Bacterial Bloom/ Cloudy Water

[stiker]

Hello,
I am not new to fish keeping but I am new to having plants in my tanks.
So a bit of a back story. Around about 2.5 weeks ago I removed the fish from my 180G tank (filter is a 40G sump with 2 sponges I placed in there from another tank) to completely redo the tank(the tank has been set up for over 3 years). I took all of the gravel (that had been in the tank for years) out and replaced it with sand. I also removed the driftwood for a few hours in order to glue plants on it. I basically went from a tank with Festae to a Geophagus/Community set up with some plants.

However, I have noticed that the water always seems to have a slight haze to it. It is obvious when looking at the tank straight on and especially when looking from one side to another. Couuld removing the gravel of caused a mini cycle?

I have been testing my water with the JBI Combiset test kit and this is what my results seem to be:
pH: Between 6.5-7
Ammonia: <0.05 (The lowest option on the test kit)
Nitrite: 0.025
Nitrate: 5
kH: 3 dKH
Temperature: 25.2 Celcius
Over test the past 3 days my Nitrate has consistently stay at around 5, and my Nitrite is either 0.025 or 0.05 which is why I am wondering if the tank is undergoing a mini cycle from me completely changing the substrate. Then again I may just suck at matching up the colours.

In terms of dosing fertilisers for the plants I am running the Seachem Flourish range including Flourish, Flourish Excel, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Trace, Advanced, Potassium and Iron. I am dosing it in accordance to Seachems Planted Aquarium Design Calendar. Today being on Day 3 I dosed Flourish Potassium, Excel and Iron. What I noticed was a little bit after I doesed these fertilisers I could not if at all even see through the tank, where as noramally I can even though it is a bit hazy. Could the fertilisers be causing the cloudiness? If so, what can I do about this as I cannot just not add them can I? But I am not certain this is what is causing it as I am dosing the same products in my 75G that only has 1 Amazon Sword and the water is crystal clear.
My lighting consists of 2 Freshwater Radions that I run on the planted layout with a max intensity of 25% for 7.5 hours a day. The types of plants I have in the tank are: Anubias, Anubias Nana, Java Fern and Java Moss.
On a side note does anyone know what the brownish algae growing on my anubias up the top of the tank is? I thought it was from too much light/ light instensity so i reduced the photoperiod by 30 mins and reduced the radions from 35% to 25%. In terms of Algae the other types I can see are a little bit of hair on some of the java moss and what seems to be diatom algae on the glass which I put down to it being a new system.
Do i need to be dosing all of these fertilisers? Could they be adding to the bacterial bloom?

As for fish I am definitely on the heavier stocking side but I will be moving some on as they grow:
10 Geophagus sp. Tapajos
2 Keyhole Cichlids
4 Pseudohemiodon Lamina
7 Dianema Urostriatum
7 Brochis Splendens
30 Lemon Tetras.
I feed the fish twice a day what they can consume in a few minutes. I feed a variety including NLS Thera A, Cichlid and Algae max, Dianichi Ultima Krill, Rephashy and live blackworms. I always ensure that there is no left over food sitting in tank.

I perform water changes once a week (in accordance to Seachems Planted Aquarium Dosing Calander on Day 7). Should I increase this to get rid of the cloudiness? I have also turned my UV Steraliser back on 24 hours ago (Pondone ClearTec 36W) which doesn't seem to of fixed the problem.

Photo #1 and #2 are before adding the Fertilisers and photo #3 and #4 are around 1-1.5 hours after adding them.

I apologise for the long post I just wanted to make sure that I covered everything. And apologises for the poor pictures. Let me know if better photos are needed.

Thank you

 

[tlindsey]

Hello,
I am not new to fish keeping but I am new to having plants in my tanks.
So a bit of a back story. Around about 2.5 weeks ago I removed the fish from my 180G tank (filter is a 40G sump with 2 sponges I placed in there from another tank) to completely redo the tank(the tank has been set up for over 3 years). I took all of the gravel (that had been in the tank for years) out and replaced it with sand. I also removed the driftwood for a few hours in order to glue plants on it. I basically went from a tank with Festae to a Geophagus/Community set up with some plants.

However, I have noticed that the water always seems to have a slight haze to it. It is obvious when looking at the tank straight on and especially when looking from one side to another. Couuld removing the gravel of caused a mini cycle?

I have been testing my water with the JBI Combiset test kit and this is what my results seem to be:
pH: Between 6.5-7
Ammonia: <0.05 (The lowest option on the test kit)
Nitrite: 0.025
Nitrate: 5
kH: 3 dKH
Temperature: 25.2 Celcius
Over test the past 3 days my Nitrate has consistently stay at around 5, and my Nitrite is either 0.025 or 0.05 which is why I am wondering if the tank is undergoing a mini cycle from me completely changing the substrate. Then again I may just suck at matching up the colours.

In terms of dosing fertilisers for the plants I am running the Seachem Flourish range including Flourish, Flourish Excel, Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Trace, Advanced, Potassium and Iron. I am dosing it in accordance to Seachems Planted Aquarium Design Calendar. Today being on Day 3 I dosed Flourish Potassium, Excel and Iron. What I noticed was a little bit after I doesed these fertilisers I could not if at all even see through the tank, where as noramally I can even though it is a bit hazy. Could the fertilisers be causing the cloudiness? If so, what can I do about this as I cannot just not add them can I? But I am not certain this is what is causing it as I am dosing the same products in my 75G that only has 1 Amazon Sword and the water is crystal clear.
My lighting consists of 2 Freshwater Radions that I run on the planted layout with a max intensity of 25% for 7.5 hours a day. The types of plants I have in the tank are: Anubias, Anubias Nana, Java Fern and Java Moss.
On a side note does anyone know what the brownish algae growing on my anubias up the top of the tank is? I thought it was from too much light/ light instensity so i reduced the photoperiod by 30 mins and reduced the radions from 35% to 25%. In terms of Algae the other types I can see are a little bit of hair on some of the java moss and what seems to be diatom algae on the glass which I put down to it being a new system.
Do i need to be dosing all of these fertilisers? Could they be adding to the bacterial bloom?

As for fish I am definitely on the heavier stocking side but I will be moving some on as they grow:
10 Geophagus sp. Tapajos
2 Keyhole Cichlids
4 Pseudohemiodon Lamina
7 Dianema Urostriatum
7 Brochis Splendens
30 Lemon Tetras.
I feed the fish twice a day what they can consume in a few minutes. I feed a variety including NLS Thera A, Cichlid and Algae max, Dianichi Ultima Krill, Rephashy and live blackworms. I always ensure that there is no left over food sitting in tank.

I perform water changes once a week (in accordance to Seachems Planted Aquarium Dosing Calander on Day 7). Should I increase this to get rid of the cloudiness? I have also turned my UV Steraliser back on 24 hours ago (Pondone ClearTec 36W) which doesn't seem to of fixed the problem.

Photo #1 and #2 are before adding the Fertilisers and photo #3 and #4 are around 1-1.5 hours after adding them.

I apologise for the long post I just wanted to make sure that I covered everything. And apologises for the poor pictures. Let me know if better photos are needed.

Thank you

View attachment 1367614

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Yes gravel had bacteria on it. I'm new to plants myself so will let other members chime in. Your aquarium is having a mini cycle like you stated just keep checking your parameters. I also suggest feeding lightly until parameters stabilize.

 

[skjl47]

I am wondering if the tank is undergoing a mini cycle from me completely changing the substrate

hello; My guess is yes to a mini cycle. The beneficial bacteria (bb) would have had colonies on the old substrate. That you are getting nitrates should mean it will be a matter of time for the bb to get back into balance. The bb are slow to reproduce compared to other bacteria.

after I doesed these fertilisers I could not if at all even see through the tank, where as noramally I can even though it is a bit hazy

Could the fertilisers be causing the cloudiness

Hello; Yes to this. The ferts may not be the whole cause but a guess is they make a contribution.

what can I do about this as I cannot just not add them can I?

hello; yes you do not need to add the ferts to grow plants. I have three planted tanks set up now and do not add ferts in general. I do add some pellet type ferts at the root of my swords. The other plants grow just fine without added ferts.

lighting consists of 2 Freshwater Radions that I run on the planted layout with a max intensity of 25% for 7.5 hours a day

brownish algae growing on my anubias up the top of the tank is? I thought it was from too much light

Hello; This seems a short lit period to me. I run my lights around 12 hours a day. The algae are not all the same. There are I think thousands of different kinds of algae. While I can not say exactly a guess is the algae type are getting just enough light and more than plenty of the excess ferts.

I feed the fish twice a day what they can consume in a few minutes

Hello; In my experience twice a day is too much. Even if the fish eat every bite the food still becomes part of the bio load of a closed system. The fish will metabolize and either grow or add mass. So what ever takes place either the fish eat it or some excess food decays in the tank is could be part of the cloudiness.

My guess is you have three things adding to the cloudiness. The ferts. The feeding and that you have recently disturbed the tank.

 

[Rocksor]

The substrate has a lot of heterotrophic bacteria that consume organic waste. By changing out the substrate, you removed a lot of this organic consuming bacteria. This is different from the bacteria that consumes ammonia and nitrite. You also removed a very little amount of ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria. When moving to a larger tank, I didn't move my substrate. My API tests were not as good as your test kit, so I saw 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite everyday. Because I went from a 125g to a 240g, and 100% new water, I didn't see my nitrate go up for 2 weeks (I have 5ppm nitrate in tap).

 

[skjl47]

Hello; This is one of my planted tanks, a 55 gallon, from last November. No added ferts other than a root tab at roots of a sword about every three months which was smothered in this picture. I culled a lot of these plants right after the picture was taken and gave them to an area fish shop. It needs culled again.
I feed only one time a day and usually skip two or three days with no feed at all.

 

[stiker]

The substrate has a lot of heterotrophic bacteria that consume organic waste. By changing out the substrate, you removed a lot of this organic consuming bacteria. This is different from the bacteria that consumes ammonia and nitrite. You also removed a very little amount of ammonia and nitrite eating bacteria. When moving to a larger tank, I didn't move my substrate. My API tests were not as good as your test kit, so I saw 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite everyday. Because I went from a 125g to a 240g, and 100% new water, I didn't see my nitrate go up for 2 weeks (I have 5ppm nitrate in tap).

With heterotrophic bacteria if I’m correct (from the research I’ve done) I shouldn’t be increasing water changes right? As this can worsen the situation?

 

[stiker]

View attachment 1367622

Hello; This is one of my planted tanks, a 55 gallon, from last November. No added ferts other than a root tab at roots of a sword about every three months which was smothered in this picture. I culled a lot of these plants right after the picture was taken and gave them to an area fish shop. It needs culled again.
I feed only one time a day and usually skip two or three days with no feed at all.

Would my plants still be alright with no liquid fertilisers considering that they are all connected to the driftwood and no planted in the substrate?

 

[skjl47]

Would my plants still be alright with no liquid fertilisers considering that they are all connected to the driftwood and no planted in the substrate?

Hello; Non rooted plants take ferts from the water. With all the fish you have, the fish themselves will in effect be fertilizing the plants thru the nitrogen cycle.

Let me chime in on the water change question. Do more WC rather than less.

 

[Rocksor]

With heterotrophic bacteria if I’m correct (from the research I’ve done) I shouldn’t be increasing water changes right? As this can worsen the situation?

If the white bloom bothers you, then increase water changes to remove the organic material from the substrate which feeds the heterotrophic bacteria.

I prefer to leave it alone because you need the heterotrophic bacteria colony in the long run. Just test ammonia and nitrite, or dose with water conditioner that binds ammonia (like Prime or Amquel) and turn it into ammonium , which is aquatic plant food. Aquatic plants will take up ammonium first then nitrate.

 

[skjl47]

Ammonia: <0.05 (The lowest option on the test kit)
Nitrite: 0.025

Hello; You have as of the first post some ammonia and some nitrite. These are toxic at any level. The WC will dilute these toxins and to my thinking dealing with these toxins while the bb population increases takes priority over water cloudiness.
The part of the cloudy water due to a bacterial bloom will slowly subside.

I did forget one other possible partial cause for cloudy water. That is the sand itself. Back when I still used sand I found that I had to dry sift it thru some sort of screen to remove the very fine dust and then rinse it a whole lot. Otherwise the fine stuff in the sand would cloud the water. It also will soon damage pomp impellers.