Here's a good topic to discuss, especially since it's been just over a week since Christmas, where many may have set up a brand new tank.
It's about time for newly established tanks to begin to show signs of the going on's within the water habitat. Water cloudiness is often the biggest indicator of how established your tank is.
The two main types of cloudiness in the water boils down to color... a pale milky color or a greenish tinge, both speak volumes as to the conditions in the habitat. For ADF's, one is of more significant concern than the other.
A whiteish colored haze in the water is indicative of excessive ammonia. While ADF's can tolerate ammonia far more than gilled fish, too much is too much and the tank's water needs a partial replacement to dilute the ammonia, but not a total replacement.
The reason for a partial replacement is to give the tanks bio-filter of anaerobic nitrifying bacteria some ammonia to digest. For the bacteria to filter properly it needs ammonia to kickstart it's growth. Over time, as the bacteria culture increases, it's capacity to digest ammonia will increase accordingly. The white haze will eventually go away as the bacteria culture increases, and with it, the need to do partial water changes as well. Once the culture reaches it's peak development, it will stabilize the level of ammonia that's present in the water. There is always some ammonia present, but it's continuously being digested by the bacteria.
The other haze... the greenish tinge..., indicates something altogether different. It indicates the tank has a very efficient bio-filter with plenty of active bacteria, all digesting the waste ammonia & producing nitrates. The greenish haze is microscopic algae cells, A fast-growing invasive plant, living off the nitrates being produced. A greenish tint is a indicator of good health, it's unsightly, but still it shows that the tanks bio-filter is doing it's job. And there's a simple way to get rid of the algae bloom. Simply darken the water in the tank.
Algae is a plant that lives on three things... nitrates, water & UV light. Take away one of those three, Algae cannot grow. Since the tank will have nitrates & water, the solution is to limit the amount of daylight or any light that has UV. Without Ultraviolet, the algae cannot grow.
But to handle excessive Nitrates, there still needs to be some plant life in the tank. Otherwise the level of nitrites will be overwhelming and harmful. So plant some aquatic, shade tolerant plants to do the job. Once the tank has plants to consume the nitrates, the water will clear right up.
