clowdy tank

Question
(no3) is at 0 ppm
(no2)is at 0 ppm
(hardness) is at 25 ppm
(total alkalinaty) 180 ppm
(ph)8.4 ppm
I have 8 fish in a 20 gallon tank
5 tiger barbs
1 cherry barb
1 pleco
1 pictus cat fish
my problem is my tank is clowdy and ive taken care of fish 4 about 5 years i cant get the water clear do you know whats wrong  i think its wierd ive never had this problem please give me info or things i should try in the tank  within reason... thanks

Answer
Hi Daniel;

There are many possible causes for cloudy water. If it's a milky-looking cloudy it could be;

Overfeeding; Be sure that whatever food you feed the fish is all gone from everywhere in the tank within 5 minutes. Feed them once a day for 5 minutes or twice a day for 2 to 3 minutes. The idea is to let them actually eat with no leftovers for 5 minutes each day. Overfeeding will overload the tank with waste and cause the water to be cloudy. Dead plants can cause it too.

Overcleaning of the filter; Whenever the filter is cleaned and media is replaced, it eliminates the beneficial bacteria that consumes wastes and helps the water stay clear. Avoid replacing filter pads too often. Rinse them in a container of tank water to remove crud but preserve the beneficial bacteria that consumes wastes.

Inadequate filtration; Be sure that the filter you are using is rated for the size tank you have. A little extra filtration via more power in a main filter or an extra filter is beneficial in case of failure. I've had it happen to me so I try to keep a backup plan in action. Just a smaller filter and/or an air pump with airstone is enough usually.

PH altering chemicals; Trying to lower the pH with chemicals is a very common cause of cloudy water. As the product tries to acidify the buffers that make the pH high, it causes microscopic particles to float around in there. It is best not to try to change the pH anyway. Your fish are used to what it already is so they are just fine. Altering it causes a rollercoaster effect that stresses them considerably.

If the cloudiness is green it means you have "planktonic algae". It can be very difficult to control and often has to just run it's course.

Here is a pretty good article that discusses these possibilities and more;

http://www.nunnie.com/cloudy.html

I hope the problem can be identified so you know what to do and you can be "seeing things clearly" very soon!

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins