Very High PH Level and cloudy water?

Question

Ive had my tank set up for about 2 months and recently started running into problems. The tank water is very cloudy/greenish, almost like dirty lake water. Ive done water changes and it never gets all the way clear, within a couple days it gets to the point I can hardly see my fish at all. I know Im not overfeeding. I have a freshwater 45 gallon tank with different typs of tetra and cory cat fish and a big plocostamus which Im trying to find a new home for, I have no live pants (about 18-22 fish in all) My PH level is as high as it can get according to my testing strips. Everything else is where it should be. Can someone please give me some advice on how to get my PH level where it should be and is this deadly?? Advice on the merky water would be greatly apprecaited as well. I would love to have clear water and enjoy my fish again! Thanks.

Answer 1

to uncloud the water get a filter with carbon as it removes chemicals,cloudy water and odors, also to increase the ph use baking soda but im not sure about decreasing, but you should go to crayfishmates.com to find out.

Answer 2

intense lighting, nitrates and subsequent lowered oxygen levels are all present if you have green water

...generally all algae types are present in tap water (all water, unless RO)...once the nitrates rise to ~10ppm and light is added, the algea blossom

....i do not advocate cure, rather....i advocate prevention:>)

....yet, once in a while some of us must use chemicals for more than dechlorination (lol)

...filtration is primary for waste removal...then water changes are paramount in our clean aquarium environments

....some of us also have source water problems to overcome

....Algone is a chem to use to battle algae....especially if you keep the tank near a bright window

....AS FOR PH

...ph, in hard water always bounces back to whatever the ph of the source water is (see the following H2O-ism)

"...check your tap water, see what the ph is, is and, relatively speaking, that is where your tank is too "

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

....you can use a ton of ph buffering salt to try to maintain 7.0, or change your water source (bottled water from Wal-Mart), combined with buffering salt

....diluting the hard water with some filtered, or softer water, and combining buffering salt may provide just enough stability to the ph that the fish need to survive

...an R.O unit ~$400

...adding peat? works and with bog wood too, but is canceled out by buffering salts

...RAINWATER is an excellent source of softer water, collect rainwater in plastic containers....maybe as run-off from your gutters.....then simply pass it through a "diy sand filter" to remove debris....and,in my opinion, the 'game is on'

...you could go an extra step and boil the rainwater for purification

(news flash to the world......'rainwater is cheaper than water filters or bottled water')  

FINALLY....bouncing ph ranges will eventualy kill most fish

Answer 3

Well, I have seen 2 chemicals that might help you. 1 is stff to de-cloud the water. Can't remember what its called and 2 is stuff to lower ph. Both can be found at a pet store!=)

Answer 4

Don't mess around with the PH levels, most fish can adapt to PH levels in the tank, but will die out of rapid PH changes. It's very stressful for the fish. If you absolutely must, try adding driftwood because it tends to lower PH levels. Don't use chemical such as PH down. They will mess up your tank even more, often causing bacterial blooms, which is something you don't want if you're already having algae blooms!

What you want to do at this point is to stabilize the water -- do you have a kH testing kit? The higher it is, the less toxic the PH is for your fish. Try testing twice a day, I believe you want it at above 80 ppm, but above 100 is better. You should try testing your tap water as well -- if you have high KH (or higher than your tank water, anyway) try doing a 50% water change to stabilize your waters.

Hold on for more advice for the green water, but it seems like you have algae in your water. But what I do know is that green water is an algae bacterial bloom, which usually comes from the water being imbalanced (PH-related?), and/or too many nutrients in the water that can come from overfeeding, too many fish, or access to direct sunlight.

Answer 5

Well since your not overfeeding. How long do you leave the light on each day? And is the tank placed so that sunlight can shine on it everyday?

If you are leaving the light on for more than 8-10 hours a day you WILL get algae growth.

Could be that the water where you live has a high Ph level, have you checked your tap water?

Could be your tank is slightly overstocked due to the large pleco and cory catfish get bigger than 1 inch I know. tetra's usually stay in the one inch range, you should be ok with those.

Also strips, suck. They are not going to give you a good reading, and you should invest in a drop kit. for 30 bucks you'll get ALOT of tests.

you didnt say exact numbers but depending on your fish, in your case tetra they like to be in 6.8 to 7.0 for a community tank.

Yes high Ph will kill your fish.

Your doing right by the water changes, but if you dont find the problem it will just keep coming back.

Also, if you do happen to have a high Ph reading in your tap water, I would suggest using (and this would be the only time I would suggest chemicals) but you can buy a PH bufferer, or use a wonder shell to keep your Ph stable.

Really without knowing whether it's coming from your tap high, or if it's ok from the tap but raises while it's in the tank, could I correctly diagnose your problem.