cloudy water??? its got me stumped

[skirrby]

ok my tank has always been a little cloudy when you looked down the side of it. and latley it had seemed to be worse than normal.. when you look from the front its clear as day. but down the side looks cloudy.. all levels are good. i run a skimmer 24/7, just finished a batch of carbon, running a polly filter, cleaned out all other types of filters in my tank, and did a 5 gallon water change yesterday.. and i could tell when i got home, that its still cloudy when you look down the side. is this normal. anyone got any clues as to why. ive tried to find out the source of this and have yet to succeed.

 

[alison]

:happyfish Sounds like you don't have adequate filtration or possible just need to do a larger water change. In a few weeks I would do a 10 gal. water change, and don't clean your filters. You may also be cleaning your filters too much. They kinda need to be dirty to do their job. Did you add liverock recently, or have something die? Could be you have to high a bioload, meaning fish. Post your stats for fish, and liverock, filtration, and lights, and water parameters. Need more info to go on. It could be suspended algae or deitrus. Either way, not completely normal. Good luck, I've been there. ali

 

[thomas712]

There is such a thing as cleaning too much and sometimes less is more.
Just be careful not to clean all your filtrations at one time, this would strip the bacteria that helps clean the water, and could cause cloudy water.
Keep track of your levels, but ride it out for a few days and I'm willing to bet it clears up.

 

[skirrby]

i dont really clean my filters out alot..once a month max normally. with the exception of the skimmer cup.. the tank has about 60lbs of premium figi rock, 80lbs of live sand(20lbs which is right from the ocean floor outa the keys) fish include, 1 marron clown, 1 lawnmower blenny, 1 phycadelic mandrian(sp?), and 1 neon goby. 20+ nassirous snails, 10 or so turbo snails, 2 mex turbos, 2 skunk cleaners, and one sexy shrimp. ive got a 5 gallon fuge with live rock,sand, and cheato in it. lighting is 4 65watt pcs and 2 175watt xm 10k halides. will have to test levels when i get home.. i tested nitrate last night before bed and it was 0, so im pretty sure the others are on track.

 

[alison]

:happyfish What is the filtration that you said you clean once monthly, or do you just have the refug? -ali

 

[skirrby]

you know the prefilter sponge for overflows,, i have one between some baffles in the sump to help with microbubbles. besides the skimmer and fuge thats the only filtration i have.

 

[skirrby]

water params are as follows
temp-75
ph-8.2
s.g-1.024
ammonia-0
trite-0
trate-0
dkh-11.6
was testing cal, but got intruped, and didnt finish.
based on that, i dont see why my tank would be cloudy.

 

[skirrby]

anyone got any more suggestions

 

[wrassie86]

ya,if all you have is those little prefilters for the over flows then i belive that is your problem.i ran a 90g for 5 yrs with 2 whisper 20-40 panel filters and the tank was always clear.when swapped to my 125 i had the exact same problem as you (clear from front, cloudy from side) so i tried alot of water changes with no change.then i went and bought a Eheim 2217 canister filter and within 3 days my tank was so clear from the sides it was awsome. you could use a HOT Magnum filter for great water polising to, they can be had pretty cheap and do a great job.pluse you get the added 250gph

 

[skirrby]

bump for more suggestions