The Puffer Forum

Hey all,

first off this isn't my first post but it appears my old account has been deleted, anyway on to my problem. The water in my brackish tank is cloudy white, if I look through the tank from end to end its so bad that I almost can't see the other side. I can actually see the cloudyness flowing through the water when I look at the top of the tank against the light. The water has been like this for about 3 months now, I've tried huge water changes (80%+) multiple times and the problem seems to come back within a week or a week and a half, here's the stats I have for you:

30 gallon brackish with one GSP (~3")
Tank has been established for almost three years
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm
Salinity 1.016
Temperature 78 F
Filtration one Aqua Clear HOB 50 gallon filter with sponge and charcoal (Note: I added a "BioMax" bag to the filter yesterday, this was reccommended by the LFS and it seems to have cleared the water slightly over night)
sorry I don't have pH right now

I also should mention that my GSP is absolutely fine and the cloudiness doesn't seem to affect him at all. I've tried turning the lights off for two days at a time to see if that was affecting the problem but my puffer hates it when there is no light in the tank he seems to get very stressed and isn't himself until they've been on for awhile. Has anyone ever heard of certain types of decorations causing water clarity issues? I get a new decoration about once a month. Any help is appreciated thanks.

White cloudy water could be a sign of a bacterial bloom, although this usually only happens with a cycling aquarium. Could also be dust. What kind of substrate are you using?

using just plain old gravel and its been throughly cleaned recently, i thought it could be a bacteria bloom to but its my understanding that those don't usually last more than a couple of weeks.

How recent is recently?

If you thoroughly cleaned regular gravel, I'm guessing that you have a bacterial bloom. Chances are pretty high that you wiped out a good bit of your BB.

I cleaned the gravel to attempt to fix the water it was like this for about 2 months before I cleaned it and it's been about a month since it was done, the whole time it's been cloudy

Gravel should be cleaned routinely unless it is a DSB.

Bacterial &/or algal cloudiness may also be seasonal (changes in light and in water supplies). But it a bit early to see that in Canada I suspect. Although snow melt run-off can be well underway.

Diatom filtration can easily clear such cloudiness and remove that biomass from the tank. But it also can recur, depending on which of the many possible triggers promoted it originally.

HTH

I clean my gravel on a weekly basis with a siphon while doing water changes, but in this case I removed all of it from the tank and rinsed it out in tank water and returned it to make sure there was no waste or decaying bio matter that I was missing but still no change in the cloudiness.

Oh! Okay.

For some reason, I was picturing you taking the gravel out and like, scrubbing it down with tap water or something. No clue what gave me that idea.

Stick some filter floss (pillow stuffing or quilt batting) in the back of your AC, above the sponge and below the bio media bag to hold it down. That MIGHT help. It removes very fine particles from the water, and I find it to really help me keep my water clear. Just be sure to rinse/switch it out often so that it doesn't impede your filter's flow.

Okay I'll give that a try, should I keep the charcoal in or take it out? I bought the cut to fit filter floss pad from big als Is one layer of it enough? (Its not very thick) Thanks!

gsp_1 wrote:Okay I'll give that a try, should I keep the charcoal in or take it out? I bought the cut to fit filter floss pad from big als Is one layer of it enough? (Its not very thick) Thanks!

There's no need to run charcoal in your tank unless you're removing medication from the water.

What sort of test kit do you have, like what brand and is it liquid or strips?

Some decorations do produce cloud, sometimes. When you get a new decoration be sure to rinse it very, very well before placing it in the tank. Do you have any sort of decoration rocks from the wild?

Nuclear_Glitter wrote:There's no need to run charcoal in your tank unless you're removing medication from the water.

If they're running one of those cheap filters that use inserts, then the carbon is already in there.

I recommend changing over to an Aquaclear filter.

Pufferpunk wrote:

Nuclear_Glitter wrote:There's no need to run charcoal in your tank unless you're removing medication from the water.

If they're running one of those cheap filters that use inserts, then the carbon is already in there.

I recommend changing over to an Aquaclear filter.

They said they're running an Aquaclear 50, that's why I was telling them they didn't need the charcoal.

Sorry I misread where they mentioned a filter floss pad. Those pads aren't nearly as dense as cotton fiber, like the pillow stuffing you can get at sewing machine stores. I use a 1" layer.

Hey guys, just wanted to update. My tank is still cloudy as ever, I've tried filter floss, pillow stuffing, the biomax bag, changing decorations, water changes and for the last two days I've had the lights off. The link below shows what the tank looks like as of this morning, none of the modifications seemed to help at all.

http://tinypic.com/r/2nvauja/6

ANY other suggestions you can make would be helpful I'm willing to try anything at this point. Has anyone ever heard of a de-chlorinator doing this to a tank? I'm thinking I might try a different brand, thanks.

that is really strange, it almost looks like there is too much air in the water.