cloudy fish tank At first, Cloudy aquarium water seemed to be only a blur, but soon the water started to become more and more opaque, looks like white clouds. If you only change the cloudy water, it will become cloudy again within one or two days, very annoying !

What is really going on with your aquarium ? How to overcome and prevent it ?

Fish tank cloudy, can be caused by overwhelming organic and inorganic particles. Changing aquarium water can overcome cloudy water that caused by inorganic particles, but to handle the organic is a different story.

Too much organic particles can cause bacterial bloom, Nitrifying bacteria that consume ammonia reproduce rapidly to the point that they are visible. Although those bacteria are a natural filtration system and not generally harmful for your fishes or aquarium plants, it is really an eyesore.

So, the key to handle bacterial bloom is to control the organic particles that are produced within your aquarium. Let's take a look at the main cause of overwhelming organic particles and how to prevent it.

Over nutrition. Uneaten food dissolves in the aquarium water and becomes a perfect foundation for bacterial colonies. This can be prevented by monitoring how much food your fishes actually need and reduce the amount adequately.
Over crowded. More fishes - more waste. You should limit your fish population in your aquarium. Recommendation for population measurement : 3 liter of water for 1 cm of fish length. If your aquarium water volume is 300 liter and average length of your fish is 5 cm, population recommendation = 300/3/5 = 20 fishes only. [NOTE : 1 US gallon = 3.785 liter ; 1 inch = 2.54 cm]
Over lighting. Too much light can cause a bacterial bloom. Many bacteria colonies react directly to the light as a source of energy. A strong light will provide them with an unnatural amount of energy to reproduce.
Filter capacity. Recommended filter size = minimum 5% from aquarium water volume. Enough filter capacity can keep most of the bacteria inside. Too small filter capacity makes aquarium cycle process run outside the filter & causing fish tank cloudy.

If your budget allowed, you can also use diatom filter that provide crystal clear water, remove algae, parasites even harmful microbes. But it has drawback to become clog very quickly. So, it's best for short-period regular use to maintain top conditions of your tank.

Duration of water changing. You should change your aquarium water regularly to remove over nutrition. It's recommended that you change 30% of water every week / 2 weeks.
Lack of Oxygen. You can use an air pump with sponge filter . Sponge filters are very useful, not only for collecting small particles (organic & inorganic) that are not absorbed by your main filter, it provide a lot of surface area for bacteria to colonize - avoiding bacteria to spread all over the aquarium water. That's why, most hobbyists reccommend sponge filters as supplementary filters.

Cloudy aquarium water is caused by fine suspended particles :

• inorganics such as dirt, silt, sand, etc.
• organics (bacterial blooms) due to excess organic matter like excess food, organic waste, decaying fish or plant remnants, etc.
• floating algae

Basically, Water Clarifiers work by clumping tiny, cloud-forming particles together into larger clumps called flocs. Once clumped together these flocculated particles are easier to fall to the bottom/ precipitate or collect in the filter.

Results depend on what particles which cause the cloudiness - inorganics, organics or both :
• Clouds caused by floating algae, dirt, silt and sand can be removed from your freshwater tank in 1-3 hours.
• Clouds caused by bacteria can take a longer time (24-48 hours) to get crystal clear water. Some of their methods are :

- use enzyme-based formula to accelerate the transformation of organic materials into their most basic inorganic components.
- imparts a positive electrical charge as a bacterial attractant. This unique formula quickly seeks out and encapsulates the suspended particles, enabling the positively charged particles to be drawn to the filter (most filter media carry a negative charge).

You should use Water Clarifiers ONLY for temporary solution, there's something wrong with your aquarium water that should be fixed!. Good aquarium cycle will provide crystal clear water without using any clarifier!.