Cloudy Water

[AlexMC]

Hi,

A couple of months ago I started a four new 10G tanks only for fresh water inverts. They have EHEIM Liberty 150 filters full with EHEIM SUBSTRATpro.

I added ADA Amazon, moss and java ferns.

Three Months later I still have cloudy water in 2 tanks. Shrimps in them are breeding like crazy, plants seem healthy but the water doesn't clear!

What Can I do to fix this and what seems to be the problem?
I'm doing weekly 40 to 50% water changes.

[TitoC]

Weird.
What is difference between the tanks then?
What is cloudy? Is the water green or grey? Is it constantly the same cloudiness? or does it vary?

I'm thinking 3 things:
- the filters are not adequate to sift out all the suspended matter
- you are feeding more / adding more fertilizer to those 2 tanks and getting blooms of certain organisms
- you are stirring-up or placing objects which leach of in the water

What could help is (depending on the cause)
- rinse the filters media regularly (with tank water!)
- cut down on the shrimp population / feeding / ferts / messing around

but its still weird. are those 2 tanks getting more light or something?

Although the shrimp dont sound like they mind, if it is really bothering you, you could install some kind of micron filter. But I would look for the cause..

[AlexMC]

Thanks for the help :)



What is difference between the tanks then?

The only difference is the shrimp species in each



What is cloudy? Is the water green or grey? Is it constantly the same cloudiness? or does it vary?

It's white/greyish and it has some variation, but not much



I'm thinking 3 things:
- the filters are not adequate to sift out all the suspended matter
- you are feeding more / adding more fertilizer to those 2 tanks and getting blooms of certain organisms
- you are stirring-up or placing objects which leach of in the water

The filters seem powerful enough for the tank size. Feeding could be a cause because the 2 aquariums where the problem is more evident have bigger shrimp population and so I feed more. Although I think this is not the main problem because I have lot's of snails that are fast eating the remains...



What could help is (depending on the cause)
- rinse the filters media regularly (with tank water!)
- cut down on the shrimp population / feeding / ferts / messing around


I don't use any kind of ferts and I don't change the layout since I firts put the aquas together.

About rinsing the filter media I have some questions:

Since they are hang-on filters if I power them of to rinse the media, the water will, by gravity, empty the filter, won't the bacteria in the filters ceramics dye if it get dry? Isn't it a problem?



but its still weird. are those 2 tanks getting more light or something?


Nop same light :)

[silane]

Hi,

A couple of months ago I started a four new 10G tanks only for fresh water inverts. They have EHEIM Liberty 150 filters full with EHEIM SUBSTRATpro.

I added ADA Amazon, moss and java ferns.

Three Months later I still have cloudy water in 2 tanks. Shrimps in them are breeding like crazy, plants seem healthy but the water doesn't clear!

What Can I do to fix this and what seems to be the problem?
I'm doing weekly 40 to 50% water changes.

What gravel are you using? Can be shrimps digging the soil based gravel.

[AlexMC]

Only using ADA Aquasoil Amazon.

[silane]

Maybe that's the reason, soil based gravel usually has such problem. Normally, I use 2 white wool pad of thicker type. The thin and less compact white wool pad that come ehiem is not enough.

[AlexMC]

I can try that, but if it is a bacterial cloud I think it wont help.

I had posted a question early but since it is in the middle of the post let me copy it here:


Since they are hang-on filters if I power them of to rinse the media, the water will, by gravity, empty the filter, won't the bacteria in the filters ceramics dye if it get dry? Isn't it a problem?

[silane]

Oh, now I read carefully, you are using EHEIM Liberty 150 filters. It does not have much mechcanical filter capability.

Question of the dried medium, my thoughts is I am sure you can work fast enough before the surface dried up, but center of porious medium like Ehiem Substrate Pro can hold quite a bit of water will take a long time to complete dry. As long as you get the maintain done fast, I dont think you should worry, but any mantainance done on a filter even if you are doing on the mechcanical filter part will affect the bio part to a certain extend. I am a bit worry for you, as Ehiem 150 does not have a strong bio capability.

[AlexMC]

Thanks for the reply Silane.

About the filter capacity, it came with two mechanical filters, sponges. What I have done was replacing one of them with Eheim Substract Pro. Each one of the filters are now olding 250gr of biological filtration. Don't you think it's enough for 10G tank? Most keepers use only sponge filters so I tought this was enough.

[TitoC]

I would like to put a sample of that water under a microscope, it could be that the feed is also being consumed by plankton..
I once had it happen in a tank with brackish water. First the water became green, and after some weeks the water became milky white with copepods, feeding of protists, feeding of the algae!

It will be high time to rinse that filter material! Just do it quick and in water from the tank, not under the tap.