Question about cycling

[peterarcher300]

Hello I am in the process of trying to cycle a fish tank using fish. I got to many fish in a 37 gallon tank so I moved up to a 75 gallon tank. I put the fish in about two weeks ago and have seen the nitrate spike already. But the nitrates are still very high and the water is very green looking. So much that I can't see any fish util they are within about 5 inches of the glass. I was wondering if you would be able to help me it telling my why my water is green. I do have live plants in the tank and I used some of the gravel from my old tank in my new one to help the cycling go faster. I have tried doing small water changes 10 to 15%, but the water still just turns green. I have not lost any fish and none of them look stressed. So I am wondering what is going on. Please help.

Thanks,

Peter
:confused:

[TKOS]

Sounds like an algae bloom. Too much food (nitrates) for the plants to cope with so the algae was able to come in and take over. Start doing large water changes everyday (20-30% or more) and covering the tank. No light for a few days. this should kill off the algae and help the fish survive. Did you bring over the old filter to the tank as well or just started a new tank with some gravel? If you just started a new tank then you really started from the begining with a little help. So keep testing the water and doing water changes until everything settles down. Algae won't hurt the fish but its cause may end up hurting the fish (too much ammonia/nitrite or nitrate in the water).

Good luck!

[chipstahoy]

yeah, sounds to me like an algae bloom as well. if you're serious about keeping the live plants and supplying them with the nutritients that they need, you might want to post some stuff in the live plants forum as well. i'm sure they will have some helpful stuff to tell you about green water. hope this helps

-chip