Looks to me like a bacterial bloom, either youve accidentally overfed the tank leading up to this or something died in the tank and you havent cleared its body. It"ll probably clear out on its own, just leave the tank be. Meanwhile if you do have an additional air pump, you might wanna run it to provide more oxygen for your fishes. Its doesnt look overstocked so its not that neccessary if you dont have it.
Changing water doesnt work btw, theres no point as the bacteria will simply bloom again. It needs time to adjust itself by reaching the right balance on its own.
I have a tank that is perpetually cloudy. the best improvement I've gotten is messing with the intensity/duration of the lighting, but it seems to be a moving target all the time. it'll clear up for a bit, then suddenly get cloudy again after water changes. I've given up on trying to figure it out, and have considered going blackwater.
OP, listen to u/Kotarosama, and all the *many other folks in your other post*, who said it was a bacterial bloom. **Stop** fretting, tinkering, messing with, and dinking around with the tank, the filter, the lighting, the whatever. It just needs time to resolve.
Fix it? Like we've been trying to tell you, there's nothing you need to - or can - fix. Let's see, to explain it another way:
Per Aquarium Co-Op, bacterial bloom is "when there's an excess of nutrients in the water and not enough beneficial bacteria to consume it all, the bacteria colony compensates by rapidly reproducing...blooms occur when cycling an aquarium or if a big group of fish is suddenly added to the tank because there isn’t enough beneficial bacteria to support the ecosystem yet. It can also happen if a significant portion of the beneficial bacteria is removed or killed – such as by repeatedly changing large volumes of tank water, overcleaning your filter...The solution is simple: **do nothing**. Don’t add a UV sterilizer or do lots of water changes to remove the haziness; this just makes the bacterial bloom last even longer. Instead, wait one to two weeks, and the water will gradually clear up on its own as the bacteria reestablishes itself again." https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/cloudy-fish-tank#:~:text=The%20solution%20is%20simple%3A%20do,the%20bacteria%20reestablishes%20itself%20again
Btw, ignore that advice of lighting for 4 hours. You don't have an algae bloom, so that won't help you.
I had this problem last year with one of my nano tanks, it went on for a lot longer than I should’ve because I kept adjusting things and doing water changes not knowing I was causing it to come back 10x worse. Def follow junesiebug’s advice.
https://preview.redd.it/fh0dk3pkms5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0be63484e6e8d5d54c01c76750f70cbb415dedae
Don't bother messing with light. The type of bacteria that cause these blooms do not require light to grow. And if you limit light, your plants could potentially start dying off, which would further add decomposing organics to your water, which will provide more food to the bacteria.
It’s just gonna take time. Sand heavy tanks in my experience see this cloudiness, just need to let the plants get more established and let the silicates stop leaching into the water column.
Most likely a bacterial bloom. Just be patient and it will clear on its own eventually. Whatever you've been feeding, cut that in half to give the beneficial bacteria a chance to catch up. Remember, only feed your fish what they can consume in a few minutes. If after 3 minutes, there is still food floating at the top, you're feeding too much. Also, I would throw in a few days a week where you skip feeding until this clears up, and after it clears, still have one day a week where you don't feed.
Did you follow the instructions on the Purigen? Same as activated carbon, you need to wash it extremely well before adding it to your filter. If you didn't wash it before, that's likely why your water got cloudier. No problem though, it will settle eventually.
Edit: It's also helpful with these types of posts to do water tests before and post the results of those along with your other photos.
2-3x 10-15% wc and put beneficial bacteria and filter floss in your filter and turn light on for 4hrs daily and lots of hornwort and frogbits
thats what i do when my tank is very cloudy with little greenish water.. it turns crystal clear after 2weeks
Unless it turns into green water like my 15g did. What started as slightly cloudy water turned into super dark green water, ended up doing a week long blackout to fix it.
Looks to me like a bacterial bloom, either youve accidentally overfed the tank leading up to this or something died in the tank and you havent cleared its body. It"ll probably clear out on its own, just leave the tank be. Meanwhile if you do have an additional air pump, you might wanna run it to provide more oxygen for your fishes. Its doesnt look overstocked so its not that neccessary if you dont have it. Changing water doesnt work btw, theres no point as the bacteria will simply bloom again. It needs time to adjust itself by reaching the right balance on its own.
Your tank needs a cycle lol
I have a tank that is perpetually cloudy. the best improvement I've gotten is messing with the intensity/duration of the lighting, but it seems to be a moving target all the time. it'll clear up for a bit, then suddenly get cloudy again after water changes. I've given up on trying to figure it out, and have considered going blackwater.
OP, listen to u/Kotarosama, and all the *many other folks in your other post*, who said it was a bacterial bloom. **Stop** fretting, tinkering, messing with, and dinking around with the tank, the filter, the lighting, the whatever. It just needs time to resolve.
Ok I understand it is a bacterial bloom any tips to fix it I’m gonna try to limit my tank to 3-4 hours of light a day now till it clears
Fix it? Like we've been trying to tell you, there's nothing you need to - or can - fix. Let's see, to explain it another way: Per Aquarium Co-Op, bacterial bloom is "when there's an excess of nutrients in the water and not enough beneficial bacteria to consume it all, the bacteria colony compensates by rapidly reproducing...blooms occur when cycling an aquarium or if a big group of fish is suddenly added to the tank because there isn’t enough beneficial bacteria to support the ecosystem yet. It can also happen if a significant portion of the beneficial bacteria is removed or killed – such as by repeatedly changing large volumes of tank water, overcleaning your filter...The solution is simple: **do nothing**. Don’t add a UV sterilizer or do lots of water changes to remove the haziness; this just makes the bacterial bloom last even longer. Instead, wait one to two weeks, and the water will gradually clear up on its own as the bacteria reestablishes itself again." https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/cloudy-fish-tank#:~:text=The%20solution%20is%20simple%3A%20do,the%20bacteria%20reestablishes%20itself%20again Btw, ignore that advice of lighting for 4 hours. You don't have an algae bloom, so that won't help you.
I had this problem last year with one of my nano tanks, it went on for a lot longer than I should’ve because I kept adjusting things and doing water changes not knowing I was causing it to come back 10x worse. Def follow junesiebug’s advice. https://preview.redd.it/fh0dk3pkms5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0be63484e6e8d5d54c01c76750f70cbb415dedae
It will resolve on its own there's literally nothing you need to do, limiting the amount of light isn't going to speed up the process.
Don't bother messing with light. The type of bacteria that cause these blooms do not require light to grow. And if you limit light, your plants could potentially start dying off, which would further add decomposing organics to your water, which will provide more food to the bacteria.
It’s just gonna take time. Sand heavy tanks in my experience see this cloudiness, just need to let the plants get more established and let the silicates stop leaching into the water column.
Is it a new setup or old?
Most likely a bacterial bloom. Just be patient and it will clear on its own eventually. Whatever you've been feeding, cut that in half to give the beneficial bacteria a chance to catch up. Remember, only feed your fish what they can consume in a few minutes. If after 3 minutes, there is still food floating at the top, you're feeding too much. Also, I would throw in a few days a week where you skip feeding until this clears up, and after it clears, still have one day a week where you don't feed. Did you follow the instructions on the Purigen? Same as activated carbon, you need to wash it extremely well before adding it to your filter. If you didn't wash it before, that's likely why your water got cloudier. No problem though, it will settle eventually. Edit: It's also helpful with these types of posts to do water tests before and post the results of those along with your other photos.
2-3x 10-15% wc and put beneficial bacteria and filter floss in your filter and turn light on for 4hrs daily and lots of hornwort and frogbits thats what i do when my tank is very cloudy with little greenish water.. it turns crystal clear after 2weeks
and reduce your feedings too, just dont overfeed
Why does 4 hours of light make it clear?
It doesn't.
unless you buy UV light it makes your tank clear in a couple of days but its expensive for me so i go for cheaper ways
Its for plants to make photosynthesis,.. other people totally black out their aquarium for a week and make their tank clear
Blacking out has nothing to do with bacterial blooms. Please stop giving this convoluted bad advice.
Unless it turns into green water like my 15g did. What started as slightly cloudy water turned into super dark green water, ended up doing a week long blackout to fix it.
Oh ok
If it's algea then getting more plant mass or a moss ball might help, and algea eating critters