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Murky water

This post reminded me of other posts about murky water. I don't think it's 
worth it to anguish over it, and just wanted to post some results about my 
recent experience with murky water and what I did about it.

For about 3 weeks to 1 month I had murky water. It was in a tank that's been 
established since late last year, so it was not a cycling thing. Initially, I 
thought it might have been getting green, but it was not green, just murky. 
If I didn't change the water frequently enough, it would get so murky that 
one couldn't see into the tank. I was not able to keep up with frequent 
enough water changes to keep the tank clear, and would just change a large 
amount when I couldn't see in (figured the plants weren't getting enough 
light by then ;-) ). I would say I did a large water change maybe every 5 
days or so, if that. Sporadic and not religious. And it would become 
noticeably cloudy several hours later, and increase significantly each day. 

Finally, one day, on it's own, I noticed the water was staying clear after a 
water change a day earlier. Ah, I thought, my troubles were over. During a 
tank trimming that very day,  I had the co2 line turned *off* via a crude 
little valve from an airline tubing kit. I just forgot to turn it on, and the 
bottle was fresh. To my horror, the valve burst and yeast & sugar started 
pumping out. Because I have this connector in the line, it doesn't get 
through to the tank,  just messes up the walls. This time, I saw some going 
into my newly clear tank.

I instantly did a large water change (90%?) immediately, and it's still 
clear. I don't know what it was, or why it was there. But have faith, don't 
stress, and take the easy (lazy man's?) way out. It will go away on it's own.

Sylvia



> I have what I think is a tank cycling question.
>  
>  Only July 17, I set up a 125 gal and stuffed it with plants and flourite
>  (mostly swords). It has 6 55W compact fluorescent lamps from AH Supply
>  (6700K), CO2 injection and an Eheim 2228.
>  
>  The problem is that the tank is still cloudy. It has cleared up some
>  from its initial deep cloudiness to a lighter cloudiness that doesn't
>  seem to be getting any better. Stock is: 5 harlequin rasboras, 4 neons,
>  2 bleeding hearts, 1 chinese algae eater, 2 tiny Amano shrimp. 
>  
>  Should I just be patient? I haven't done a water change since I set it
>  up, so it wouldn't disturb the cycle. The fish seem to be fine. The
>  filter hoses (they're clear; I extended the Eheim's hoses) have a brown
>  scunge and the water's surface is a little slimy, but I'm not sure if
>  this is affecting anything.
>  
>  Also, the sword leaves are yellowing before reaching their full growth,
>  but they're bubbling like crazy. Is there too much light?
>  
>  Thanks for any help. E-mail is welcome.
>