Re: [APD] cloudy water problem -- or - that funky white water needs more funk

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

New tank, new setup, new filter?

What's probably going on is something very common. After a
new tank is set up, with new everything, it cycles through
the production of diff chemicals. As it does, it cycles
through the proliferation of diff bacteria. The cloudiness
is actually a bacteria bloom, so you're right that it's not
algae.  It will go away on it's own if you take normal care
of the tank -- althought it could take several weeks :-( . 
If you kill off this bacteria, it will grow right back
because the food source is there for it. What you're
probably missing now, and why the cloudiness will
eventually go away on its own, are the bacteria that thrive
on the nitrogen products but don't abound inthe column but
on the surfaces of objects -- aka, biofilm. These bacteria
take a month or three to proliferate in a brand new
aquarium with brand ew everything. Until they develop,
other bacteria will prosper, including the stuff making
your water cloudy.

Meanwhile you can put a UV on the tank, but that's very
expensive for jsut a few weeks' need. But UV does a great
job of killing unicellar stuff in the water. And it kills
the stuff off about as fast or faster than it can grow.

Is this cloudiness avoidable inthe first place? Absolutely!
Instead of starting with brand new everything, put in some
mulm (detritus -- the stuff that collects in the filter
floss) from an established tank -- it's yeeeuck to you and
me but nutrition to plants and bacteria (takes all kinds). 
Or even take a portion of the filter media (dirty floss,
lava rocks, whatever) from an established tank's dirty
filter and put that in the filter on your new tank. That's
a good healthy dose of "good guy" bacteria and some
nutrition to help them propogate. Basically you want to
culture a good strong colony of the "good guys" bacteria
right from the start.

Another important step is to *plant the heck out of the
tank from day one* and include some fast growers. I like to
throw in some water sprite to float on the water surface 
because it's great at sucking up those nutrients and it's
easy to remove when it's not needed anymore. Plants grab
the nitrogen products as well or better than the bacteria. 

The white bacterial bloom is generally not harmful to your
fish -- just not very attractive. I haven't found the
"store bought" bacterial cultures to be much use -- pretty
much dead and useless by the time someone buys them. An
exception is the Marineland stuff if it's been kept
refrigerated and expiration dates have been observed to
maintain freshness. But you don't need to buy the stuff if
you have an established tank or know someone with one. 

Hope that helps,
Scott H.

--- Walter Igharas <walterigharas at hotmail_com> wrote:
> 
> I have a problem with my water column. The water is a
> cloudy white. It does 
> not have any of the characteristics of an algae bloom.
> But I could be 
> wrong..
> 
> The aquarium is fairly new and has been set up for 1
> month. The first three 
> weeks I added the plants that included watersprites,
> hygro sp., Crypts, 
> Lilaeopsis, Anubius, Ludwigia repens and Bacopa monnieri.
> The 4 week I added 
> some invertebrates: trumpet snails and 10 amano shrimp.
> 
> Things were going well and the water was crystal clear.
> Then one day the 
> fluval was not working. I fixed the problem and during
> the priming of the 
> canister some 'white stuff' that was located in the
> tubing got into the 
> aquarium. And ever since that time the water column has
> become cloudy and 
> the water has an earthy smell to it.
> 
> After doing some research on the web and some suggest
> this is a bacterial 
> bloom or part of the "aquarium cycling ". But I am not
> sure.
> 
> My question is what is going on in the water column? All
> my parameters look 
> correct!!
> Also what can I do about it?
> 
> 
> Here is some additional information about the aquarium.
> substrate: sand + ecocomplete
> Co2 dosing: 20 bubbles per min
> pH: between 6.8-7.0
> Kh: 5 degress
> nitrates: 0 ppm
> phosphates: 0 ppm
> ammonia:0 ppm
> nitrites: 0 ppm
> 
> 
> Thanks
> ==============================================
> Embrace technology, use it as you would use
> blunt object
> <<G-Prime>>
> 
> ==============================================
> 
>
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=====
-  -   -   -   -   -   -   -
Tired of filling that aquarium all the way to the top? Ready to try something a little different? Think less water, more options. Think paludarium.

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http://www.aquariumdesigngroup.com/aquascapes/aquascapes_paludariums.htm

SEE the Senske submissons to the AGA Annual Aquascaping Contests at http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2004.cgi

HEAR and SEE Mike talk about paludarium design at The 5th AGA Annual Convention. Details/Registration at www.aquatic-gardeners.org & www.gwapa.org
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