foggy water

"Tynk" wrote in message
What's your normal water change and gravel vacuuming schedule?

Just once every 3 weeks, always been that way with no issues until recently.

How long has the tank been up and running with fish?

6-1/2 to 7 years.

You also didn't mention the amount of tank mates.

One large angel, two small cory cats and two tetras.

Algae problems can occur from not enough water changes, over feeding
issues, over stocking, or direct sunlight.

I don't believe I over feed, everything is eaten, doesn't appear I overstock
and there is no sunlight as the tank is in the basement. I felt that the
stones were the issue. While I siphoned the stones they still seemed to
hold a lot of matter in them, as evidenced when I took the stones out to
replace them. The same stones have been in for the life of the tank (nearly
7 years). They also were not typical gravel stones, but recycled polished
glass. I only do water changes about every three weeks, as I have done for
as long as I've had the tank. When I did my usual water changes every three
weeks, I would take out three gallons (via gravel siphon) from the 10 gallon
tank. This always worked well for years with great water until the last few
months when an algae appeared (blanket algae easily removed from the
stones). I was hoping the changing of the stones to new gravel and a good
algae spot cleaning would do the trick, I guess with that matter time will
tell. As for the cloudy/foggy water issue right now, I did leave the old
filter in the biowheel filter, as well as still keeping six gallons of the
original water. So I am a little surprised for the bacteria bloom you
mentioned but I don't doubt your suggestion that it is probably the cause.