Cloudy Water; what's the best solution?

[ThePrep95]

I had an established tank of 29 gallons and purchased a 44 gallon. I know or at least am pretty sure what caused the cloudy water in the 44, the fact I brought 2 fish over from an establised tank as well as some decorations. My 29 gallon has never had a cloudy day, so I know it can't be a water issue.

Question is, what is the best way to get rid of the cloudy water? It has been this way for over a month, and iv'e tried many different methods. I waited almost 2 weeks and did nothing, no changes. I did 50% water changes back to back, and it was clear for a day and back to cloudy. I now am doing 25% water changes every other day, no difference so far.

Any ideas????

 

[jobeak]

What substrate are you using?

 

[FroggyFox]

Is it white cloudy or green cloudy? If its white the best way to deal with it is to let the bacterial bloom pass. More water changes will most likely just make it worse. Let it do its thing. Only reason you should change water on a cycling tank IMO is when the ammonia or nitrites is at a harmful level to your fish.

If its green then we need to hear about how much light the tank gets and from what sources (natural sunlight, tank lights etc)...also how much you're feeding.

 

[ThePrep95]

Its just regular white gravel. The tank is in a place where it gets very, very little sunlight. Again I doubt it could be a feeding or water problem as I have an established tank with no issues.

Here are some pics, first of the problem tank and then to contrast my established tank.

ESTABLISHED TANK

 

[FroggyFox]

Yeah it looks white cloudy, not green cloudy. White cloudy is usually a bacterial bloom, whereas green cloudy is an algae bloom.

Of all the methods you tried...did you just stop and leave it alone for a week?? If you haven't...then I'd try that.

I had a hex tank that was like a 15g or so (still have it, its a cute tank, but its empty in the garage) and I got SO tired of it being cloudy. The only way I figured out how to make it stop was I got a bottle of P-clear by um...shoot I dont remember Hagen maybe? and followed the directions. Put in a new cartridge, dosed with the pclear, put in another new cartridge after 24 hours and dosed again. (or something like that, whatever the bottle said)

You just have to make positively sure that you're not disturbing the bacteria in the tank by rinsing or changing filter cartridges too often or too many big water changes etc...and the P-clear would be a last resort. I finally resorted to it because I couldn't find another way to get rid of it...and it wasn't a permanent fix, I had to dose every few months it would come back and I think it probably had something to do with the tank's shape and the lack of surface area on the tank. Something like that.