Nothing is more annoying than cloudy aquarium water. It makes is hard to see your beautiful fish or aquascape, it can have many causes and can be hard to get rid of. In this guide I’ll learn you why your water can be cloudy and what to do in other to fight cloudy water.
Cloudy water after a water change.
It’s normal for your water to get cloudy after a water change. This should normally resolve itself in a couple of hours, maybe a day.
High level of constituents in your aquarium water.
If cloudiness after a water change isn’t the problem, there’s a change that you have to much constituents in your water, such as: phosphates, silicates, or heavy metals. When you test your water quality, there’s a likely change that your ph level is high. in this case, treating your water with conditioners will likely help with the problem.
Green aquarium water
Finding out why you have green water isn’t rocket science. It’s to much algae. There can be multiple reasons why you have a algae boom in your tank and they are often easy to fix!
too much Light
The most likely reason is too much light. This can be caused by sunlight hitting your tank or simply having your light on for too long. By turning the amount of hours your lights down or stop sunlight hitting your tank, will likely fix the problem. Adding CO2 to your aquarium setup can balance out the amount of light in the tank.
Nitrates in your aquarium water
Nitrates naturally build up in your tank due to fish waste. The best way to get rid of nitrates in your tank is to do a water change. (you should do these regular anyway.) Besides a water change, it’s a smart idea to keep your filter clean aswel. You should your filter with aquariumwater to keep all the good bacteria in your filter alive. Nitrates are toxic for your tank, but they are also a sign that your tank is cycled. Bacteria in your tank will turn other toxic chemicals to nitrates and it’s your job to get the nitrates out.
Excess Nutrients in your aquarium
Too much nutrients in your tank such as Nitrates and phosphates can result in cloudy water. To battle this, you can do a water a water change to get rid of the problem temporarily, but it’s a smart idea to find out why you have an overflow of nutrients. Unlike I said before, it’s possible to have a nitrate problem in your tank and doing a regular water change won’t be enough.
Bacterial Blossom in your aquarium
If your aquarium water get’s cloudy after a few weeks of setting up, it’s likely the cause of a Bacterial Blossom. It takes time for bacteria to grow and populate your tank. Due to this, it’s possible that there aren’t enough bacteria in your water to get rid of all the haziness. Waiting for your tank to fully cycle will likely help.
Preventing cloudy aquarium water.
The best cure is always preventing. Taking care of your aquarium on a regular basis is probably your best weapon against cloudy water. Doing weekly (10-20%) water changes. keep your filter sponges clean and clean your gravel on a regular basis.
