens after a month or after a week of starting tank... it clears up on its own within a week or so. :-)

Btw. if color in tank is green or light yellowish, dark brown its usually algae growth. it can also be from newly added stuff in your aquarium like driftwood, sand or gravel etc.

[Orange Crush]

When I do my annual cleaning.
Cleaning stuff once a year is not gonna cut it with discus.....

[Departure]

Old topic I know, but I have noticed using the concentrated API dechlorinate product if you overdose it will cloud your tank every time. I now use the recommended amount or less and it fixed the problem, I have also tested this multiple times with slightly overdosing the tank and it will cloud up every time.

[Second Hand Pat]

Most here use Prime or Safe to dechlorinate their water.