Can I get some side shots of everyones tanks?

That's OK, no worries, but thanks.

I would rinse it until the water running through it is mostly clear. A week old carbon should be clearing it up for you, do you know your parameters? How old is the tank?

 

There are a ton of things that affect the water clarity. Carbon is a good, easy step. Also, ozone greatly affects the waters clarity. Maybe you are even having a microbubble issue. Also, what are you using to clean the outside of the tank? I noticed a huge difference in clarity when I switched from Windex to Invisible Glass, as its so much better than the Windex. Even the quality of the glass or acrylic itself has a huge effect.

 

As of right now my tank is 1 month old Hurray! I used cycled rock from my old tank though which strangely had the same water cloudy problem just way, WAY worse than this.

My parameters are as follows:

pH 8.1
Salinity 1.024
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Calcium 360
dKH 12
Phosphate 0

This might help also, after my hydrometer dries it has a white film on it from the water that is all over it. Hope that helps!

 

The white film is proboably the salt left over after letting it dry without rinsing it off first. You should start rinsing it before you let it dry. The salt deposits can inhibit the accuracy of the hydrometer. Was it cloudy before or after you did the water change? Your tank will never look clear when looking through the side. Unless it is a short tank.

20 gallon wet/dry sump? Did you finally hook the fuge up? The wet/dry is probably only about 2-3 gallons.

 

I'd say 10 gallons I just put about 5 gallons in it and its only half way.

 

I think we need a photo for this one so we can better help you. Could be normal "cloudiness" or a bloom of somekind or even some dust that got stirred up after the water change.

 

Lights are actually off right now so I'll take one tomorrow.

 

I didn't see, but do you use RO/DI water? When I first used tap, I had the same problem. Now that I've used RO/DI, as you can see from my pic, my water is crystal clear.

 

My water never looked crystal clear with filter pads. They just don't catch the micro particles that make the water cloudy. As soon as I switched to 200 micron bags, the water is now perfectly clear. If it is micro bubbles, turn all the pumps off for a few minutes. If it goes clear, then trace where they are coming from. Carbon should last about a month.

 

I'm using distilled water from Kroger/Wal-Mart for changes and top off.