Cloudy/Green Tank...Not sure what to do????

J

jec0995

AC Members
Nov 10, 2005
82
0
0
47
Ohio
Hi all,

I had another thread on this subject but it seems to have died.

Anyway, I don't know what my tank is doing. I guess you can call it a cycling 75g that was setup from a leaking 29gallon. All the stuff was transferred including gravel and filter. The water was crystal clear for the first 2 weeks and then bam...I can't even tell if I have fish in there now. It's cloudy as can be and when held up to white paper it looks slightly green and also cloudy white. Go figure... :(

LFS (who is quite good) without hesitation said green water when they looked at it. So, I am currently doing a blackout.

Previously, I was doing water changes to try to help and it only got worse. So, I was told to have patience. 24 days later, it's impossible to see anything in the tank. What do I do? I thought it was a bacterial bloom until my LFS said it was green water.

I will add...

Ammonia has always been 0.
Nitrite has always been 0.
Nitrate is about 7.

Accu-clear did nothing. Cycle did nothing. I've only been feeding every other day since the tank has been setup (the same I've always done).

It's fully planted and the plants as far as I could tell are doing great. I dose Flourish 1 per week and Excel every other day. There is 240watts of light on top. I thought about adding Bio-Spira too the tank to try to speed things up but that's expensive.

I guess I just don't understand how algae could develope when I've never had it before, the plants are growing like mad, and the nitrates are quite low. I really need to figure this out...it's really upsetting me now. 3 weeks is too long to wait for this to clear up. Everything i've done has just made it worse. Any help???? Thanks. :o

Jimmy
 
Jimmy,

I feel your pain. I have had the same issue now for sometime and find it very frustrating. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you but can at least tell you what I have done and understand. If anyone believes my information to be incorrect, please feel free to comment as I an not an expert.


From what I understand is that the green water causing algae has many causes. See the articles below for details

http://www.drhelm.com/aquarium/cloudy water.html

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/maintenance1/p/greenwater.htm

Much of what you described in your post is identical to what I experiened. The issue only got worse with water changes (or minimal clearing went away shortly after water change).

So I ran tests;

PH 7.6
Kh 5
Nitrites 0
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 10
Phosphates 3


In my case, it seems that my phosphates are high. Even more interesting is that my tap water is the originator of this. With in the next week or so I am going to purchase a Tap Filter to eliminate the source. As interim steps, I used Phos-Zorb and a Poly-Filter to help lower the Phosphate level. As well, I purchased a UV Sterl Unit which cleared the water within three days. Please realize that UV is NOT a solution as it only eliminates the algae, not the source of the algae. My reason for utilizing the UV was that the fish visibility was so bad that I was unable to monitor their health.

Hope this helps...

Jesse
 
Jesse,

thanks for the comments. You're right, we do have similar problems. I haven't had my phosphates tested yet but I do know that my other tanks are fine and have always been fine. Therefore, I don't think the tap water is the cause. I do have algae in the other tanks but it is no more than your average spot of algae on driftwood or the glass. The water is crystal clear.

I will be taking the blanket off the tank tonight. It will have been a 48 hour blackout and I read too many things about people losing fish and all their plants from long blackouts. I've have my larger clown loaches for 3+ years...I don't want to lose them to algae. That would just be stupid.

After a blackout, should I do a water change? The algae may be dead, but it will still be in the tank...right? Anyway, thanks for your help. I'll keep you updated. If anyone else has any comments...I'd be glad to listen.

Thanks again,

Jimmy
 
I had a terrible time with green water when I started my 55 gal. planted tank last year. I had three episodes and was ready to try an UV sterlizer. After reading this forum, I decided to try the blackout option. I opted for a 96 hour blackout period which worked perfectly each time. The only problem was that the green water made a come back the first two times after a few days. The third time did the trick for good and I've never had a problem since.

As for possible plant/fish injury, all I can say is my plants and fish did great each time. I even found my plants actually grew slightly during the black out. One of my silver mollies gave birth and the fry were just fine.

Going through green water is a pain but I learned volumes from the experience. One thing that I'd suggest right away is dose your Excel daily and at a higher dose until you get some improvement.

P.S. The advice to use the search function is golden....search is your friend!

Good luck!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom