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I've been struggling lately with the water quality of my 65g tank. Basically, the water is very full of particles that just won't settle or filter out. Things get worse after feeding since the fish stir things up.

I do a 15-20% water change about every week and a half including vacuuming substrate. I have been cleaning my filter about 1x month -- rinsing out floss, filter etc. I have tried cutting back feeding but what I was feeding was consumed within 10 mins, so I don't _think_ I was overfeeding.

Tank is 65g planted with swords, java moss & fern. Fish include 8 rummy nose tetra, 8 neons, 5 corys, 1 pleco, 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 baby pearl gouramis.

I can't comment on water chemistry... I'm not much of an expert there and don't know what I'd need to test for.

Any ideas? The fish are happy, but I'm tired of the fuzzy, churned up look of my water. Thanks.

mjs

I feel your pain.
What you do about the particles depends on what the primary cause is. You could get a diatom filter, which would clear the water but is designed for occasional use. Alternatively, you could add a higher-flow filter to the tank.

I have this same problem. I keep big, messy fish who eat big messy food. They also like to dig in the substrate and stir up even more particles on a continuous basis.
I bought a diatom filter, which worked great, but at the rate the particles were being generated it only looked nice for a day before the cloud started building again. So, I ultimately got rid of the diatom filter and added a very large high-flow-rate filter to the tank.
My existing filters did a good job, but didn't turn the water over fast enough to keep ahead of the problem.

Good luck

" Tank is 65g planted with swords, java moss & fern. Fish include 8 rummy nose tetra, 8 neons, 5 corys, 1 pleco, 2 dwarf gouramis, 4 baby pearl gouramis. "

If you've got a 65 gallon tank with only 28 small fish and
you've got lots of particles in the water, I think your feeding too much...the fish should finish all the food you put in in about 30 seconds

also what kind of filter do you have?
It's probably too small

you can also try Petcetera's Acurel F, but it sometimes lowers the pH.

Filter is a Penn-Plax Cascade canister filter - Model 700, I think. I'm not sure that I'm all that thrilled with its filtration capabilities.

I will slow down on the feeding and see if water quality improves. I forgot three rainbowfish in my fish tally, but still that only leaves me with 30-odd small fish in a 65g tank.

mostly your filter is not good enough

aquaclear use a large foam block that catches lots of scqualchikuck

plus
they are always on sale at Uncle Ned's
just ask for a discount