# Murky water - please help!!



## bluberrymuffin (May 7, 2011)

I've had my 10 G cycled and up for over a year now with no problems...around 2 months ago the water started getting cloudy and i've tried everything since then to clear it up without success 

at first i thought it was a bacterial bloom but its almost got a yellowish tinge to it (not tannins, only 1 tiny driftwood there since day 1). i have tried frequent small water changes, squeezing the bacteria from another tank into the water, moving the activated carbon. The tank is stocked with 6 ADF only and has a penguin 100b with all params normal ammonia nitrites 0 nitrates 5. Will post pictures later.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!


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## RevoBuda (Sep 3, 2011)

It may be tannins still. I had a similar situation and was certain it wasn't tannins. enough, it was! You'd be shocked how much tannins can bleed from 1 piece of wood. I used a product called Sea Chem Purigen. Great thing that you only have to buy once. Toss it in your filter and see how quickly you get back to crystal clear water.


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## adrenaline (Jan 17, 2011)

most likely tannins. not big deal to the fish. It's just irritating to look at lol. Purigen might work, carbon usually helps. another cheaper option than purigen, which will require more frequent changes is filter floss. either in the filter or wrap it around your intake. this will trap a lot of the debris in the water instead of it just flowing through your filter. 

you can buy additives to help, but I prefer not using additives if i can avoid them. 

Just keep in mind when you wrap your intake with filter floss (usually help in place by an eliastic/rubber band) it will decrease your water intake in the filter when it starts to get full/clogged. so keep an eye on it. usually best changed daily or once every other day. This works great for polishing water too. 

This is what I do before cleaning the glass on my tanks. keeps excess muck out of my filters


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## bluberrymuffin (May 7, 2011)

i don't mind trying the purigen if you still think its tannins after the picture...its not quite as yellow as when i had tannins before?...i boiled the driftwood when i first got it and its smaller than a tennis ball

If its tannins i may just remove the driftwood altogether..i already tore out most the plants because somebody will be feeding the ADFs for me and i don't want htem to have a hard time finding them


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## missindifferent (Jun 25, 2010)

I haven't had driftwood create such cloudiness &#8230; only coloured brown water.

Are you sure it's not green water algae like this? I notice the fish tank was right in front of a window.
http://www.otocinclus.com/articles/greenwater.html


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## bluberrymuffin (May 7, 2011)

I hope its not green algae...I was told that can only be gotten rid of by UV Sterilization...it doesn't look as green as in the pictures though and i do cover up the back with a black bristol board (from the sunlight)

i bought purigen and was reccomended to give tetra safestart a try...the guy at the lfs said it could be the haze is all dead bacteria from when the power stopped for an hour about 2 months before...hopefully it works!


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

Frequent small water changes are not likely to remedy the problem, but a large one might. I would remove all the water and replace.


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## solarz (Aug 31, 2010)

It's either a bacterial bloom or a green water outbreak. Either way, harmless to your fish.

I've bad green water outbreaks, so bad that it was geen pea soup. I beat it with lots of duckweed.


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## Mr. Scruples (Apr 20, 2012)

I'd give the Purigen a try. I put some in my filter for a bit and couldn't believe how quickly it polished up the water. And by 'polished', I mean buffed to an insane diamond-like clarity.. my fish looked like they were levitating. Purigen is great stuff (one thing to note: the Purigen 'beads' are really small, so you'll need to organize some kind of fine mesh bag for them. Seachem makes one called "The Bag" that works perfectly, but it's probably a bit big for the filter you have on a 10G. Just something to keep in mind).

Looking at your photos, I'd also consider putting some kind of backing on your tank -- that window in the background could be contributing to some kind of growth.

If you don't want to make it completely opaque, you could look into the various vinyl window treatments they sell at Home Depot that are designed to cut down on light transmission. They've got everything from simple frosted effects, to mirrored, to stained-glass, to nearly 100% black (which is what I've got on my tank and it works great).


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## bluberrymuffin (May 7, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice  I bought Purigen and put it in 2 days ago. It has cleared up the water noticeably, although its still far from clear, still a definite milky white. The purigen already turned a yellowish color in 2 days, so I'm guessing i have alot of stuff floating around lol

I'll do a 50%wc and finish the safestart and we'll see what happens


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