Milky water and color means?

[AquaWave523]

Guys and gals,

I've been reading around and noticed people mentioning milky color in their tank and then the next question is what color is the water?

Green? White? etc., can someone tell me if it's what what does that mean? or if it's green what does that mean? or other colors?

I'm still learning. Thanks!

[IslandCrow]

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you asking what color milky is, or just what it means if the water is milky? Also, is your tank water a strange color, or are you just curious. There's simply no one explanation. There could be many causes.

[Nikee1404]

I think AW523 is asking what causes your water to change different colors. I believe this curiosity was struck when they read a thread about someone who's water turned milky and lost some fish. Green water could be due to a severe algal bloom, one of my tanks did this after it finished its cycle. I'm not so sure what causes the milky color, but I'm curious about it, too.

[Curve]

Bad light bulbs will also cause milky water.

[murfman]

high temp and ammonia will cause milky water too.

[AquaWave523]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15305422#post15305422 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Curve
Bad light bulbs will also cause milky water.

THanks for all the replies and thats what exactly I was asking....anyone know what green water means? Now I know cloudy white water means ammonia spike! :)

[Nikee1404]

Cloudy water is also indicative of a high calcium level. Green is an algae bloom?

[IslandCrow]

Now I know cloudy white water means ammonia spike!

That's exactly what I was trying to warn against. There's no one explanation for any of these things. An ammonia spike in and of itself does not cause milky water, but it could be a causal factor as things die off. It could also be calcium precipitation (not quite the same thing as high calcium). It could be corals, clams or anemones spawning. It could be an algae such as Caulerpa during sexual reproduction. The list goes on and on. Green water is more than likely some sort of microalgae bloom, but I'd be cautious saying that's the only possible explanation.

[cloak]

Bacteria bloom as well. When I used to mess with the UGF in my freshwater cichlid tank to much, the water would turn milky. Sort of a disruption in the natural order of things.

[Paul B]

Bacteria bloom as well.

Ditto, this is thwe most common cause of cloudy water especially in a newer tank