How do I Fix a Cloudy Fish Tank?

If you have an aquarium, you must have gone through or must be going through your aquarium being cloudy. Well, it is not only you, almost every aquarist goes through the cloudiness of the aquarium. If your aquarium is cloudy or hazy, it makes your aquarium very unattractive and probably an eyesore. Your aquarium can become blue, green, grey, or yellow. The worst one is if it becomes the green kind of cloudy, for it makes it look very filthy.

Well, the cloudiness of a tank will happen sooner or later. A myriad of causes leads to the cloudiness of an aquarium. This article is here to help you remove the cloudiness of your aquarium.

Why do aquariums get cloudy?

A lot of factors are there which result in your aquarium being cloudy. It can be bacterial bloom, too many algae, improper filtration, etc.

Algae

If algae are the cause of the cloudiness of the aquarium, it becomes green and is not at all pleasant to look at. If too many algae are present in your aquarium, it makes your aquarium look foul and unclean. It is an absolute eyesore to see a greenish cloudy aquarium.

The outburst of too many algae is the cause of this. Algae tend to grow in number tremendously if your aquarium is in a bright place, especially in sunlight. Light is an absolute catalyst in increasing the number of algae in an aquarium.

Or, the presence of too much phosphate and nitrates also leads to a huge amount of algae. Phosphates and nitrates increase if your tank has large amounts of leftover food, fish wastes, etc.

Substrate

A substrate with sediments will also lead to your aquarium being greyish type of cloudy. The substrate breaks down to sediments with any form of friction. When they get rubbed against one another, this can bring about sediments that get suspended or distributed as your pour water into your aquarium.

Bacterial Bloom

A bacterial bloom is a common cause that causes cloudiness in an aquarium. Bacterial bloom is where nitrifying bacteria increases to great amounts in an aquarium. It makes the water appear greyish type of cloudy. It usually happens when you are starting the cycle in a new tank, in such a case, it will settle in a few days.

Another cause is if you are overfeeding your fish. Overfeeding gives rise to leftover food, and as nitrifying bacteria break them down into nitrates so the more leftover foods the more bacteria will emerge. The increase in leftover foods means immense amounts of nitrifying bacteria.

It can also occur if the bacteria are trying to repopulate in the tank.

If you have too much fish in a single tank it will lead to bacterial bloom. The more the fish the more waste products will be there. This will lead to the bacterial bloom as they break them down along with the leftover food.

Remedies for Cloudy Aquarium

Your aquarium is murky and cloudy? There are remedies to make it clear again.

• In case of cloudy water caused by algae, first of all, you want to move your aquarium if it is near windows. You wouldn’t want your aquarium to be exposed to sunlight, as it contributes to the growth of algae immensely. Secondly, don’t turn on your aquarium light for too long. Set timers on your light, or pay attention to the amount of time you are keeping on your aquarium light.
• Giving food to your fish in the right amounts will also prevent the growth of algae. If there is no leftover food, means there will be fewer amounts of chemicals such as phosphate and nitrates. The presence of these chemicals contributes to the growth of algae as well.
• If the reason for a cloudy aquarium is the substrate then all you need to work on is cleaning your substrate. Wash your substrate until it gives out clear water. If you accomplish that then the substrate is ready for use and no cloudy water will form.
• When the bacterial bloom is the cause of cloudy aquariums it is mostly because of the presence of too much waste products. The bacteria is nitrifying bacteria and nitrifying bacteria break down waste products into nitrates. For this feed your fish in the right amounts so as not to create leftover food. Clean your tank and get rid of the fish waste products. Performing water changes help in reducing cloudiness caused by bacterial bloom as well.
• As bacterial bloom occurs while they are trying to repopulate the aquarium after a chunk of them have died. For this clean your filters with aquarium water as nitrifying bacteria is mostly present in filters. With aquarium water, nitrifying bacteria won’t be removed from the filter.
• If you have too much fish in a single tank, it will eventually lead to bacterial bloom. Move some fishes to a different tank or if you have no choice then take it back to the pet store.

A cloudy aquarium is inevitable and can start becoming cloudy without any notice. Although it might pose much threat to your fish but it sure makes your aquarium look bad and dirty. But there are remedies to everything and cloudy aquarium is no short of it. Do the required things to prevent cloudy aquarium and you will have no problems in the future with it. If the cloudiness comes back again, simply do it again.