Cloudy water in established tank

[ScottW]

The last 4 days my water has been cloudy in my discus tank. The ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are all in check. The discus are fine and eating good. I do a water change of 70% plus and the next day its cloudy again. I clean the sponge filters after every water change which is once every 3 days. I also have a eheim 2217 that is mostly used for my benefical bacteria. I havent cleaned that for awhile because I have a pre filter on it so I clean that. Anyone know what the problem could be?

[LJSmith]

Post your ph and water temperature. Is it tap water or well?

[ScottW]

Ph is 7 and temp is 84 degrees. I use tap water. I also have another tank that is a planted rainbowfish tank and water is fine.

[White Worm]

Don't clean the sponge filters so often. A lot of your bio builds on those also. You probably already know this but make sure you use tank water to rinse the sponge filters when you do.

[Ryan925]

Is there substrate in this tank? Could be leftover food as well. I would also open up that canister. Ever though you use a prefilter you can still accumulate sludge especially if it's not off during feeding

[Jandiscus]

Scott,

I believe what you are experiencing is a bacterial bloom. Google it. Harmless to your fish and will resolve itself over time. Water changes don't help much as the bacteria reproduces quickly. As Mike suggested, make sure you don't kill beneficial bacteria on your sponge filters. A gentle squeeze with aquarium water is all it takes to keep them clean and functioning. I had bacterial blooms in my established fish tanks caused by overfeeding/overstocking.

Best,

JC

[ScottW]

Yes my substrate is sand. Ill try cleaning the sponge filters less and clean my canister filter.

[Ryan925]

Yes my substrate is sand. Ill try cleaning the sponge filters less and clean my canister filter.

When I was trying to get my amounts dialed in on pellet foods my water was a bit cloudy from leftover bits.

Also I recently added an inline heater. Since doing so I didn't have the room to run my inline uv. My water was still clear but not that "invisible" look. I added the uv back and water is back to as it was before.

I run just a cheap 9W inline. I know it does nothing for sterilizing but works great as a clarifier. Once I get my sump going I will be going to a much larger unit to do both

[White Worm]

I've even seen cloudy water right after a large w/c. Depends on what is in your tap water. White and cloudy means your bio is trying to catch up. You can clean too much when it comes to your bio media. Beneficial bacteria grows everywhere...tank walls, sponges, media in HOB, media in canisters, etc. It all seems to take on individual loads to balance your system. if you take out one like your sponge filters and then do a complete wipe down, you will knock back your bio a bit which will create bloom to catch up. JMO. When I do a sponge filter cleaning, I try to have 2 and alternate them. Always use tank water because tap water will surely kill most of the bio if you rinse them in the sink.