Cloudy water, on my last nerver :/

[furious piranha]

So Ive had my 75 gallon tank up and running for approximately 2-3 months. I believe it to be fully cycled, and am currently at almost perfect water params. The tank was cloudy during the beginning of the cycle but afterwards was almost crystal clear. Now, about 2 months later im battling extremely cloudy water. It is greenish/brown and has been at a pretty consistent cloudiness for about a month now. I do a 15-20% water change every 2-4 days, mixing larger 40-50% changes in every 2 weeks or so. Im running a fluval 406 (White foam for mechanical, carbon in the bottom tray, bio-media in the middle 2 trays, and polishing pads in the top tray. I run a single standard bulb and have it on a timer for 8 hours a day. There is an oscar and a Temensis in the tank, buth juvie's and no more than 4-5". They also always finish their food almost instantly and are fed 1-2 times a day. Theres never food left in the tank. Their waste is significant but i stay on top of it with the frequent small water changes.

Cliff Notes:
-cycled 75 gallon, 3 months old
-Was cloudy during cycle, got clear after, became cloudy once again and has been for almost 2 months
-15-20% water changes every 2-3 days, 40-50% every two weeks
-Fluval 406
-8 hours of light per day

Water Param
Nitrate: fluctuates between 0 and 20ppm
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: Fluctuates slightly but never high, almost always at 0
ph: 7

What can i do? Ive tried accu-clear with no luck, 48 hours with no light with no luck, increased surface agitation with no luck. Next step is to buy another fluval 406 but want to try anything else i can before dropping another $200+

 

[martinbinn]

The only thing I can think of is to try adding a UV sterilizer, but see what the others say first

 

[martinbinn]

also maybe try seachem purigen?
it sounds like its not BB because your tank is already cycled and the water parameters are perfect?

 

[petspoiler]

I would ditch the carbon. if it isn't removed after absorbing it's full capacity of waste, that gets released back into water.
Purigen doesn't do that, plus is rechargeable.

 

[Hydrocyanide]

I agree with pet spoiler, ditch the carbon. but if you do, that means your going to have to get back into your canister exposing the bacteria to air and it will and can kill off some of the bacteria in your can. I do believe I know what your problem is because I dealt with it about 3 months ago on my 100g. think of it like this, you may have a bloom and it can be bad sometimes, but I don't think in your case it is. the bacteria is trying to convert waist in your tank to nitrates but it cant keep up with your water changes. every time your remove water from your tank your removing beneficial bacteria that is fighting the waist. You should slow down your water changes to once every week-two weeks and check your water every 4 days making sure that your nitrates don't exceed 30ppm. only do 25% tops water removal. you can also try and leave your lights off but I never did and I run them about 9hrs a day everyday. I left my filters alone after messing with them for a week and removing my carbon from all of them. I ended up with just ceramic and fine filter pads and in about a week of being so frustrated with all of it, it disappeared and haven't seen it since. you just have to let your bacteria do its job in securing your tank params.

 

[furious piranha]

Update:
I guess the "accu clear" takes a full 24hours to really do its job because when i got home from work today my tank is much much more clear. Its not perfect by any means but the green/brown shade seems to be gone and its just slightly cloudy now. I understand that water clarifiers are more of a bandaid than anything so im going to try some of your suggestions. IM going to slow the water changes down to once a week or so. I also will remove the carbon soon (i only had it in there for 2 weeks because i had driftwood in my tank and thought there might be tannins in the water causing the cloudiness and apparently carbon removes that).

Also looking into seachem purigen and uv sterilizers, as well as adding another filter. Ill keep you all updated on this and eventually put some pictures of the clear tank up

Thanks so far!

 

[DDK]

I agree with everyone above. Take out the carbon but run more filtration. I have never had a problem with cloudy water. It might be because my filtration is a turn over rate of 10x-15x. In a 55g I have a aquaclear 70 (known as the 300), fuval 305/405 and a bunch of sponge filters and ill drink my fish tank water lol. Makes me thirsty when I look at it.

 

[furious piranha]

Yea im really thinking of adding another fluval 406. Ive never had a problem with cloudy before this but my tanks have always been super over filtered. This is the first one that's just "acceptable". The next time i have $200 to drop it will probably be on that. Would make it so much easier if i wanted to experiment with some dif filter media as well to really clear the water up. I want to get it crystal clear, ill just feel much better about it and i know my fish will be happier.

 

[DDK]

Yea im really thinking of adding another fluval 406. Ive never had a problem with cloudy before this but my tanks have always been super over filtered. This is the first one that's just "acceptable". The next time i have $200 to drop it will probably be on that. Would make it so much easier if i wanted to experiment with some dif filter media as well to really clear the water up. I want to get it crystal clear, ill just feel much better about it and i know my fish will be happier.

I have been buying fuvals 405's on craiglist for about 60 bucks each with media... lol go on craigs and look for some lightly used and in good condition. I passed up about 3 x5's for 100 bucks each within 3 months. I find there's always good deals on craigs.

 

[furious piranha]

I have been buying fuvals 405's on craiglist for about 60 bucks each with media... lol go on craigs and look for some lightly used and in good condition. I passed up about 3 x5's for 100 bucks each within 3 months. I find there's always good deals on craigs.

Yea ive been keeping an eye out but i guess theres just not a lot for sale in my area :/

Update: Water is looking good today. Still not perfect but i know that will take time. Nitrates are up to 20ppm or so but Nitrites and Amonia are still at 0.