murky water

[John H.]

Hi
My planted tank is about 2 months old and the plants have taken firm root.
I have discus/cardinal tetras primarily but also a plec, cloan loach and 1
angel.
My question is, is it unrealistic to expect a planted tank to have crystal
clear water? There is all kinds of particulates floating around. Its really
bugging me. Should I leave it alone? Is this normal for a fairly new planted
freshwater tank??
tanks alot
John

[Elaine T]

John H. wrote:
> Hi
> My planted tank is about 2 months old and the plants have taken firm root.
> I have discus/cardinal tetras primarily but also a plec, cloan loach and 1
> angel.
> My question is, is it unrealistic to expect a planted tank to have crystal
> clear water? There is all kinds of particulates floating around. Its really
> bugging me. Should I leave it alone? Is this normal for a fairly new planted
> freshwater tank??
> tanks alot
> John
>
>
Whitish cloudiness during the first couple of months of starting a tank
is not unusual. It's bacteria suspended in the water column living on
tap water nutrients. Personally, I've never had a newly set up tank
stay cloudy for more than a couple of weeks. After that, all of my
planted tanks have had crystal clear water.

What you're describing sounds more like a lack of fine mechanical
filtration, though. Maybe you're stirring up your substrate when you
change water. Try a very fine sponge or a layer of cheap "angel hair"
filter floss as the first stage in your filter for a few days and see if
it doesn't clear things up some.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Dick]

On Thu, 14 Jul 2005 13:41:00 -0700, "John H." >
wrote:

>Hi
>My planted tank is about 2 months old and the plants have taken firm root.
>I have discus/cardinal tetras primarily but also a plec, cloan loach and 1
>angel.
>My question is, is it unrealistic to expect a planted tank to have crystal
>clear water? There is all kinds of particulates floating around. Its really
>bugging me. Should I leave it alone? Is this normal for a fairly new planted
>freshwater tank??
>tanks alot
>John
>
Clear water is attainable, but tanks differ. Don't ask me why. I
have 5 tanks: the 29 gallon has always stayed clear. One of the ten
gallon tanks cleared early on and stays clear. A 10 I use as a
hospital tank and has no gravel took almost a year before it was
stable and clear. A third 10 gallon tank had small debris for over a
year, no plants did well and a lot of fish died it the tank. It
finally cleared, the plants sprouted and no more ill or dead fish.

On the other hand my 75 gallon tank was a beast to clear. I even
tried the chemicals to clear. They worked, but I hate maintaining a
tank with chemicals. The tank has 2 Penguin 330s. I finally added a
finer mesh filter media. The tank cleared and has stayed clear. I
have to clean the media more often because the filter output starts to
flow out the intake ramps.

I change 20% water twice weekly and never vacuum the bottom. I quit
using charcoal. And, I removed the bio wheels from the 75 gallon tank
since the lower water flow wasn't turning them and I realized my other
tanks were doing fine without bio wheels.

Good luck. Don't worry about your fish. The debris doesn't harm them
so far as I can tell and according to stuff I have read.

I think the water clears as the bacteria get better established. I
think the hospital tank was hard to clear because it has no gravel to
act as a home to the bacteria.

It still amazes me how clear and stable my tanks have become. Once
you get there things are so much nicer.

dick