help! water gone mega cloudy (with video)!!!

What kind of filtration are you running? Do you have a UV Sterilizer? How long do you leave the lights on for? Do you see any planaria? How often do you feed and how long does it take them to eat what you've fed them.

There's a lot of free floating waste/excess food/something floating in your tank in the video. With no substrate, good mechanical filtration and just after a water change there shouldn't be. It makes me think you maybe over feeding or your filter is focused on Biological with not enough Mechanical filtration. It could also be a free floating algae or bacteria bloom that hasn't worked itself out. If it's bacterial as fwprawn said best bet is to lessen the amount of water changes and lessen feedings to compensate. If it's algae lessen the feedings and decrease the amount of light your tank has access to.

I should be be able to help you figure out what it is more positively once you answer the questions.

justarn said:

Whats Planeria?

I run only an fx5 and a tetratec hob filter for a 4 foot tank. Also theres a 1000lph power head... no uv. The tank has run fine like this for 2 years now often stocked more heavily. I once done a large waterchange and tap water filter clean about a year ago and had a similar bloom but it all leveled out and cleared up a week later.
Lights are on for 6hrs a day average. I feed twice a day and make sure its all eaten. Tank only gets direct natural light for two hours a day in the morning if the blinds open...

Its bizarre how quickly this came on?

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justarn said:

Fx5 has two trays of carbon and one of ceramic rings also. .. hob is just sponge which I alao cleaned today... the drip is running a 100% change a week syphoning from a plastic tank in my loft that feeds the hot water boiler.. sediment filter inline and carbon filter?

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Planaria are tiny white worms that stick to the glass right after a water change and are an indicator usually of overfeeding. From a distance they look like white spots upon closer inspection it becomes apparent they're alive as they slowly crawl along the glass.

The drip system could very well be part of the problem. Is the water that's feeding it warm or cold? If it's warm, warm water tends to have a lot higher mineral and metal content then cold because it sits in the pipes longer and absorbs these things from the pipes. Its why people tell you to boil cold water for cooking etc. Another factor is any large difference in temps between the water can cause cloudiness due to the formation of microbubbles as the two temps clash.

As far as your filtration, you're definitely running less mechanical then I would. Believe it or not before the cleaning the dirt in your filter was probably acting as mechanical filtration and after a thorough cleaning you've lost that benefit. It sounds like your depending on your HOB for all your mechanical and due to it's design it's a very poor mechanical filter. The HOB's sponge probably clogs quickly and the water forces it's way around the sponge fairly quickly making it less efficient. Canisters are the best for Mechanical as they make sure most of the water is forced through the filter material.

My suggestion would be to dump the carbon and add more ceramic rings and some fine filter pads to the FX/canister. After all the carbon has a short life and is only really good for chemical filtration and unless your adding meds and want them or something else chemical filtered out it doesn't serve much purpose. The ceramic rings will give you more surface for beneficial bacteria/bio and the filter pads will work two fold as a bacteria spawning ground(not as good as the rings but still) and add more mechanical filtration to the tank. Personally that set up has worked for me and my tank clears within 2-4 hours after a water change even when I do 75%.

EDIT: Just saw the post about them at the surface. Decrease the water level and create as much surface agitation as possible to help with gas exchange also decrease the temp as much as possible that you know the fish can tolerate comfortably, cold water has a higher oxygen content. Use the powerhead and the filter outlets, it'll be noisey but it'll help. Also if you've got an air pump, now's the time to get some bubbles going in the tank again to help with oxygen levels.