Got My New Tank!

[Kustrud]

Ammonia and nitrite still zero and nitrates still zero to maybe 3 or so. But I’m fighting this “cloudy” water. It’s not bad, most people probably wouldn’t even notice, but I do. I can’t figure it out. I don’t over feed, filter media was just cleaned in tank water with water change on Friday, etc. Very irritating.

In the first pic you can see the cloudiness, step back and it’s not as noticeable. But I want my water perfect again!

Do I just wait this out?

 

[Kustrud]

Here’s a better picture….it almost looks “smokey ” in my tank.

Again, the only thing I’ve done recently is a WC Friday and then cleaned filter media Saturday. Cleaned in tank water of course.

 

[Deadeye]

Sand could be settling (just throwing more ideas out there). Do you really disturb it during water changes?
Bigger tanks just tend to be cloudier as there’s more of a visual water column for particles to be in and therefore be visible.

 

[Kustrud]

Sand could be settling (just throwing more ideas out there). Do you really disturb it during water changes?
Bigger tanks just tend to be cloudier as there’s more of a visual water column for particles to be in and therefore be visible.

The substrate is old, and clean....positive it's not the sand. What's strange is this is new, have not had this issue and the water is usually like glass! I can see the cloudiness floating around in there.

Should I try more water changes or just wait it out?

Frustrating....never dealt with this before.

 

[Deadeye]

I wouldn’t change your usual schedule.

 

[Kustrud]

Update - figured fresh water is always good and I was curious lol so did a 90% water change yesterday and is crystal clear this AM.

Prior water change was on Friday about 70%, tank stayed cloudy so cleaned both filters media in tank water on Saturday….Water change yesterday as mentioned above and then crystal clear this AM.

Maybe it was still balancing out….? I honestly figured it’d just go cloudy again but that clearly helped.

Maybe the large sponges just had more gunk than I thought, I did get a TON of crud out of them.

 

[RyanScanner]

Same result after shaking the bottle and the tube with this!

Again, Ammonia and Nitrite always zero....

Should I skip my water change today and test again in a few days to confirm Nitrates are rising?

Stumped....

View attachment 1542506

Haha a bottle on a reciprocating saw!!!

 

[Kustrud]

Ok so it’s definitely is going cloudy again. I don’t understand. This is beyond frustrating!

 

[RyanScanner]

Sounds like heterotrophic bacterial blooms.
Probably need to really clean everything gravel/sand under everything test for phosphate.

 

[RyanScanner]

Blooms happen then die off then the nutrients cycle and bloom again. Need to export the nutrients with a micron filter sock on your filter to collect the bloom next time to get rid of the excess nutrients maybe. If you had more live plants they would do it for you.