home Adviсe Why is the water cloudy in a new aquarium? Causes of cloudy water in a fish aquarium. Cloudy water after starting the aquarium

Why is the water cloudy in a new aquarium? Causes of cloudy water in a fish aquarium. Cloudy water after starting the aquarium

Do not rush into panic when you see a suddenly cloudy aquarium. This is the most reasonable thing to do in this situation. You need to remember what you did with the aquarium the day before and compare it with the reasons for the cloudiness, which I will now tell you about.

Turbidity in the water appears after incorrect actions by an inexperienced aquarist, which lead to a shift in the biological balance and nitrogen cycle. The main causes of turbidity include:

Untimely introduction of aquarium fish into a new aquarium
Insufficient or no water filtration
Improper aquarium cleaning or lack of maintenance
Incorrectly performed water change
Overpopulation of the aquarium
Excessive supply of aquarium food

The waste of fish and plants is decomposed into its constituent chemical elements by beneficial bacteria that inhabit the soil and filter. Bacteria convert waste into nutrients that other bacteria and aquarium plants need. This closed cycle of transformation is called the nitrogen cycle of the aquarium. This is the basis for a healthy aquarium.

After this little preparation for the grateful reader, I will explain the causes of cloudy water and how to eliminate them.

Untimely launch of fish

When starting a new aquarium, beginners refuse to wait the allotted time necessary to establish biological balance, and immediately introduce aquarium fish. The next day the water suddenly becomes cloudy.

The reason here is the nitrogen cycle. More precisely, the lack of a nitrogen cycle and biological balance, due to the new aquarium and unsettled processes. The appearance of fish and their waste products provokes a sharp increase in the number of bacteria, which causes the appearance of cloudy white water.

Bad filter

Beginners save money on buying a filter when building their first aquarium. This leads to the absence of a large colony of beneficial bacteria that participate in the nitrogen cycle and live in the filter media. If the turbidity is not of biological origin, but is a suspension of the smallest particles of sand and silt, then the absence of a filter will not allow you to get rid of the turbidity by mechanical filtration.

Fish that like to burrow in the ground, such as cichlids or goldfish, help with this clouding. The only solution is to use coarse soil and install a powerful aquarium filter. Insufficient filter performance leads to the appearance of turbidity in the aquarium.

Lack of aquarium maintenance

One of the most likely causes of cloudy water. Beginners easily rush from one extreme to another and are able to completely clean the aquarium to a sterile state, removing along with the dirt most of the nitrifying bacteria, or not clean the aquarium at all.

Excessive cleaning of the soil and filter causes a shift in the biological balance and leads to an outbreak of harmful bacteria. Lack of maintenance also leads to other problems in which cloudy water seems to be an extremely harmless phenomenon. Do not wash the filter elements with hot water or cleaning agents.

The next most popular reason for a cloudy aquarium is lack of water changes. Beginners change water in larger quantities than required, which shifts the biological balance and leads to a bacterial outbreak.

Overpopulation

Beginners tend to want to add as many fish as possible to the aquarium. This leads to overpopulation of the aquarium, and the biological balance can no longer cope with the waste of a large number of fish, which leads to cloudiness of the water. Overpopulation is not only 300 fish in a 150-liter aquarium, but also 5 fish in a 3-liter aquarium.

Overcrowding is complicated by the lack of a filter and lack of regular aquarium maintenance.

Overfeeding

All the food that the fish did not eat sinks to the bottom of the aquarium and begins to rot. The abundance of rotting food disturbs the biological balance, which causes a bacterial outbreak, causing the water to become cloudy. Feeding too much food is a common mistake for new aquarists.

How to fight

Having explained the likely causes of cloudiness, I can begin to explain what can be done to restore clarity to aquarium water. Have you noticed how many times I mentioned the nitrogen cycle and biological equilibrium? The advanced ones guessed that the problem of turbid water is based on a dysfunctional nitrogen cycle, which leads to a lack of biological balance with all the ensuing consequences.

What can you do if the water becomes cloudy:

We stop feeding the fish for several days or feed the minimum amount of food
We maintain the aquarium: siphon the soil and change the water correctly, if you haven’t changed it yet
Eliminating overcrowding of the aquarium
Running the aquarium filter at full power
We're waiting a week

If you use fertilizers for aquarium plants or CO2 supply, then stop adding and feeding until the water in the aquarium is completely clear. An ultraviolet aquarium sterilizer will be an effective means of control. You need to understand that a UV sterilizer only eliminates the effect, not the cause.

The main condition for elimination is waiting the time necessary for the formation of biological balance. If after a week the water remains cloudy, but there have been positive changes in the quality of the water, then we continue to watch and wait.

If the aquarium remains in an unchanged cloudy state, then check the basic water parameters using test strips. Check water hardness, water acidity, ammonia and ammonium, nitrites and nitrates and think about your actions based on the test results. By the way, experienced aquarists start with a test of water parameters, after which it becomes clear what happened to the aquarium. This secret magic is based on a complete understanding of the nitrogen cycle and its relationships.

In a separate line, I will note the cloudiness of the water in the new aquarium after the first start. Do not take any action in this case, just wait a couple of weeks. It is highly advisable not to introduce aquarium fish at the stage of establishing a new aquarium.

To observe underwater inhabitants, it is necessary that the water in the aquarium is always clear. But sometimes it gets confusing. The contents can become cloudy both in a new, just filled container, and in an old one, even with a filtration system. Depending on the cause of the cloudiness, in some cases it is enough to simply wait a few days, in others it is necessary to take measures to establish biological equilibrium in the container.

The main causes of turbidity

Cloudiness of fresh water just poured into a new aquarium is normal. Putrefactive and other bacteria are present on plants planted in the soil and in the soil itself, which multiply uncontrollably in the first days. Then the container is populated by protozoa, ciliates, slippers, which feed on smaller organisms. On the second day after launch, the contents of the container suddenly become cloudy. Then nitrogen metabolism stabilizes quite quickly. After a few days, biological equilibrium is established in the aquarium and the water becomes clear.

A dead fish must be immediately removed from the reservoir so as not to infect others and spoil the water.

With proper operation, the established biobalance, when fish eat overgrown plants, and the plants, in turn, saturate the liquid with oxygen and process feces, can be maintained for many years, allowing the water to be a clear and comfortable habitat for the entire population of the aquarium.

Signs of spoiled water

Assessing the state of an aquarium ecosystem is quite simple. A cloudy liquid in an aquarium that smells unpleasant indicates that harmful microorganisms have proliferated in the reservoir. An aquarium environment in a state of ecological balance has a transparent color and a specific smell, similar to the smell of fresh grass. Signs of a malfunction in the aquarium are as follows:

1. Opaque contents - white as milk or with a greenish tint.
2. Putrid smell, when it smells like a swamp or stale fish.
3. Increased release of gases from the soil.
4. Abnormal behavior of fish: lethargy, constant presence at the surface.

You should regularly check the acidity level in your aquarium. When Ph is below 5 or above 10, the inhabitants of the reservoir will begin to die. A comfortable level of acidity of water in an aquarium is 6-8 Ph. Having discovered a problem, it should be eliminated immediately, preventing the death of the wards.

Ways to restore biobalance

If, after installing and starting an aquarium without inhabitants, the turbidity does not go away for a long time, it is easier to repeat the whole process again without starting the fish. If cloudiness occurs in an already established aquarium, you need to start searching for and eliminating the causes. Methods that allow you to deal with disturbed balance and help remove turbidity are quite diverse.

Siphon for cleaning an aquarium

General check of the aquarium condition

The first step is to inspect the aquarium. Check to see if organic waste has accumulated: fish feces and food residues at the bottom, if there are dead animals or rotten plants. Has a foreign object fallen into the container?

Cleaning the bottom, checking filtration

You need to prepare fresh water in advance - in an amount of 15% of the total volume. Using a special device - a glass siphon - clean the bottom of small particles of organic matter. During cleaning, up to 15% of the contents are drained and the aquarium is topped up with fresh water. Water filtration systems are checked, pumps, sprayers, and filter elements are washed. If necessary, faulty parts are replaced with serviceable ones.

Lighting correction

If the dregs were green, the flow of light decreases. This is achieved by replacing the lamps with less powerful ones; if this is not possible, a translucent barrier is placed between the cover glass and the illuminator.

Temperature correction

The temperature in the artificial reservoir is checked and, if necessary, adjustments are made to the thermostat settings. If the filter is located outside, you can fill it with activated carbon, which should be disposed of immediately after transparency appears. It is allowed to use one portion of the drug for no longer than a month.

Use of drugs

In pet stores you can purchase special preparations for purifying and disinfecting water and improving environmental balance:

If there are too many fish in the aquarium, you need to put some of them in another container. It is also useful to completely stop feeding the inhabitants of an artificial pond for several days and turn off the lighting.

If none of the methods help, you should completely replace the water. To do this, you need to boil and wash the soil, disinfect the aquarium itself and the plants with an ultraviolet lamp. During replacement, the fish are placed in a small aquarium without soil with enhanced aeration. They pour in fresh water, plant the plants, wait a few days until the muddy water in the main aquarium is completely cleared, and only then release the fish back.

An aquarium is a real corner of nature in the house, because the presence of fish has always been a great way to relax and think about something beautiful. However, everything can disappear in an instant after the water becomes cloudy.

To understand why the water has become opaque and fish are almost invisible in it, you need to know the reasons for this phenomenon. Let's consider the main ones:

When deciding to install an artificial pond in a room, you need to remember, first of all, that you won’t have to do anything with it if it has a filter, and you follow all the simple rules. After all, only they will save your fish from death.

Additionally, the topic is covered in the video

Why did the water become cloudy on the second day?

This problem most often occurs when the aquarium is too small and there are many fish in it or they are too large for it. Most often, in such cases, noticing a bad situation in the reservoir, the owners do not drain all the liquid, but only a small part of it.

It is necessary to change the water completely, preventing the re-development of bacteria.

Thus, after such a substitution, on the second day the situation will repeat again. This can only be avoided when the water drains all the way to the ground. Only after this can the fish be released. This must be done regularly to prevent mass reproduction of harmful organisms.

Types of dregs

Depending on why the liquid became cloudy, dangerous and harmless types are distinguished. Dangerous is the kind of turbidity that has arisen due to the processes of decay of food debris at the bottom of the aquarium or an insufficient number of beneficial bacteria that are not able to cope with the natural filtration of water.

Artificial filters also play an important role, because the liquid most often becomes cloudy due to their poor performance.

In the case where transparency has disappeared as a result of active movements of fish along the bottom or the launch of a new reservoir, there is nothing to fear.

The video shows one type of water cloudiness

It is always necessary to remember that any type of dregs can destroy all living beings if you do not pay attention to it in time and do nothing about it.

Water color

Knowing what color the water in the container is, you will always be able to protect your pets from death. Let’s also immediately figure out why this happens even after changing the fluid.

Green – too much development of unicellular algae.
White – harmful bacteria multiply quickly.
Brown occurs due to low-quality decorative elements or poor peat.
Identical in color to the soil - this only indicates its poor quality.

You need to start doing something with the aquarium immediately after the water turns white or green. This is the worst thing for fish.

A pond contaminated with bacteria must be rescued immediately. On the first day, you should start by changing the water and transplant the fish into another container. To begin with, at least half of the total volume of liquid is drained and poured into a well-settled container. In this case, the temperature of the clean and cloudy ones should completely coincide. Then clean the filter well to wash away all accumulated pests from its walls.

Every other day, the procedure with substitution is repeated. This must be done until the normal level of transparency in the aquarium is restored.

If the color is associated with the presence of low-quality locks or boats, then you will have to get rid of them immediately.

Special indicators that daily determine the level of development of single-celled organisms will help you avoid problems in a timely manner.

Water care products

When filters and algae fail to cope with their main task - cleaning, modern and extremely effective drugs come to the rescue. We are talking about air conditioners that slow down the very rapid growth and development of algae or harmful bacteria. You can find such products from various manufacturers on the market and in supermarkets. The buyer will tell you which one to choose depending on the type of your aquarium and the degree of its contamination.

A natural care product includes a plant called Elodea serrata. You can either plant it in the ground, or simply lower it into the cloudy liquid for a while.

In the pharmacy you can also find an excellent drug called bicillin 5. The required amount is calculated depending on the volume of the container. It should be poured into water for three days (without breaks). The fish must first be transferred to another vessel. In case of severe stages of turbidity, cleaning is continued for up to 10-12 days.

How to prevent clouding

If you are still an inexperienced aquarium owner, then these simple tips will help you protect your fish:

Before placing the soil, rinse it thoroughly under the tap.
If there are no filters, do not introduce too many inhabitants into the container.
It is advisable to purchase a large container so that all life processes of fish and plants take place quickly.
Be sure to install high-quality filters, because after them the liquid remains transparent longer.
When deciding to use chemical cleaning agents, first consult with a specialist so as not to provoke irreparable consequences.
Do not add too much food, because your pets are not that huge. One pinch of food will be enough for them at one time.
Do not hesitate to consult and ask for recommendations from professionals who will always help and can protect your aquarium from clouding in advance.
If you notice even a small part of dead algae, immediately remove it from the pond.
Install a powerful ultraviolet lamp directly above the container, which will also fight bacteria.

The video talks about the solution and prevention of this problem.

If you want to install an aquarium, first of all, study more recommendations that will help keep your fish alive. The water will never become cloudy if you change it on time (at least once every 7 days, or even more often). Take care of your pets, do not overfeed them. Immediately purchase high-quality primer and filter. Only by observing these conditions will you not be ashamed to invite guests to your home and show off your wonderful artificial pond.

The water in the aquarium becomes cloudy, what should I do? It is very rare to find an aquarium enthusiast who has never asked this question. The cause of cloudiness can be many factors, and, accordingly, the same many ways to deal with the problem. Let's look at the most common reasons.

Factor one. If you're worried, why is the water in the aquarium cloudy?, remember what kind of soil you laid when starting the aquarium. Small particles of soil can float to the surface if water is carelessly poured in and remain suspended in the aquatic environment. Such clouding looks unsightly, but does not pose any harm to the inhabitants of the aquarium. After a few days, the cloudy suspension will settle to the bottom. To avoid such problems, pour water into the aquarium carefully, and when replacing soil, consider using soil of larger fractions.

The second reason why the water in an aquarium becomes cloudy may be the activity of the fish. Digging in the ground, fish also lift small particles of soil into the upper layers of water. It is easy to eliminate cloudiness - all you need to do is replace the top layer of soil.

Everything is fine with the soil and the inhabitants of the aquarium, but cloudy water still appears in the aquarium, what to do in such cases? First of all, remember how many days have passed since the launch of the new aquarium. Turbid water in an aquarium after startup is a common occurrence, since the balance in the biological environment has not yet been established. After the plants take root, nitrifying bacteria multiply, and the nitrogen cycle improves - all this most often happens on days 4-5 - the water in the aquarium will again become crystal clear.

Cloudy water in the aquarium may indicate overpopulation. At first, you should limit yourself to two or three fish for every three liters of water. New residents should be accommodated with great care, maintaining quarantine and observing the results.

The answer to the question of why the water in the aquarium quickly becomes cloudy may be improper feeding, or more precisely, excess food. Uneaten dry food settles to the bottom, decomposes there and spoils the water. You can combat this by changing the water, as well as revising the fish’s diet. You can reduce the number of putrefactive bacteria by having a fasting day.

What to do if the water in the aquarium becomes cloudy

So, we figured out why the water in the aquarium becomes cloudy. Now we have to decide how to quickly eliminate this cloudiness without causing harm to the inhabitants of the aquarium.

If you have cloudy water in your new aquarium, the best strategy is to wait. After a few days, biological balance should be restored in the aquarium, and the water will return to its former transparency. If the water in the aquarium becomes cloudy due to improperly selected soil, remove the inhabitants of the aquarium, change the water, and put washed coarse sand on the bottom.

When the water in the aquarium is cloudy Due to the large number of fish with a small number of plants, you will definitely have to use a second aquarium for the extra inhabitants.

Have you seen cloudy water filling the aquarium and suspect that this is due to putrefactive bacteria? Experts advise purchasing special preparations to purify muddy water. These conditioners bind organic particles that cause cloudiness in the water, and the resulting sediment can be easily removed with a siphon from the bottom of the aquarium.

To prevent water cloudiness, you should monitor the operation of the biofilter, periodically clean the soil using a special aquarium siphon, and also perform partial water changes. At each replacement, about 20% of the water should be drained and replaced with clean water. By following these simple rules, the risk of cloudy water appearing in the aquarium will be minimized.

After the first start-up of the aquarium, the water sometimes becomes cloudy, acquiring an uncharacteristic color. Cloudiness in itself is not a terrible phenomenon; it is a signal that something is wrong in the water and there is a need to carry out preventive procedures to eliminate the problem. Cloudy water after startup appears due to a number of reasons, after studying which, the tank can be put in order.

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What aquatic environment is typical for new aquariums?

A few days after installation and startup, the water in the aquarium suddenly became cloudy. Why is this happening?

The fact is that in “immature” reservoirs a biological environment has not yet formed, beneficial bacteria have not spread sufficiently, and are in a state of “stress.” For now they are multiplying en masse, and after a few weeks their colonies will adapt to the new body of water. In old aquariums, bacteria do not multiply abundantly.
The water in a new aquarium also becomes cloudy from light particles of soil, which rises under the influence of frequent water changes. When you pour water directly onto the ground, its grains rise sharply, floating for a long time. This process creates a visual cloudiness in the water. To avoid this, you need to carefully and gradually pour liquid into the reservoir. After this, the sediment will “calm down” and settle to the bottom. Purchased fish are unlikely to create a “hurricane” in their new home - they are shy and often hide in shelters. Water with sandy sediment is harmless to fish and plants.

Beginners in aquarium keeping can overfeed the fish, which is why food debris remains floating in the middle layers of the water, or settles to the bottom, mixing with the soil. Later, putrefactive bacteria multiply in the water, releasing toxins. Ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are their breakdown products that can poison all inhabitants of the aquarium. It is better to give your pets less food than to overfeed.

Why do small grains of white sediment appear in the water? To clear cloudiness from the water, some home aquarium owners immediately add water purifying chemicals to the water. Before adding them to the tank, they must be diluted in a separate container until completely dissolved. These substances, in addition to filtration, change water parameters. White sediments appear on snags, decorations and in the water itself, and the fish feel unwell. In this case, it is better to move the pets to another container.

Watch a video about why the water in an aquarium becomes cloudy.

New water may become cloudy due to the proliferation of single-celled algae. After starting a reservoir where the lighting is too bright and the aeration and filtration system is poorly established, algae actively multiply, causing turbidity.
You should remember about ciliates - microscopic orderlies of water. In the first days they also multiply quickly, giving the water a milky white color. At this time, fish should not be stocked; first, let the parameters of the reservoir stabilize.
The gray color of the water after startup indicates insufficient washing of the gravel before laying. You need to rinse until it becomes crystal clear in running water. If the sediment does not disappear, it means that the stone contains impurities of phosphates, silicates and heavy metals. To accurately detect the problem, it is better to use litmus paper with an alkaline indicator. Perhaps you should get rid of such gravel and replace it with high-quality one.
After starting, the water turned cloudy brown, what should I do? The reason is obvious - wooden decorations can stain the water, and the use of peat to soften the water or filter the soil imposes its brownish color on it. Tannin and humus are safe for fish, but they change the pH level, which may not be suitable for some species of pets. The steps are as follows: remove the driftwood from the water and soak it for several days in infused running water. Evict the fish and replace the soil.

If the water becomes cloudy and turns an unnatural color (pink, black, blue), take a closer look at the color of the soil and stones. Activated carbon will help bring water to its normal color - it discolors the paint.

Recommendations for the operation of newly launched aquariums

After life awakens in the new aquarium, you need to do the necessary procedures so that cloudiness does not appear in it.

In a new aquarium, do not partially replace the water for 2-3 weeks until the microflora stabilizes. A complete water change is harmful to both fish and plants.
To avoid organic sediment at the bottom of the aquarium, you need to do fasting days for the fish. Give the fish as much food as they can eat in 1-2 minutes. Uneaten leftover food can be collected with your own hands using a special siphon.

See how to properly feed aquarium fish.

Install a high-quality filter and aerator in your aquarium. Often cloudy water appears due to a poor purification system.
Use heavy soil with a sinking fraction. Some types of sand or gravel are not able to settle to the bottom even a few days after installing the pond. Such soil is deadly for all inhabitants of the tank. Either rinse it thoroughly or use coarser sand.

Causes of green sediment in the tank

Why did the water become cloudy and turn green - what to do about it? This question is often asked by novice aquarium owners. There is a simple answer to this - strong growth of algae (cyanobacteria). By turning on ample lighting above the pond, they thrive. A cloudy environment with microscopic algae will not harm the fish, but it will cause an unsightly aesthetic appearance.

Daphnia and shade cope well with water blooms. Move the tank to a shaded area where the algae will be sensitive and will stop growing. Then introduce the daphnia, but only so that the fish do not eat them. Large numbers of daphnia can eliminate green water. The algae is also eaten by common snails, which in a couple of days will clean the pond to a shine.

Precipitation in the form of bubbles

Why are small air bubbles visible on the walls of the new tank? Answer: this is all due to untreated tap water, from which the chlorine has not been removed. This water smells sharp and has a slightly white tint. If you infuse the water for the aquarium correctly and do not fill it early, then this effect will not occur.

It is not recommended to place fish in insufficiently infused water - excess air is harmful to them. The circulatory system of waterfowl processes such air into bubbles, clogging the walls of blood vessels. As a result of this process, the fish become ill with gas embolism and die. The first symptoms of the disease: swelling of the whole body, rich dark color. Later, the fish begin to swim on their sides and do not let anyone near them. If you don't evict the fish in time, it will get even worse for them. Restore the normal gas balance in this water, then the animals will survive and regain their healthy, beautiful appearance.