Cloudy tank

Help!

I have set up a new/old 65 gallon freshwater tank. I bought it used and well cycled. I used all the old material and as much of the water I could transport. It has been running in my place now for just over a month.

I can't clear the cloudy water. I tried excel since every now and again I think it looks a bit green. I did a big water change (40%), I added some cycle, I added some 'Algone' to the filter. Nothing seems to work. It has been cloudy since August 14, sometimes a bit better, sometimes worse. I can see the fish and plants and the back wall. My other tank, a 30 gallon, is crystal clear, and I care for them both in the same way.

I am on a clean well so I don't use any chemicals when adding water. I filter it with the largest Sicce whale canister. I have a variety of community fish and lots of live plants. The light is new, a Finnex LED, and before that I used a Marineland LED and a florescent full spectrum and they are on for 12 hours daily. I have CO2 running from a pressurized tank. I watch the water parameters regularly. Today they are Ph 6.8, no ammonia or nitrites, nitrates at 5. The fish are healthy and not stressed and the plants are growing like mad.

The plan of the day is to stop feeding daily, and then only every other day and sparingly. Does anyone have any other ideas?

LynM wrote:Help!

I have set up a new/old 65 gallon freshwater tank. I bought it used and well cycled. I used all the old material and as much of the water I could transport. It has been running in my place now for just over a month.

It has been cloudy since August 14, sometimes a bit better, sometimes worse.

The plan of the day is to stop feeding daily, and then only every other day and sparingly. Does anyone have any other ideas?

Hi @LynM

I think you have identified the problem, as it looks like nitrogen cycling issues. Water changes and feeding sparingly is the best remedy until the cycling completes, which for a 65g could take another month. The other issue is algae green water bloom, due to nitrogen. Again the remedy is water changes until the nitrogen cycling completes.

I appreciate your help It just seems odd to me that my 30 gallon, which basically started out clean and stripped of any bacteria, although I seeded it from the other tank, is crystal clear. It's about 10 days behind the 65.

Do you think I should be adding commercial bacteria then, like cycle? Should I cut down on the time the light is on?

I'm not a big fan of the bottled cycle stuff. I would just focus on the water changes.

As for the new lights, I would personally cut them down time wise. 12 hours is pretty long. I might cut down to 6 hours or 8 hours. Something I have tried and found to be helpful is  also broken light periods. The plants seem to handle well it well, while some algae prefer longer periods of light. So I have a timer that turns my lights on for a period of time and then switches off and on throughout the day. It is sometimes called the Siesta method, and it seems to help my aquarium.

Thanks so much. OK then. Did a 50% water change, put lights on a 'siesta' with on at 9am, off at 12, on again at 3 and off at 9pm for a total on time of 8 hours. I will keep you informed.

I am very thankful there are people to ask, and thanks to you two for responding. Hopefully I can help someone who asks.

Definitely keep us updated. When I upgraded my lights from the stock setup that came from my tank to the Finnex Planted+, I definitely needing to cut back my lighting too, elsewise I was dealing with lot of algae build up too. The other theory behind the "siesta" method is that it lowers the depletion of the CO2 during the day (as CO2, can be quite inhibitory to certain algaes). If you keep the water changes up, and play around with the lighting until you find a sweet spot, you should be good. If you find that it isn't improving with the reduction in light to 8 hours, then you can try 6. It's all a fine balance, and each tank is different.

Wow! What a difference. This is how the tank looks today, after only 3 days. Thanks!
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LynM wrote:Wow! What a difference. This is how the tank looks today, after only 3 days. Thanks!  
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Fantastic news! Glad it's much better for you.

Looks like its on the way, very nice