Yellow / Green water? Tried searching.

Mudfrog

Mudfrog

AC Members
Jan 17, 2005
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Roanoke, VA
My 55 gallon has yellow looking water, although if you take a picture it shows up green. I tried searching and most people say it looks like an algae bloom, although most people say their water is cloudy during a bloom, my water is clear. I have the aquarium in my basement where there are no windows, I usually leave the lights on about 8 hours a day so the plants will have some lights.

I'll try a blackout if needs be but I want to be kinda certain as I just introduced a few new fish and I wanted to keep an eye on them for a little while to ensure everyone plays together nicely.

Any ideas? Here is a pic of the water.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v624/mudfrog/55 Gallon Aquarium/Synodontiseupterus.jpg
 
How old is your aquarium? Have you recently made any major changes? ...new substrate, etc? How often do you change water? Any new driftwood? What is your nitrate level ?
 
The aquarium had been established for around two years, I moved around 2 months ago however I was able to keep and move 70% of the water. I do a 20% water change every week to week and half depending on my schedule at home.

To my suprise my Tetratest Laborett test kit did not have the Nitrate test, I need to pick one up tomorrow.
 
The thing about aquariums is.... the beneficial bacteria is in the substrate and filter media, not the water. I'm curious, what type filter are you using, and how is the water being aerated? If you don't have plants, turn up the aeration.

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals has a nice Nitrate test kit.
 
There is plenty of aeration, as stated before I have an Odyssea 4 canister filter and a pretty long air wand that disperses bubbles right in front of the outlet for the canister filter.
 
If you moved 2 months ago, your new water may be richer in some nutrients than your old water. This could cause algae to grow. Also, canisters are not good aerators, as they are completely sealed units, so.... during your move, if the canister did not receive oxygen for a good length of time, it could have developed a build-up which has weakened its effectiveness. I'm not familiar with Odessa, but you may consider a good cleaning for 1/2 the canister media....then the other 1/2 in a month or so. You don't want to clean all the media at once or your biological filtering will be affected.

On my 55g I run an Aquaclear HOB and a fluval canister (640 gph total). I like having redundant filters, as either can handle the bio-load. Cleaning media never affects my ammonia or nitrite levels. There are never any dead spots in water movement. Also, the HOB can aerate where the canister can't. It may be more effective to move your aerator closer to the intake of the Odessa. The nitrifying bacteria inside Odessa needs the oxygen.

I change 20 gallons per week on this 55 (36%), but I have a heavy bio-load with a full-sized Oscar and pleco.
 
I did not have the canister filter when I moved, I bought it about a month ago. I was using a Penguin 330 on it but it is now used for my BW tank.

I can move the air wand towards the inlet for the canister filter but I thought it was a bad idea to get air bubbles in a canister filter, not to mention wouldn't that make it noisey?
 
Ahh, changing the filter probably contributed to the problem. Keep your eye on ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels, and perform water changes more frequently if you see the first two at all. Give it some time, it should work itself out.

I bet your FW with the Penguin 330 is doing fine.
 
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