cloudy water

Sorry I didn't see your post sooner. I have some questions for you now? How often do you do water changes? I have a newer tank set up that is cloudy, as its cycling, which is causing the cloudy water. It requires patience and I'm waiting for it to clear. It can take 4 to 8 weeks to cycle the tank. I'm certain that my tank will no longer be cloudy by doing weekly water changes until the tank is cycled. How much are you feeding your fish? Many people feed their fish to much, which can cause cloudy water. I feed only once a day and what my fish can eat in 2 minutes.

ok, it's also been a while since I have had a "cloudy" tank. Let's start with this.... it's simple and is USUALLY the common cause of a "cloudy" tank. If your tank is too near a light source, like a window, where it may be getting more than 1 hour of sunlight a day, this itself will cause a 'cloudy' tank. Or an algae overgrowth. My sister and I both have a 55 gallon tank with similar tropical fish.. my tank I only clean about once every 3 months, hers, she cleans about once per week! My tank is in a corner in my living room, with the nearest window covered, so no direct sunlight shines on my tank. Her setup, she put direct in her living room window, so it can been seen from outside... she is constantly cleaning it! Also depending on the type of light you use in your tank, try not to leave it on for more than a couple hours a day. Fish like the dark. Most pet stores, and like Walmart.. leave the tank lights on 24 hours a day.. and they are constantly treating the water and circulating etc... the lights in the tank can make the difference as well. Hope this helps, just another option for you to consider. ;)

We too, were having trouble. The fish store told us it was algea and to cover our fish tank with a cover for 2 days and turn out the light. It did not work. We used the accuclear, it did not work. We gave up and then came up with the idea of our spa water clarifier. We have a 20 gallon tank and put a teaspoon or so in and with an hour it was so much better and did not hurt the fish. The accuclear even made it a little worse, we thought.

It has been a LONG time since I have owned fish but I used to sell them and had about 10 tanks a while back so lets see what I remember! When this used to happen there were a number of things I did to improve it. First and foremost, I used to drain the tank and completely clean the inside, the plants and the gravel. If you don't clean off ALL of the algae spores (especially from the gravel) it will just keep coming back. After I had done all of this and completely refilled the tank with fresh water; I would then either condition the water with a slightly higher acidity level than usual (rather than alkaline and not TOO high) or add a few teaspoons of sea salt. This usually cleaned up the problem and did not cause any issues for the fish. Having to completely clean out the whole tank is a pain but the best way to start. Good luck!

i have a petshop and a few of my tanks have this cloudy problem, probably 2-3 out of the 23 tanks have cloudy problems, i usually just drain the water about 80% then refill, but the problem is it keeps coming back..so the best thing to do is to totally clean out the whole tank and scrub the insides CLEAN, also wash all ornaments and stones, also the filter element itself. the problem with that method is, it requires your whole tank to cycle all over again and it will take 3-5weeks to properly achieve tank cycling which is a bummer...:( i'll probably try those 'clarifier' for aquariums next time..but i doubt they'll really work and prevent the stuff from coming back again and again :(

I'm not sure if you should use aquarium salt in yours or not. It all depends on the types of fish you are using also. Do you have an algae eater? They help to keep the tank clean.

There are two types of cloudy water, milky white and then a greenish water. They are not the same thing. In the white cloudy water it is usually a bacterial bloom that is often called a new tank syndrome and will go away on it own as long as you do not over feed the tank. The other one is an algae growth that can be taken care of by covering your tank completely for three or four days and not turning on the lights during that time. You just need to lightly feed the fish during this time. I am trying to get some green algae water growing to feed my daphnia that are live foods for me tropical fishes. Daphnia will clean up the green water very fast and then the fish will clean the daphnia out of the tank.