Cloudy Water..

TripFamAZ · Aug 1, 2023

Hi! Fairly new to the hobby.
My 29g tank is still new…. About 2-2.5 months old. It runs with a Fluval 107, Aquamaxx 1.5 skimmer and two wave makers.
It’s only inhabitant is my peacock mantis shrimp. We do natural lighting as his tank is near a window. There is no harmful direct lighting that I'm aware of as we use blinds to control how much light is actually let in.
I occasionally throw hermits, snails or emeralds or him to eat but the water has always been crystal clear until recently. I don’t seem to have any algae or bacteria that I can see. My water parameters seem good. I do a weekly water change of about 2.5-3 gallons. I did a filter clean yesterday hoping it might help. Cleaned my protein skimmer out today…
Any idea what gives? I don’t really want to add any chemicals but was hoping to find the root of the problem..

Cell · Aug 1, 2023

Might be just a little bacterial bloom which will pass on its own. Have you tried running some carbon?

TripFamAZ · Aug 1, 2023

Cell said:
Might be just a little bacterial bloom which will pass on its own. Have you tried running some carbon?

We do run carbon in the canister filter but it’s been the same stuff from day 1… would you suggest putting fresh stuff in?
As long as it’s not harmful to my guy I definitely don’t mind waiting it out.
Thanks for taking the time to reply!

Cell · Aug 1, 2023

It doesn't look very cloudy. A bacterial bloom will lower O2 levels so additional oxygenation is recommended. I'd change the carbon monthly.

TripFamAZ · Aug 1, 2023

Cell said:
It doesn't look very cloudy. A bacterial bloom will lower O2 levels so additional oxygenation is recommended. I'd change the carbon monthly.

It definitely isn’t bad I just wanted to really make sure I didn’t need to fix anything so it didn’t get worse… would you recommend I add some additional oxygen? Would an air stone or bubble bar be something that does that?
I’m so mad I didn’t think to change the carbon out when I had the filter taken apart the other day. I’ll switch that out for sure next time I take it apart.
Thanks so much for the help!