Something's wrong, I dunno what

[superjohnny]

My Ulvaceus is starting to get holes in the leaves. My water is constantly dirty, but I don't really understand why. I do 40% water changes every 3 days or so and it's relatively clear the day after, but then soon it starts to look dingy.

I don't get it. I'm thinking my filter is to blame (Fluval 204) it's pretty old, but I clean it frequently. That's just a guess cause I don't really have any other thoughts. Quite a bit of water moves through it and when I clean it there's lots of gunk in it.

My water parameters:
PH: ~7.0
KH <
Nitrites: 0
Amonia: 0

Any thoughts? Thanks guys :)

[djlen]

Is the tank over stocked, or are you over feeding? Maybe, if the filter has a lot of gunk in it when you clean it, you need to clean it more often? When you change water, do you do a good job of siphoning off the mulm that can accumulate on the substrate?
Just some thoughts.........
Len

[anonapersona]

Plants need light, macronutrients, micronutrients.

light = the most important of the 3, try for 2 wpg minimum

macros = N (as in nitrate, or ammonia), P (typically from fish food, prob not the problem), K (might be low)

micros = fertilizer (from store, many to chose from, some include N and iron)

[superjohnny]

I have a CF 96w 8800k light so that's not a problem. When I vaccuum I run it about 1/2" over the substrate and try to pull as much of the mulm as I can. I feed daily, and they generally eat every bite. It shouldn't be over-stocked or over-fed. I have not been using any fertilizers because last time it caused a major algae outbreak. I added about 3ml of Flourish last night, I'm hoping that will help.

I think I'm going to bust out and get a new Rena filter... maybe that'll help? I'm at a bit of a loss as for what to do. With the ample supply of food and fresh water, my fish should be growing, but they're not.

I'm at a complete loss on this one guys :) Thanks for the thoughts tho :)

[GulfCstAquarian]

I really doubt it is the Fluval that is causing your cloudy water. What sort of CO2 supplementation are you providing? With the amount of light you're providing, if CO2 levels aren't around 20ppm, algae will opportunistically take over and cause a green water outbreak.

If CO2 levels are adequate, then I'd suspect a micronutrient deficiency. Perhaps Ca or Mg? Is your tap water hard or soft?

[superjohnny]

SUPER soft. I've been adding Sodium Bicarbonate to the water to raise the KH and CO2 to lower the PH (kh makes it jump of course). This weekend I added a 2nd DIY CO2 and am getting about a bubble per second. I think it's time to take a careful look into diffusing the CO2 better.

Wouldn't the macro nutrients be supplimented by the frequent water changes and Flourish?

[ChilDawg]

I doubt that your water changes could possibly add nutrients to the water, but the Flourish's guaranteed analysis makes it look like that is a large contributor to nutrient addition.

It seems to me like algae is just flat-out outcompeting your Aponogeton, and stealing all available nutrition from the water. I think that that's the diagnosis, but, unfortunately, I can't do more than that. Best of luck and HTH,

Matthew

[djlen]

Somewhere along the line, have we established that this is an algae problem? I thought you referred to it as "dirty water".
Could we have some more info.? 96 watts over what? What is the size of the tank? What is the kH("super soft" doesn't tell us anything)? What is the gH? What is the pH out of the tap?
How well is it planted(how many)? Fish....how many?
There's no way to tell you anything without knowing all of the above.
Len

[ChilDawg]

Len, I guess that we never really established that, but I was skimming another post at the time when I wrote my reply and thought that algal existence had been established. I agree that we need to know all the parameters which you had stated, and I'll leave this plant thing to the experts now!

[superjohnny]

Ok guys, I'll have to run some more tests when I get home.

As for KH & GH. My test kit basically tells me to get a 5ml sample and add 1 drop of the KH solution. Then the water is supposed to turn pink and I'm supposed to add 1 drop of solution till the water turns blue. Once it does I count the drops and multiply that by 20 to find out the KH.

When I add the first drop it turns blue so it's really low and lower than my test kit will measure. :(

Ph out of the tap is around 7.0.

I have 4 small angels, 1 i'm not sure and 2 SAE's.

Recently I had an algae outbreak so did a 4 day blackout. The tank was crystal clear for a few days after that, but gradually started to get murky.

Thanks for your help. I'll take pictures tonight and do some extensive water testing so I can give all the facts. I know how frustrating it can be trying to help someone without all the information.

Gracias

[southrock]

If the blackout cleared the water, it's probably algae (GW). Does your tank get any sunlight during time when the lights are off? My ongoing bout with cloudy water has been solved (so far) by wrapping a beach towel around the tank during the morning hours when the lights are off, but daylight was getting into the tank. It's been two weeks now - water still clear.
I don't know if that's your problem, just thought I'd throw that out there.

-SR

[djlen]

Super, do this. Put 10mls. in your kH test vial. Now add 1 drop and it should be pink....add another drop. If it's still pink add another until it turns blue. When it finally turns blue you count the number of drops it took and divide by two. Example: 3 drops = 1.5kH, 4 drops 2kH etc. With 10mls it gives you a more accurate reading of kH(very important). Start counting with the first drop you put in the vial. It takes me 8 drops to see the water turn blue...I have a kH of 4. Same procedure for gH.
If you have super soft water and low kH you can remedy that with crushed coral in your filter.
As to the clearing of your tank with the black out. It's good that it cleared, but you must get to root of the problem....the reason for the algae out break.
You still haven't told us the size of the tank. Once we know that, along with pH,gH,kH, we'll be able to advise you. You said you had 96watts. In a 70gal. tank that's peanuts.....in a 20 gallon tank it's over 4watts/gal. which is enormous. That's why we need to know ALL this info. Try to put it all in your next thread so we don't have to keep skipping around looking here and there for it.
Len

[hatton3]

I'd suggest more co2, or at least get it to 20ppm. I had a problem similar to this until I went pressurized. Now the water is very clear and the plants outcompete the algae.