Planted tank question

[Scuba Guy]

Is it normal for a planted tank to get kind of cloudy by days end (hazy looking) and then by morning after the lights have been off all night and turn on again - the water is crystal clear? I'm just now noticing this.....

[blue fin]

Can't help you with your question but congradulations on not being suba guy now.

[Abbeys_Mom]

I've never heard of that before. My planted tank has clear water, but I think it's the filter doing the work.

[freshwaterfishlover]

One of my tank has 9 Plants and never had this problem. My other tank with few plants does not have that problem eaither. If the plants break apart, yes it gets cloudy.

[Lady Hobbs]

Possibly it's hazy by days end due to over-feeding during the day?

[Scuba Guy]

Hey ---- I'm Scuba Guy .... finally.

It's probably a little overfeeding. I am pushing the angels for breeding with high-protein foods (Bloodworms, etc.) as well as high performance flakes. They eat all instantly - attacking the food....but it is often since I am working from home and I can get to the tank regularly.

Perhaps I need to back off a bit until the water clears....

[Incredulous_Ed]

Personally, I wouldn't worry about it. Is there some fisdh in there that maybe digging through the substrate at night, causing the cloudiness?

[Slinky_Bass]

One of the things that also causes cloudy water are free floating algae particles. Maybe, if your tank gets lots of light (and in combination with the overfeeding which you have admitted to ;), the algae builds up during the day, but dies off at night when it has no light to sustain it.

Check out this link for more possible explanations and cures:

http://www.aquariaplants.com/cloudygreenwater.htm

[Lady Hobbs]

My tank became cloudy after feeding granules. Twice I've tried these things thinking the bottom feeders would grab them. Wrong. They just sink into the gravel and make a mess of things.

[Scuba Guy]

the link on Aquarium plants was excellent reading....I recommend it.

My problem is green water although the water appears hazy white. I put my diatom filter on the tank and sure enough a green coating started to form on the diatom filter pads. And within an hour the tank cleared up. I let it run over night and the tank is crystal clear this morning.

I have never had a Green Water problem before - this was new, despite using CO2 injection before. I have a suspicion that whatever introduced the algal cells, they are in my tank now. I suspect I will have algal blooms from now on from time to time.

Such is life in a planted aquarium.

I need a bigger tank.

[AuroraAustralis]

I remember reading somewhere that heavy feeding of bloodworms seemed to be directly responsible for an increase in phosphates. You said you were feeding heavily and using bloodworms so that might explain both the cloudiness and the algae. I would check the phosphate levels. I would also be really interested to know if there is an increase in phosphate feeding bloodworms because ever since I read that I have fed them only very sparingly

[Scuba Guy]

Hmmmm... that's interesting. My phosphate level is 1.0 ppm. My tap water is about .25 to .5. I do feed heavy on the Bloodworms since I am seeking strong growth out of my juvenile angels (and it's working).

Maybe I'll hold back a bit and let the Phosphate get soaked up. More water changes should help, but the difference between .5 and 1.0 is not that great.

It was mentioned on this board that 2.0 is the magic number when algae takes off.

[Lady Hobbs]

Blood worms are a "treat" that should be given after their regular food only a couple times a week. They will began to stop eating all flake food if given too much protein.