Cloudy Tank

I would need more info to help you out. How old is your tank? is it stocked? what light? corals? fish?
I think you meant your ph was 7? 70's is not a measurement of PH.

 

What filters are you using ? When was your last water change and what % did you change ?

 

How long ago were the fish added ? Are you adding anything to the water ?

Cloudy water like that is often a bacterial bloom.

 

My first suggestion would be to stop using the water clarifying agent, it may be damaging your beneficial bacteria. I agree with anthony cloudy water usually means bacterial bloom, which in turn is usually caused by a die off of beneficial bacteria. Have you recently cleaned the filter?

 

I thought you said your tank was cycled, do you know your nitrIte and nitrAte readings?

 

There is some discrepancies with your statement. During cycling, cloudy water is almost the first thing to be noticed, as the bacteria that consumes the nh3 (ammonia) becomes visible in the water column with light. That "haze" you see is thousands, if not millions of bacteria gorging themselves. As the cycle progreses this bacteria gets consumed by a different type and drops from the column and is when the water starts to clear up. At the beggining and thru cycling and for the first several months of it's birth, it's quemistry goes thru ups and downs and the bacterial counts fight for food, space ect. This "balancing" also called New tank syndrome, can take weeks even up to 8 or 9 months. Adding chemicals to deal while cycling could "halt" (hamper or such) cycling, but if you add "bacteria in a bottle" will help your tank cycle faster. Doing water changes only elongates the cycling, as it does not allow the bacteria to stabilize and the water changes themselves almost always kill beneficial bacteria that is helping you cycle. FEEDING is definately to be watched during this period. My guess is that you are OVERFEEDING, and is not helping your situation. As you overfeed, this creates more waste, and this in turn more ammonia, and this, more bacteria to eat it, and thus more HAZE. Limit feeding, stop doing water changes, and have patience as you so well put it. If your fish start exhibiting sings of stress consider a quarantine for them to allow the tank to fully cycle or diminish feeding even more. At this time is easier to kill your fish by excess ammonia than by overfeeding. Try and lower your temp, little by little. This allows for more o2 concentration in the water column and allows your tank's bacteria to flourish faster. Do not move the filters, stop sticking your hands in the water, ect. LET NATURE do what it does best.... BALANCE.

 

When we say 'cycle' we are referring to the nitrogen cycle, not simply allowing a tank to run and filter. Typically it takes weeks for a tank to complete the cycle process once fish are added.

I think that Start Right might have something to do with it. Try only using a product like Seachem Prime when you do your water changes. There's no need to use something that adds extra stuff to the water other then to neutralize chlorine, chloramines etc.

 

One more thing, I don't think it's very smart to clean out the filter with cold water. Are you talking about tap water then?
The filter should ONLY be cleaned with water from the tank! Anything other than this will damage the beneficial bacteria in your filter, and then the cycle starts all over again. Which may cause the cloudy water.

And please, feed your fish at least twice a day :'C (still small amounts though)

 

2x T5 54W 6700K Daylight lamp 5000 Lumens on a 55g is low lighting for sure (just under 2wpg) and I couldn't imagine this being the culprit. How long are you leaving the light on?

Have you been able to take you water to your lfs to have them test it for you? If not can you pick up a liquid test kit such as api freshwater master kit that can be viewed here--> <a class="postlink" href="http://aquariumpharm.com/Products/Product.aspx?ProductID=67" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://aquariumpharm.com/Products/Produ ... oductID=67</a> ?
If so, I'd run a complete test on everything and compare your readings to there book and post them if you don't mind.

I do agree that it looks like a bacterial bloom of sorts but if nothing new was added (and you're using the same chemical bottles of the baddy remover and water clarifier...because it's always possible to get a bad bottle) and you're feeding a quality food and not over feeding then the only other thought would be a mini cycle (possibly due to "washing" the stuff in cold water rather than in a bucket of tank water which is removing your colony of BB).

If all the tests come back within safe range, you've done the partial, added nothing besides baddy remover...then if you have a buddy with a uv see if you can borrow it for a day or two and run that on the tank to rule out algae type bloom.

 

False negative tests are very likely after water chenges and the addition of chemicals. If you recently added more light perhaps made the bacteria that WAS there more visible, nothing more/less! If the lights are the culprit it could be because of a temperature spike and the subsequent die off of bacteria, or perhaps as someone suggested plant die off due to improper photoadaptation. Please, do get a test kit. Again, if your fish are fine, if your plants are fine, if everything seems fine but a haze in the water.... let it be... let nature fix it for you.... I like to tell this to people:

"if it ain't broke.... don't fix it..."

Regards,
genettico