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Freshwater tank help: Cloudy fog

You can run it 24/7 and it'll go away if you can't move the tank out of the sunlight.

The willow branch wasn't purchased online. It was from a buddy who had a willow tree grow in his backyard (lakefront property). You can find willows around the lakes around the area as well. You just need a small branch from one.
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Thanks a ton eric! That looks pretty cool. I'll probably just run the UV but I think I have a friend who has a willow tree a block away that I might try as well. If anything, it'll help control the nutrients, though hopefully not strip it enough so the anubis will die.
 
BRING ON THE WILLOWS!

I'll go get a branch today, and UV sterilizer will be installed tomorrow inline with my canister filter. Updates soon!

Thanks everyone. This is better than any freshwater forum out there probably...

Because we all converted from FW.


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BRING ON THE WILLOWS!

I'll go get a branch today, and UV sterilizer will be installed tomorrow inline with my canister filter. Updates soon!

Thanks everyone. This is better than any freshwater forum out there probably...
me and Eric and Boun and Ian came from SFBAAPS so yea ;) I've been friends with Boun for 25 years
 
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Hey everyone. I got the UV Sterilizer installed today... but my return line was too short and didn't really have the space (because I already run a ball valve on it) and put it on the drain line. There's not a SOLID stream of water going through the tube, but a trickle. Think that'll still work?

It took me awhile because I had to get a 5/8" to 3/8" reducer (since my lilypipes and canister are 3/8" and this UV Sterilizer is 5/8"), and a few small pieces of tubing from Ace hardware.

I'm crossing my fingers even with a slow flow rate it will do it's thing. I'll keep watching! I'll take a photo tomorrow to see if it improves at all.
 
3 days later. I'm not sure, but it might be slightly better? I did a quick water change yesterday. The drain line through the UV Sterilizer is now a solid mass of water flow instead of a trickle.

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Actually, I'm 90% sure my UV light is no longer on. I used to be able to see a faint glow from the vinyl tube. Now in total darkness, nothing is showing up from it...
 
Guys, can I look straight at a UV light for a few seconds? I'm going to pull the bulb out to make sure it's still working.

Here's how to change the bulb:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=z3lq0FmcIU8

I'm just going to do that but keep it plugged in. I can't tell if it's really on still. I think it's broken because I can't see anything coming out of the tube.

EDIT: I just pulled it out to look, and it's actually still on. I guess a 3watt UV light isn't very powerful... and my eyes are ok.
 
Since you don't have sand don't wash your bio-filter media... put more rings/bio media. For a quick Fix you can attach external canister with micron media filter - it will clean it in hour but you still need bio filter


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Since you don't have sand don't wash your bio-filter media... put more rings/bio media. For a quick Fix you can attach external canister with micron media filter - it will clean it in hour but you still need bio filter


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Hey Eugene,

What do you mean wash bio-filter media? I just rinse it off in newly changed out water from the tank. Sometimes in RO/Di water.

I do have a canister filter, with a sponge, activated carbon, and bio rings.
 
Hey Eugene,

What do you mean wash bio-filter media? I just rinse it off in newly changed out water from the tank. Sometimes in RO/Di water.

I do have a canister filter, with a sponge, activated carbon, and bio rings.
The ZooMed is very small to be effective as bio-filter but since you have only one betta might be enough. You can also add AlgeaFix to fight green algae - together with UV and effective filtering it should help.
 
With that much sunlight and an unestablished bacteria colony, you're gonna deal with that for awhile. You can scrub that water to crystal clear perfection using a diatom filter, but it'll return. My 90G was like that and I changed 50% of the water daily and scrubbed it with a diatom filter every couple of days; didn't help. What you're seeing is probably not from the effect of the UV filter, but probably due to the weather with us getting less light in the last couple of days with the storm front moving through.

Wait it out and let the filter mature and it should go away.
 
With that much sunlight and an unestablished bacteria colony, you're gonna deal with that for awhile. You can scrub that water to crystal clear perfection using a diatom filter, but it'll return. My 90G was like that and I changed 50% of the water daily and scrubbed it with a diatom filter every couple of days; didn't help. What you're seeing is probably not from the effect of the UV filter, but probably due to the weather with us getting less light in the last couple of days with the storm front moving through.

Wait it out and let the filter mature and it should go away.

The tank has been setup for almost a year now. Does it take that long to "establish"? I guess I don't have sand and only some bio in sponge and ceramic rings.
 
Thanks for all the input everyone!

Quick history, the tank was crystal clear for probably 6 months or more. Then all of a sudden started getting cloudy. The window light didn't really change, though I guess it did get a lot warmer. I took out a petite anubis that I thought might be the problem, and the water cleared up. I guess the anubis was dying and created quite a bloom of bacteria.

I added new anubis a few days later, and a week after that, the cloudiness came back. I removed all the plants, and it was still cloudy for a couple days.

The good news is, after running the UV sterilizer for 5 days now, the water is dramatically clearer. There's a green dusting of stuff on the bottom of the glass. I'm guessing that might be the dead stuff that is killed by the UV sterilizer? I've started slowly siphoning it out.

At this rate, the tank should clear all the way up by the weekend (crossing my fingers). I hope that'll be the end of the cloudiness.

I'll also try AlgaeFix, like @Eugene suggested. I'll throw that in with the carbon/ceramic rings in the canister filter.

Thanks again! More updates in a couple days. Hopefully it clears right up.
 
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