Why is my water cloudy white?

[johnnymax]

This is not a new thing, I have been fighting the white cloudy water for a while.
This is my first bare bottom tank, other than a few round river rocks.
The internal bio-filter is very established. (5 mths)
I clean the HOB filter weekly.
It is a MarineLand Penguin 350 BIO-Wheel Power Filter.
Aquarium is 75.
Everything is good, but nitrates spiked up to 10ppm.
I did a 50% water change, added stabilizer and microbes.
Lights on 3 to 4 hrs per day.
I have not been able to keep the water clear since I went bare bottom.
It is always cloudy white.
I think I am going to buy an under gravel filter that covered the entire bottom and put power heads on it.
I will clean the crushed oyster shell/coral substrate and put it back.
I love how easy bare bottom is to clean, but I hate the cloudy water.
I was going to buy a HUGE canister filter, but I think I will try the under gravel before spending the bucks.

 

[Backfromthedead]

This is not a new thing, I have been fighting the white cloudy water for a while.
This is my first bare bottom tank, other than a few round river rocks.
The internal bio-filter is very established. (5 mths)
I clean the HOB filter weekly.
It is a MarineLand Penguin 350 BIO-Wheel Power Filter.
Aquarium is 75.
Everything is good, but nitrates spiked up to 10ppm.
I did a 50% water change, added stabilizer and microbes.
Lights on 3 to 4 hrs per day.
I have not been able to keep the water clear since I went bare bottom.
It is always cloudy white.
I think I am going to buy an under gravel filter that covered the entire bottom and put power heads on it.
I will clean the crushed oyster shell/coral substrate and put it back.
I love how easy bare bottom is to clean, but I hate the cloudy water.
I was going to buy a HUGE canister filter, but I think I will try the under gravel before spending the bucks.

I think you may be cleaning the filter media too often/too much. Because your tank is bare bottom, a vital quantity of your bb resides in your filter, and i believe you may be inadvertently wiping out a large percentage of the colonies every time you do filter maintenance, leading to the blooms you are seeing.

This is one of my long standing gripes with the marineland penguin filters. I dont think they have a good capacity for bio media and clog easily, therefore are not adequate for well stocked tanks, especially if youre bare bottom.

The sponge filter should be helping you out, but i would suggest investing in an ac110 if you like hob filters. I would recommend one or two ac110s before any type of can, but thats just my take.

 

[EntoStentor]

Agree. Looks more like a mini cycle to me though. Almost certainly caused by filter overcleaning.

 

[johnnymax]

I do not clean any of the filter media other than the surface of the filter insert on the HOB.
When I clean the HOB filter I just spray off the build up with well water (no chlorine)
In the tank it is not a sponge filter.
It is a one liter canister filter and the water flows through bio material, then gravel, then a layer of charcoal. There is a filter sock pulled over the outside.
I don't think it is over cleaning because my ammonia is 0.01 ppm and nitrite is 0.00 ppm
Unless I am missing something.
But something is not right???

 

[Backfromthedead]

It is not a sponge filter.
It is a one liter canister filter and the water flows through bio material, then gravel, then a layer of charcoal. There is a filter sock pulled over the outside.
When I clean the HOB filter I just spray off the build up with well water (no chlorine)
I don't think it is over cleaning because my ammonia is 0.01 ppm and nitrite is 0.00 ppm
Unless I am missing something.

A mini cycle or bloom won't necessarily indicate high ammonia or nitrite, though it can. Your existing bb colonies that have not been cleaned out (colonized on surfaces of rocks, decor, inside of filter assembly, tank walls) are probably processing your bioload adequately. The foggy water is a result of new bb trying to colonize your filter media. So while your parameters may check out for now, frequent mini cycles or bacterial blooms can be indicative of instability in your tanks life support system, and ime leave you more susceptible to ammonia spikes or oyher problems. Not trying to concern you and as always this is just my opinion of whats going on.

Im not familiar with the type of filter you're describing, but it sounds like a decent backup system for a 75. Like i said before, i think you should have something at least as powerful as an ac110 in terms of bio media capacity and flow for a tank that size.

Instead of well water, i would use some water removed from your tank to rinse the media.

 

[Rocksor]

I do not clean any of the filter media other than the surface of the filter insert on the HOB.
When I clean the HOB filter I just spray off the build up with well water (no chlorine)
In the tank it is not a sponge filter.
It is a one liter canister filter and the water flows through bio material, then gravel, then a layer of charcoal. There is a filter sock pulled over the outside.
I don't think it is over cleaning because my ammonia is 0.01 ppm and nitrite is 0.00 ppm
Unless I am missing something.
But something is not right???

You have enough filter media for autotrophic bacteria which eats ammonia and nitrite, but not enough surface for heterotrophic bacteria to grow. They basically eat organic compounds, and if you do not have enough filter media versus the amount organic compounds in the aquarium, this will keep happening. You can either add substrate or get another filter like a sponge filter. So in the meantime, feed lightly every 2-3 days for only 1 feeding, until the bacterial bloom clears.

 

[johnnymax]

You have enough filter media for autotrophic bacteria which eats ammonia and nitrite, but not enough surface for heterotrophic bacteria to grow. They basically eat organic compounds, and if you do not have enough filter media versus the amount organic compounds in the aquarium, this will keep happening. You can either add substrate or get another filter like a sponge filter. So in the meantime, feed lightly every 2-3 days for only 1 feeding, until the bacterial bloom clears.

That makes sense to me. I never ran into this problem when I had substrate because of all the surface area I guess.
I was wondering how I would get enough surface area when I removed the substrate.
I am still considering adding substrate again. I already have it. Not decided yet.

I am curious what the results will be if I put two power heads on an under gravel filter.
Has anyone here done that?
The power heads I am looking at have connections for an air line to help increase oxygen concentrations.

Thanks Monster Fish Keepers. I think I understand what is going on, now to address the problem.

 

[johnnymax]

For what it is worth, the reason I removed the substrate from my 75 was because I had algae growing everywhere on everything and the substrate was green, red and brown (not white)
Thanks to all of you Monster Fish Keepers I was educated and reduced the light to 3 or 4 hours per day. (I had light on all day).
I have resolved the algae problem, so maybe I can go back to substrate. Once the substrate is established, I may put the HOB on my 35 after I reseal it.
I have a huge bio load in my tank. I eventually will need to add a HUGE canister filter also.
Tilapia are messy and are growing way to fast!
I am going to buy a few 330g totes so I can move some into it.
I knew I was going to start having bio-load problems, well here they are!
You can not see clearly in the photo, but it is still cloudy, even after the water change.

 

[islandguy11]

I can't really explain why the problem has persisted with your tank, I too can only assume it's bio-load related as mentioned, as I never have this problem with any of my bare bottom tanks, which comparatively have much lighter bio loads than your tank, so I'll bet your planned extra filtration will help.

 

[johnnymax]

Here is a picture of the fish just 14 weeks ago. They were so much smaller!