Hello! Im not new to forums, but I am young and somewhat of a rookie when it comes to fish. Im a car guy from the time I was young and spend lots of money there. However i've always loved aquariums, I guess who doesnt? My first one was a 25 gallon with regular community fish. My ex now has that, so I recently upgraded to a 37 gallon tank with more complicated African Cichlids.
Ive had my 37 gallon African Cichlid tank for probably 9 months now. We have about 10 varieties of cichlids in it with the algae eater and they have created a great community and they all mesh well. They were a hard fish to figure out at first, I didnt have a big enough community and I did not have enough hiding spots. After finding we had a dominant male and not enough hiding spots we quickly solved the problem and as I said its been great since.
They are very entertaining fish to watch, much more entertaining than any other kind of fish I have ever seen. This isnt my only hobby though so I dont have thousands of dollars to pour into big tanks and complicated filtration systems. Though one day soon once I get this down I would like to upgrade to around a 70 gallon or so. Maybe even a small salt water tank.
Now the problem. Its only been of recent that the water has become quite cloudy and even turning somewhat green. We have not changed any of the filtration system components with excpetion of the filters every couple weeks. We use a dual filter whisper 60 filtration system, and we have been using Microbe-lift bacteria to help promote water clarification and ammonia, nitrate levels.
A few months back we had an ammonia scare where the levels crept up to dangerous levels. I was able to get it under control without much work, but ive been changing out about 1/5th of the water every week now just as added maintenance. I also add in a little bit of stress coat when adding water to help them "chill" out.
So we have ended up with cloudy water now thats hard to get rid of. Changing the water helps for a few days but it just never gets as clear as other tanks I see. My 25 gallon tank never had this problem. Im out of ideas here and could use some advice. Thanks for taking time to read and for any suggestions!
Note also: the tank is not in direct sunlight but does get lots of natural indirect light, plus we leave the UV light on all day. Is this to much?
Ive had my 37 gallon African Cichlid tank for probably 9 months now. We have about 10 varieties of cichlids in it with the algae eater and they have created a great community and they all mesh well. They were a hard fish to figure out at first, I didnt have a big enough community and I did not have enough hiding spots. After finding we had a dominant male and not enough hiding spots we quickly solved the problem and as I said its been great since.
They are very entertaining fish to watch, much more entertaining than any other kind of fish I have ever seen. This isnt my only hobby though so I dont have thousands of dollars to pour into big tanks and complicated filtration systems. Though one day soon once I get this down I would like to upgrade to around a 70 gallon or so. Maybe even a small salt water tank.
Now the problem. Its only been of recent that the water has become quite cloudy and even turning somewhat green. We have not changed any of the filtration system components with excpetion of the filters every couple weeks. We use a dual filter whisper 60 filtration system, and we have been using Microbe-lift bacteria to help promote water clarification and ammonia, nitrate levels.
A few months back we had an ammonia scare where the levels crept up to dangerous levels. I was able to get it under control without much work, but ive been changing out about 1/5th of the water every week now just as added maintenance. I also add in a little bit of stress coat when adding water to help them "chill" out.
So we have ended up with cloudy water now thats hard to get rid of. Changing the water helps for a few days but it just never gets as clear as other tanks I see. My 25 gallon tank never had this problem. Im out of ideas here and could use some advice. Thanks for taking time to read and for any suggestions!
Note also: the tank is not in direct sunlight but does get lots of natural indirect light, plus we leave the UV light on all day. Is this to much?