Cloudy Water - Not Sure How to Get Rid of It

[Twood]

Team - I have been struggling with cloudy water in my 29 gallon livebearer tank (see picture). Its been running for about 7 months and has a mix of guppies and mollies that seem to be doing really well (spawning like crazy). Even after we change water, it clouds back up. Any ideas what could be causing this or how to fix it? Everything seems healthy - its just not fun to look at. Thanks!

Filtration - two sponge filters

Lights - Finnex Stringray running 8 hours per day on timer

Nitrate: 10

Nitrite: 0

GH: 300

KH: 60

pH: 7

Cl: 0

Ammonia: 0

[Colu]

Looks like a bacterial bloom or it could be free floating algae is the tank in a place we're it gets some natural light also how often are you feeding as over feeding can cause cloudy water 

[PineSong]

What kind of filter are you running? If you don’t have a hang on back filter in the tank, you might try adding one and packing it with filter floss. That is what I use when I want to “polish“the water in my tanks that only have sponge filters.

I use the Finnex Stingray On two of my tanks, and I found that one long stretch of the light being on created too much algae. I put it on a timer for two 5 hour periods a day with a 4 hour siesta in between and no more algae. To me, your cloudiness looks like it might be some kind of algae bloom, so you might try reducing the light and see if that helps.

Your plants look great by the way!!

[redfish]

Here is a good blog post about what can cause cloudy water and options to resolve it.

ACO Blog - Cloudy Fish Tank

I would also try what @PineSong mentioned about reducing or changing your light schedule.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/5/2022 at 5:01 PM, Twood said:

Team - I have been struggling with cloudy water in my 29 gallon livebearer tank (see picture). Its been running for about 7 months and has a mix of guppies and mollies that seem to be doing really well (spawning like crazy). Even after we change water, it clouds back up. Any ideas what could be causing this or how to fix it? Everything seems healthy - its just not fun to look at. Thanks!

Filtration - two sponge filters

Filtration and everything looks good.  I agree with the above, but I really think this might be an issue of what is in the tank also.  What is your substrate? Hardscape?  Did you happen to use sand or a very fine substrate? 

What foods are you feeding?

[_Eric_]

A UV filter will likely help if you can’t fix with other means.  You don’t have to get a true level 1 sterilizer or anything.  A 9W “green killing machine” would probably clear that up in less than a week.  Can get one at Petco or Amazon for $70.  Not cheap but can be a nice gadget to have around.

Edit: I had success with a green killing machine recently in a similar situation.  

Edited August 6, 2022 by _Eric_

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I heard hornwort is exceptional for clearing cloudy water.

[Twood]

On 8/5/2022 at 9:57 PM, Colu said:

Looks like a bacterial bloom or it could be free floating algae is the tank in a place we're it gets some natural light also how often are you feeding as over feeding can cause cloudy water 

Thanks Colu, it does get some natural light, but not a ton. I am feeding a small amount every day with an auto feeder. Mostly Xtreme foods - nano and krill flake. 

On 8/5/2022 at 11:50 PM, PineSong said:

What kind of filter are you running? If you don’t have a hang on back filter in the tank, you might try adding one and packing it with filter floss. That is what I use when I want to “polish“the water in my tanks that only have sponge filters.

I use the Finnex Stingray On two of my tanks, and I found that one long stretch of the light being on created too much algae. I put it on a timer for two 5 hour periods a day with a 4 hour siesta in between and no more algae. To me, your cloudiness looks like it might be some kind of algae bloom, so you might try reducing the light and see if that helps.

Your plants look great by the way!!

I am running two Coop sponge filters. I haven't tried a HOB, maybe that is my next step. Thanks for the compliments on the plants, as well as the tip to turn down the photo period. I will give it a shot!

@redfish - thank you so much for the article (it was great!) and doubling down on the photo period recommendation. I will give it a shot. I am also going to do a decent sized water change and clean out the sponge filters.

[Twood]

On 8/6/2022 at 4:18 AM, _Eric_ said:

A UV filter will likely help if you can’t fix with other means.  You don’t have to get a true level 1 sterilizer or anything.  A 9W “green killing machine” would probably clear that up in less than a week.  Can get one at Petco or Amazon for $70.  Not cheap but can be a nice gadget to have around.

Edit: I had success with a green killing machine recently in a similar situation.  

Thanks so much Eric. I had never thought about a UV sterilizer. I am going to use that as a last resort. I want to try and solve the issue without another machine, although I am sure it would probably work really well. I've had aquariums for years and have never run into this issue. Its strange, I've not doing anything very differently this time, not sure why I am getting a different result. Thank you again for your help!

On 8/6/2022 at 6:43 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I heard hornwort is exceptional for clearing cloudy water.

Thanks for your help @Chick-In-Of-TheSea - I don't have any hornwort, will think about picking some up if I see it in the store on my next trip. Thank you!

[PineSong]

On 8/6/2022 at 10:37 AM, Twood said:

 

I am running two Coop sponge filters. I haven't tried a HOB, maybe that is my next step. Thanks for the compliments on the plants, as well as the tip to turn down the photo period. I will give it a shot!

 

To be clear, I use sponge filters in all my tanks but throw a HOB on for a few hours to a couple days if I have mucked about in the substrate or something else has happened that makes the water less than sparkly. I'm not saying a HOB would be needed full time, and my guess is that if the cloudiness is algae, cutting the light period will stop it from reproducing and then you would only need a HOB to speed up the process of getting the remnants out of the tank. 

[Twood]

On 8/6/2022 at 11:05 AM, PineSong said:

To be clear, I use sponge filters in all my tanks but throw a HOB on for a few hours to a couple days if I have mucked about in the substrate or something else has happened that makes the water less than sparkly. I'm not saying a HOB would be needed full time, and my guess is that if the cloudiness is algae, cutting the light period will stop it from reproducing and then you would only need a HOB to speed up the process of getting the remnants out of the tank. 

Got it, thank you so much @PineSong I'll keep everyone posted on how it goes. Going to do some work on it tonight and see if I can get it cleared up.

[RonBFree]

Dosing your tank with a product that adds live beneficial bacteria may help

[Twood]

Hey team - wanted to thank everyone for their input. I added a small Aquaclear HOB, cleaned the sponge filters, did a water change, and reduced the photoperiod. The tank already seems a little clearer, fish seem to be happy. Will keep everyone posted on progress. Hopefully it will resolve completely soon.

 

Thanks!

[PineSong]

Check out this new video from Zenzo on this exact topic:

 

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

I hope you figured it out but I wanted to say your tank looks beautiful, do you have a full tank picture cause I’m setting up my own guppy tank soon and I’d love to see how yours is set up.