Cloudy Water

[Marty]

Hello, I started a new fish tank several months ago with just river rock substrate and some Ironwood The ironwood was old and had been used in my tanks about twenty years ago.  The water did have a slight brown tint, I believe from the ironwood, but a few water changes and running of a Fluval canister filter and the water was clear. I was not in a rush and because of the Covid I didn't do anything else.  I eventually added several live plants.  I have had many aquariums over the years but never any with more than one simple live plant.  This time I wanted to have live plants.  I began using Easy Green, and also added an LED light to the aquarium.  The  water has turned cloudy, I have never had this happen to me before.  I stopped using the Easy Green about two weeks ago and have been doing 20% water changes each week but it's still cloudy.   I may may be keeping the light on too long ?  about 10 to 12 hours a day.  I have never had an LED light before nor have I ever used plant food in an aquarium.  The PH is 7 - 7.2, Ammonia is 0, Nitrite is 0, and Nitrate is 40 - 80ppm.  Also, I have a Pleco in the tank who doesn't appear to mind the cloudy water and it is doing very well. Any advice would be greatly appreciated,  Thank you

[Cory]

Have you checked out our article on cloudy water yet? This covers a lot of first steps to figuring out what might be causing it. 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/cloudy-fish-tank