Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

The water is milky cloudy, not particulate cloudy.
The water is the same colour in my sump also.

Today I did a 20% water change and vacuum'd up a lot of detritus and uneaten food from the aquarium floor.

The aquarium has an under gravel filter and has 24/7 aeration running the under gravel filter (2 risers) and 2 air stones in the tank.

There are plenty of fish in there but the nutrients are very low.

At last readings (last night), the pH was 7.4, NH2 =0.25, NO2=0, NO3=0. Temperature 25°C (+/- 2°C - heater off during summer)

There is some discolouration of the under gravel filter where the plastic is adjacent to the glass. The plastic has gone purplish colour. I will remove this part of the filter tomorrow and clean it and the affected gravel before returning it to the tank.

Tony, is this a brand new (still cycling) system? I notice you have ammonia, but no nitrites or nitrates...
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/water ... ywater.htm
Here they state bacterial bloom is the most likely cause. As steve stated on the first page.
If you're already cycled, then I'm baffled unless you changed your feeding regime.

KP,
I have had this running fro a few months now and the nutrients vary a bit as I don't always feed regularly. We were away for a few days last weekend so I fed heavily on Saturday morning early then fed again on Monday evening - probably over fed them both times.
I have vacuum'd the tank a couple of times, at about monthly intervals prior to this.

The cloudiness has been getting worse over the past 2 months and it did not change with withholding food or tank cleaning.

I will combine the cleaning of the under gravel filter with another 20% water change.

Note: I feed mainly 3mm floating pellets but add one ice cube of home made fish food - fish bones, skin, heads, tails, green vegetables, potato and carrot, bread and sometimes spent birdseed from my DW's aviaries. The ingredients are minced together and frozen in ice cube trays then stored until needed, in the freezer. I have noted that the fish was cooked and had a significant amount of vegetable oil in it.

Tony

hmmm, might be a few things then

1) emulsified oil

2) bacterial / fungal bloom as i first suspected

3) remote chance of your hard water precipitating CaCO3 out. does it form a white poder at the bottom of the tank if left undisturbed for an hours or two?

What is your water coming from?
It could be carbonate floculating with the O2 in the tank.
It could be a population of bacteria that goes crazy with the ectic feeding rythme.
Do you have any clay in the system? If yes maybe give it a go with some gypsum rock powder, do a test on a small volume before, and the dosing would be a handfull for 100L. I've seen it used to clear up ground ponds.
Does the cloude stuff deposit itself if you take a glass of the water.