# Plants Cloud the tank?



## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

Okay, so I change 50% of Algernon's water twice a week. I did this yesterday and his water is already looking cloudy. Is this because of his plants that are in the tank with him? Algae?


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

What kind of plants, how many are there, and how long have they been in there? And what kind of substrate do you have? And what size is your tank? Sorry, lots of questions.


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## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

I've never had that happen. The only time I've had cloudy water was with a new set up or when I wasn't vacuuming well enough with water changes.


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## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

It's a 3 gallon gravel bottom tank. There's an anubias plants, amazon sword, and something else that I don't know what it is. I think it might be a peace lily. They're only been in there for maybe a week.


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

Is it a peace lily? Those are not fully submersible and will start to rot underwater. As for the other plants, how are they looking? Are the leaves good, or turning any color other than green?


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## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

The peace lily has been in there the longest too...
The anubias looks fantastic! The amazon sword has some small brown spots on it, but it's not bad.


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

My guess is you've got a bacterial bloom, possibly caused by one of the plants rotting. Can the peace lily fit in your filter? I would try moving it there and doing a 75% water change and see if that helps.


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## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

Here is a photo I just took. You can see how the plants in the background appear fuzzy because the water is a little cloudy. Also, a picture of Vardaman's tank to compare to.
Algernon's clouded tank:








Vardaman's tank that was just changed today:


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## aemaki09 (Oct 23, 2012)

my tank gets like that too on occasion. Algea bloom (probably string/hair algea) it always happens to me when I use too much fertilizer and too much light.

Cut down the light for a couple days and see if it clears up at all if possible, and/or if you dont have any snails or invertibrates I'd get some sort of algea remover from the LFS.


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## Kim (Apr 30, 2008)

It could be a bacterial bloom from something that came in on the plants. Does the water smell any different? If it is a bacterial bloom, the good news is that they often clear up on their own after a few days, and the only real danger is low oxygen levels which aren't really a problem for bettas.


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## polukoff (Nov 23, 2011)

Sounds like a bacterial bloom, and peace lilies can be grown underwater.;-)


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## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

So, how do I fix that? Clean out the tank really well?


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## babystarz (Aug 3, 2012)

fgradowski said:


> So, how do I fix that? Clean out the tank really well?


A bacterial bloom will subside on its own as your beneficial bacteria clean it up. I would do slightly more frequent water changes, but otherwise as long as the source of the bacterial bloom has been removed, it should go away without you needing to do much.


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## fgradowski (Nov 27, 2012)

Thanks everyone. It is clearing up now.


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