hi all, i am experiencing a bit of blurry water in my little less then a year established tank.

allow me to provide you guys some information.
[*]Test Results for the Following:
Ammonia Level? 0
Nitrite Level? 0
Nitrate level? 5
Ph Level, (If possible,KH and GH and chloramines)?n/a
Ph Level (KH/GH) out of the Tap? n/a
Brand of test-kit used? (strips or drops?) API
[*]Tank size (How many Gals) and How long has it been running? almost a year
[*]What is the name and size of the filter/s? nano red sea + aqua clear 20
[*]How often do you change the water and how much? once a week, about 90%

[*]How many fish in the tank and their size? one one inch black butterfly tail moore
[*]What kind of water additives or conditioners? prime
[*]Any medications added to the tank? no
[*]Add any new fish to the tank? no
[*]What do you feed your fish? hikari lion head and peas
[*]Any unusual findings on the fish such as
"grains of salt",
bloody streaks, frayed fins or fungus? very normal
[*]Any unusual behavior like staying at the bottom, not eating,ect..? eats everything

so here is the history about my tank. as i have mentioned that i have owned this tank for a little less then a year. i have read about having to cycle the filter and the tank and i have been testing the water regularly. my black moor had been living in the 10g set up for around 5 months now, starting from january (ive had other fish living in the 10g before, but they are now moved to my 30g). for couple of months, i have monitored my tank and the quality of the water since the tank is in my room and compared to my 30g tank, the water in my 30g is a lot clearer. in my 30g set up, i have 2 large sponges in my aqua clear 70 and a bag of bio balls that are completely covered with BB. so i tired to apply the same setup on my 10g, doubling up the sponges so it would trap more of the smaller particals in the water. however, after a month or so, that didnt not help much, so i went on the my local pet store and purchased an extra bag of bio max. my newly purchased bio max have been laying in my aqua clear 70 for a month now for seeding purposes. and couple days ago, i have placed the bag inside my ac20. things still havent changed, water is still blurry.

does anyone have any idea what is causing it?

ive taken some pictures

Well, my first guess is that you just don't have enough filtration. Although the general rule is 10 gallons per fish, and 10x GPH (100GPH for 10gal, 200GPH for 20gal, etc), I've found that it's just the bare minimum. For instance, I have 2 fish in a 20gal with 280GPH, and I STILL have to change the water every 3-4 days (usually BIG water changes, too) to keep the water clear.

So, your AquaClear 20 has 100GPH, and the Red Sea Nano says "up to 3 gallons" (couldn't find GPH anywhere) so for argument's sake let's say it's 30 GPH. You have a total of about 130GPH on your 10 gallon. Perhaps your goldfish is just really messy! To test this hypothesis, try doing more frequent water changes and see if it clears up.

The other thought I had was that you have brown algae all over the tank. Have you tried scraping the insides of your tank? I find that there's a lot of "white" algae that accumulates on the glass, causing the water to look very murky. You could try scraping off all of your algae and then doing a big water change to get all of it up.

Others may have better advice. Good luck!

I think TOJ is absolutely correct. The brown algae (and maybe the finest of films of other, too) have coated the inside of your tank walls and bottom. You need to wipe it all off at each water change. I suggest that you wipe it all down and then vacumn really well. If your filters have any sort of fine filtration material on them, you may get the rest filtered from the remaining water in the next 24 hours - and you simply blast the fine floss clean and all is clean.

You need to wipe the glass at each and every water change.

High water turnover (GPH) + Fine/Micron filtration = super happy clear water

Thank you for all the reply!
i was also wondering whether my AC20 was powerful enough for the tank. but ive had 2 half inch goldies in the same 10g set up when i started this hobby and the water quality was nice and clear. maybe perhaps my little moore is bigger than the other 2 i had back in the day( which are now in the 30g). i was always tempted to go on ebay to look for another cheap AC20 but somehow i didnt.

as for the brown algae, i thought it was something good to keep because it lowers nitrates. ive seen other members' tanks and they have a bit in their tank so i thought i'd do the same lol. but in terms of scrubbing the glass, i scrub all 3 sides (the front and 2 sides) every time i water change, well maybe that has to change now. i will scrub everything before i vaccum =]

I understand that my 10g only meets the minimum requirements, and i have been thinking of upgrading the take to 20g just for the moore because it seems like he hadnt been growing much. i dont know if that is because i see it everyday and i dont quite remember how big it was when i got it. so i want to get a bigger tank so that he would grow more. my limiting factor is that i am an international student studying in america, and i absolutely love my fish. but i dont know if i would be able to take care of them after i graduate from college. so i dont know if it is a good investment to make. even though a second hand 20 tank is around 20 dollars....what would you guys suggest me ( i know its a hard question to answer lol) ?

anyways, thank you very much for all the input! till next time i water change, i willl remember to take all that brown algae down!

You might want to try some larger water changes. How often do you change the water normally? I can't quite tell from the picture for sure, but as everyone else says, you may have a waterborne algae problem. If you do some big water changes for a few days in a row, it can really help that (it did for me). Furthermore, how much light does your tank get? Is it near a window or getting direct sunlight? Cutting down on a the light along with water changes can help cut down on algae problems. I wouldn't use an anti-algae treatment because those are herbicides and while I'm sure they're "safe" for fish, they're not something I'd want to become a regular thing.

If I were you I would also get some pH/KH measurements because that can cause some cloudiness too.

If all else fails you can try some 'clear water' treatments, like Mardel Brite and Clear of API Accu-Clear. Those work by clumping little particles together so they can be dealt with by the filter. But I'd try the natural approaches first.

thanks fredct for your input. as i have mentioned before that i do weekly 90% water changes. as far as lighting goes, i dont turn on the light that much really. i would say less then 5 hrs because it saves my electricity bills lol and i heard that too much light would cloud the water. so i limited myself to 5 or less or non ( dont know if that is good or not). as for the positioning of the tank. my 10g is placed where no sun light can hit, so im guessing the sun is not the a problem and maybe thats why my moore is not as black when i got it. i read that lighting is important to maintain the color pigments on black fish. my moore is bronze in color...O_oll

ive just testing my ph with my api droppers and it reads 7.6. is that badd??

i agree with you, i want to fix it through the natural approach first before i do anything else. ahhh...that means i have to get another AC filter!

A pH level of 7.6 is completely normal. In fact, that's the pH of my tanks!

Black is the most difficult color to hold on a goldfish. I've heard that fish in ponds with good sunlight will keep or strengthen their black color. Many members cycle their fish through a pond in the summer to "brighten them up."

Brown algae is caused not by the duration the light is on but on the intensity of the bulb. Brown algae occurs in low-intensity light, and green algae (the kind we like ) grows in high-intensity light. The sun is very intense; that's why direct sunlight promotes green algae growth.

ohh understood! thank you for the information thought of Joy! for that i will look for another AC filter on ebay XD
thank you all for your input!

hi all, its been half a month since ive last posted and i have not seen any improvement to my 10 single goldfish tank

here is what i have done in the past half a month:
-i have upgraded my filtration system in my 10g tank from aquaclear 20 to aquaclear 50. the media was brought from the 2 old filters that i had been using for the past year. there is 2 bags of aquaclear bio balls stuff in the aquaclear 50.
-i have fed less, from 2 meals to 1 meal per day
-scubbing the algea off the walls of the tank during water changes...90% weekly
-the light was never left on for more than 2hrs a day, cause the tank is a non planted tank.

the water is just not clear, with increased filtration and less consumption of food. the why i describe "not clear" is that when i look at my 10g sideways, it is whitish blurry and it is hard to see the things on the other side through the tank.

another thing that i have noticed is that every morning i wake up, i see that there is a plie of fish poop near the intake of my filter and spinning around.

my tank also sits on a light brown colored tv stand...would that contribute to the blurriness of the water? i saying this because since the light colored things tend to reflect light, just like how white walls reflect sun light?

so my questions are:

is my filter not powerful enough?
do i need to put more bio media in the filter?
should i put something dark beneath my tank?
should i be changing water twice a week, and each time 50% instead of weekly water changes of 90%?


suggestions are every welllcome and thank you for looking! i will post back with the readings of my tank in a couple hours, since i am still at work lol