PENEJANE Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Hey there. For some reason over the last 2-3 weeks my tank has been looking very foggy/hazy. Water test are comming up normal and temp of 25-26*C. I have used the carbon and it didn't make any difference. What could be causing this. I do weekly water changes with my last one being the big one where I removed all the plants and done a good gravel vac deeply thinking that maybe I had excess stuff that wasn't being broken down or used by the plants. But that also hasn't made any change to the water. I can understand the colour being a bit off due to the dark drift wood I have in there but I can't understand the milky haze that goes with it. Cheers P.S I have been trying to upload photos to photobucket but while my husband is downloading I it won't let me do it so I will put pictures up tonight if required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wok Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 try giving the sponges in your filter a wash. my tank did that until I gave the sponges in my tank a wash and that cleared the tank right up. I think the sponges were full so couldn't take anymore stuff out of the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Do you add fertiliser?? Do you test for phostphate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Also possible it is a small algae bloom caused by the clean-out upsetting the balance temporarily. It should disappear after a few days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PENEJANE Posted November 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 When I done my big water change (like a day or two ago) I gave the filter sponge a good clean out. The only ferts that I use in my tank are the fert sticks. They have never caused a problem before and they are supposed to be a once a year thing. I don't have a test for phostphate. The big water change was done when I removed some plants to put into my new 2ft tank. Thats why I wanted to give the gravel a good deep clean because there was less than half the plants left and to much waste. I will give it another couple of days and see how it goes. Cheers :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 My 'guess' is that between giving your tank too good a clean (and killing some of the good bacteria) and disturbing the gravel too much releasing all that waste back into the water you have caused an algael bloom. Or in other words your tank is doing a cycle again. I suggest you don't pull out the plants (they like having muck round their roots), vacuuming the gravel is good but you don't need to go over board with it. BTW what ever you do dont clean you sponges out (I'm guessing you already did this anyway when you cleaned your tank?) if it is an bloom caused as above you need as much good bacteria as possible to correct and limit the impact on your fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Ops was a little slow with that last posting! pulling plants to move them is one of those things you sometimes have to do, maybe next time don't do a big clean at the same time. I normally do a water change just after removing plants and try to remove some of crap floating round and anything that has settled on the gravel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PENEJANE Posted November 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 My tank has been foggy like this for the past 2-3 weeks. I thought that it could be from to much waste in the water thats why I done a change but its made no difference. Thats why I am so worried about it because its been like this for so long. The fact that I had a guppy die this morning for no apparent reason (no mark or infections on the fish, wasn't dead long as it was still full of colour) isn't helping. If its an algae bloom then I can accecpt that and would take steps to correct it but I would of thought that over this legnth of time that it would now be a lot worse than it was 2 weeks ago. None of my other tanks are showing this foggy change so it can't be the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Hi Pene... I suffered for several weeks (months?) a while back with exactly what you describe... foggy water. IN the end I increased the qty of my water changes to 30% ( i was doing 10%) I also bought a phostphate test kit and while the level wasnt "off the chart", it was quite hi. The phosphate test kit is kinda pricey so could be worthwhile taking a sample in to the LFS... even at $1 it is probably going to be cheaper than buying a kit. I added a phospahte absorber to lower the PO4 levels. I also changed from a LFS liquid fert, to PMDD. If your plants are growing well you may reconcider gravel vac's. I last vac'd my tank about 2 months ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 PJ, when you cleaned your filter, I hope you did it with tank water???? Otherwise I'd say you are into a tank cycle again and need to do frequent water changes while the good bactreia grow again in numbers. Alan NZKA 104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Still sounds like an algae bloom, just means the source of it is still there, have you checked behind the wood etc to make sure there isn't a dead fish or rotting food etc. It should just go after a while, but you could try doing more water changes (i.e. to the same amount of water but do two a week). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PENEJANE Posted November 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 If its to be a phostphate problem then how do I fix it? I will take some water in to be tested on friday. I am frequently sitting in front of my tanks having a good look about and mostly just watching my fish. Any solid bits of food is normaly at the front of the tank so it is easily seen if not eaten. The drift wood isn't that big and I can use a mirror at the side of the tank to see behind the wood very easily. My filter sponge is ALWAYS cleaned with the water that is syphoned out of the tank. My tank has been running since April this year. Thats what I find funny about it. It only gets sunlight directly on it for 30 mins in the morning if that but since it has moved more into summer the sun comes up in a different direction so its lucky to have 10 mins of direct sunlight in one corner. I doubt this to be the problem or I would of had it since early Oct (when we first moved here). Hope what ever it is won't affect the condition of the fish. Here is a link to a full tank shot. Sorry about the flash http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y116/penejane/083.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 If you do have a phostphate problem, it could be caused by, the food you are using, frozen will release loads, and over feeding will cause problems to. Or maybe your water supply has high phos. Could be your plant fertiliser, it shouldn't have any in it but some do. To help get rid of it, decrease feeding (esp frozen), increase water changes (assuming your supply is good), and lastly you can buy phosphate absorbing resins (like phos-ban, phos-sorb) will cost you about $30 for a container, just add it to your filter if you have room, or (they often come with a bag) hang it in the tank in a high water flow area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Could be your plant fertiliser, it shouldn't have any in it but some do. I was wondering this myself. Even tho Pene is using the plant sticks if you pull out the plants then the nutrients "stored" in the substrate will be dispersed into the water column. I used JBL phos-sorb ( i think thats what it was called, but definatly JBL) worked a treat comes with two little socks to put the product into. But of course wait and see what the test says.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PENEJANE Posted November 30, 2005 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 well heres the funny part. For some reason over the last 24 hrs my tank has started to clear up. It still has a green/yellow tinge to it but I guess that could be from the drift wood and the fact that I have removed the backing paper from the tank so there is a creamy yellow back ground now lol Thanks for all the info and support :bounce: :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted November 30, 2005 Report Share Posted November 30, 2005 Thats kewl!! Might be an idea to check the phosphate anyway.... this is sounding very familiar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 Still sounds like classic algae bloom to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PENEJANE Posted December 1, 2005 Author Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 Well all of the foggyness has totaly gone. Water is crystal clear again apart from the hint of yellow from the wood thats in there. So yeah. I still don't know what happened but all is clear now. Now to get the bristlesnoses breeding again Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted December 1, 2005 Report Share Posted December 1, 2005 Sweet 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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