I have a 20g long with just a betta, 4 Cory cats and 5 loaches. It has been cycled and up for about three months. I use a marineland bio wheel filter made for a 45 gallon with a baffle to cut any powerful waterflow and fluval bacteria pieces in front of the filter. It has good water flow and the wheel spins as it should. For whatever reason, perhaps to much messing with it, I get that dreaded cloudiness very often. It is a planted tank and all plants are thriving, the fish seem happy and the nitrites and all other things test fine. But it's frustrating! I use a dual bulb T5 with a daylight and a actinic bulb with the led moonlights. So all seems to check out. The temp is around 80 all the time which they seem to enjoy. once I was frustrated and poured in the small bottle of tetra startup when the nitrites were a bit high and that cleared that up instantly. Should I be doing water changes of more than 10-25 percent? like 50 to 75 percent? I do a partial once a week. Plus a small amount of plant food. Feeding Two pellets a day is it for the betta and a sinking algae wafer with a few smaller sinking wafers for the bottom feeders each night. It does say that if not eaten the regular Hikari wafers can cloud water...The algae ones would not it would seem plus they eat like the little scavengers they are.

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Hoopman
Sunny Orlando FL
55G W/Angel, loaches/cats, tetras, rasboras, Two Bio Wheel 350's (8 cartridges and 4 wheels) Dual T5 ATI bulbs which are blue & blue-plus (white), give a saltwater tank look/moons. - 37G w/Angel, Mystery snails, tetras/cherry barbs. Dual 24 inch T5 with same ATI bulbs/moons. Bio wheel filter (dual cartridges and one wheel) and Aqueon single filter Bio cage cartridge, both designed for larger tanks. n

The best thing i can tell you to do is to just let it take it's course. It won't affect anything in your tank. I am sorry it happens so often to you.

Just don't use any water clarifier chemicals.

Plus I wanted to bump this thread for you. Maybe someone has something else that will work.

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New to the hobby, Got lots of ambition !

25-gallon Community Ta\nk
3 Zebra Danios
2 Long Finned Leopard Danios
2 Silver Tipped Tetras
2 Nerite Snails

5-gallon Betta Tank Planted:
1 Betta

Wisteria
Java Moss

10-gallon
still deciding.

What type of Loaches do you have in there? Sounds like your tank might be a little overstocked and or may be overfeeding. With your stocking level, I would do 50% changes per week.

What I do when (if?) the water clouds up is kill the lights and stop adding food until the water chears up. Usually in a few days but it can be up to a couple of weeks sometimes.

Then I resume with less lights and feeding to I find the right combination where the plants thrive and the water remain clear.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden

Hello Hoop...

Don't know if you need another opinion on your cloudy tank problem. But, here goes. Small tanks were a challenge for me in general. So, I don't have them anymore.

I'd suggest large and frequent water changes. I'm a fanatic water changer. Start changing a minimum of half the water in your 20 G every 4 or 5 days and add some polyfiber to the filter. By flushing large quantities of clean water through your tank regularly, there won't be time for anything to build up and cause tank problems. Adding a dense filter media, like a polyfiber will help trap any small particles of fish and plant material.

I have several larger tanks. I do these two things and my tank water is crystal clear.

As always, just one reporter's opinion.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

what sort of extra media are you reffering to? For now I have the bio wheel marineland with filter and in front of the filter is stuffed with the fluval bio material (marshmallows). Do you reccomend even more media behind the filter cartridge???

Thanks,

Hoop

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Hoopman
Sunny Orlando FL
55G W/Angel, loaches/cats, tetras, rasboras, Two Bio Wheel 350's (8 cartridges and 4 wheels) Dual T5 ATI bulbs which are blue & blue-plus (white), give a saltwater tank look/moons. - 37G w/Angel, Mystery snails, tetras/cherry barbs. Dual 24 inch T5 with same ATI bulbs/moons. Bio wheel filter (dual cartridges and one wheel) and Aqueon single filter Bio cage cartridge, both designed for larger tanks. n

I would cut back on the feeding.
like once every other day until the tank clears up.
The lights are not your problem. so keep them on and on a regular schedule.
I use two automatic timers for mine one for the day lights and one for the night or moon lights.
also 1/4 water changes every 4 days won't hurt.

I have a 46gal bow front with a total of 26 fish
all small fish granted.
4 oto's
4 fancy guppys
4 green cory cats
4 cherry barbs
2 Dalmatian mollies
2 dwarf african frogs
2 American flag fish
5 Neon tetras
I do have a large canister filter that holds a lot of media.

Hello again...

Not familiar with the Marineland power filters. Used to have the biowheels in a couple of small Eclipse tank kits years ago, but I use the AquaClear HOBs and the media area accomodates several different types of media. I use a polyfiber pad that may work in your filter. It's a dense pad that will trap the small particles floating in the tank that makes the water cloudy.

At times after a large water change, I get cloudy water. When this happens, I add a small power filter with only the polyfiber in it. I run the extra filter for a few hours or a day and the water clears up.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

I think its a bit overstocked myself.What type of loaches are they?

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http://bountifulbettas.blogspot.com/

"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

They appear to be two one inch or less long Yoyo loaches, two very small clowns and a inch and a half zebra loach, 4 Cory's and the betta is the stock.
I'll cut food to,every other day right now been doing just one algae hiakari sinking wafer at night and just two pellets. Day for the betta. Should the bettas food be stopped also?

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Hoopman
Sunny Orlando FL
55G W/Angel, loaches/cats, tetras, rasboras, Two Bio Wheel 350's (8 cartridges and 4 wheels) Dual T5 ATI bulbs which are blue & blue-plus (white), give a saltwater tank look/moons. - 37G w/Angel, Mystery snails, tetras/cherry barbs. Dual 24 inch T5 with same ATI bulbs/moons. Bio wheel filter (dual cartridges and one wheel) and Aqueon single filter Bio cage cartridge, both designed for larger tanks. n

What type of polyfiber do you buy and where do you get it?

Good morning sea...

The company's name is HBH. They make several types of pads for mechanical, chemical and biological filtration. Below is the info.:

HBH Pet Products
PO Box 967
Springville UT 84663

Website: HBH Pet Products

Just let me know if you need anything else.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

Clown loaches are not suitable for tanks that size and will get up to 12". Not sure about your other loaches.

Also, Petsmart and pretty sure Petco does as well, sell filter pads that can be cut to your needs. Always good to have extra filter fiber in HOB filters since they aren't the most effecient.

Will clown loaches grow to such large proportions even if there environment is a 20g long? Hmmm frustrated as this shop had a tremendous reputation. I guess they should be given back and get a few more Cory's. Does anyone know if the other loaches will be a problem really enjoy them?

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Hoopman
Sunny Orlando FL
55G W/Angel, loaches/cats, tetras, rasboras, Two Bio Wheel 350's (8 cartridges and 4 wheels) Dual T5 ATI bulbs which are blue & blue-plus (white), give a saltwater tank look/moons. - 37G w/Angel, Mystery snails, tetras/cherry barbs. Dual 24 inch T5 with same ATI bulbs/moons. Bio wheel filter (dual cartridges and one wheel) and Aqueon single filter Bio cage cartridge, both designed for larger tanks. n

No, they will probably not reach that size in a smaller tank. It will actually stunt their growth, but they should still get way too big a 20g. Stunting their growth will also shorten their lifespan. They need a pretty large tank.

I was reading you can use quilting fabric poly fill? Some is 100% cotton thro> anyone tried it?
It come on rolls and is cheap at fabric stores and places like Micheal's.