Help with slightly cloudy water

**DrNic** · 11-11-2008, 04:01 PM

I have been having a slight water clarity problem in my 20G Molly/Platty Tank. The specs are below;

20G (high); Gravel bottom; Penguin 170 filter
Narrowleaf and Broadleaf Ludwig and Broadleaf Java fern
3 Mollies
3 Platties
1 Panda Cory

I do ~25% water changes once a week. I find that by the end of the week the water his a slight white haze to it. After the water change the haze is diluted out but comes back by the end of the week. I've had the tank running for over a year now with fish in it so I'm almost 100% sure that the tank is cycled. I don't think the haze is due to algae but I could be wrong. The problem has been happening for at least 4 months now. It never gets really bad but it never goes away either.

I've been thinking about adding some more faster growing plants into the tank to see if it is possibly just a mineral/organic material problem but other than that I can't think of any other way to combat this.

Any thoughts/suggestions would be awesome.

**bushwhacker** · 11-12-2008, 01:49 AM

add more plants and bump your water change to 50 %, you could be getting a small bacterial bloom, which i suspect from the white haze

**Wild Turkey** · 11-12-2008, 01:52 AM

Agree it sounds like possible bloom, but we need ur water parameters to be sure.

**DrNic** · 11-12-2008, 08:04 PM

I'm going to toss some more floating plants in for a bit to see if that helps.

As for the water parameters I think I only have a hardness test left. I will have to pickup some phosphate, etc over the weekend and will let you know.

**Wild Turkey** · 11-12-2008, 08:10 PM

The ones u need first off are Ammonia, NitrIte, Nitrate U can usually get these in a master kit along with PH for about 25 USD

**DrNic** · 11-13-2008, 07:26 PM

I have some of those readings. I ran out of phosphate tester a while back though.

Ammonia 0
Nirtate 0
pH 7.2
Hardness 2

**Wild Turkey** · 11-13-2008, 07:35 PM

Now you need NI, without it its hard to make a good diagnosis, because readings like this

A: 0
NI: 0
NA:0

Could be from tap water, or from a cycled tank.

Like this however:

A:0
NI: 2
NA:0

Indicates a mini cycle or some other issue.

**DrNic** · 11-13-2008, 07:38 PM

Sounds like a plan, I'll see what I can find.

**Northernguy** · 11-13-2008, 08:26 PM

How old is your test kit? They have a shelf life and when they are old they give inaccurate readings.
How big of a water change do you usually do?

**DrNic** · 11-13-2008, 08:58 PM

The Ammonia and Nitrate are pretty new, maybe 4 months or so. The pH is porbably over a year old now. I started with a larger kit then bought individual tests when I needed them in a couple cases. I will try to pickup a new full kit.

I typically do about %40 water changes once a week.