75 gal suddenly cloudy?

[sorberj]

I think the filter fiber is the same thing as filter floss. There's probably a trademark issue. It's all essentially the same thing as the quilt batting (sheets) or pillow stuffing (loose pile).

If it were me and I had company coming over, I'd just do a water change a few hours before so it doesn't look quite so bad. I know that when my 55 clouded up like that, it did take a few weeks before it cleared on its own. I do weekly water changes as well. If it's worth anything, both of the rams were fine through the whole thing and they can be a bit sensitive.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Here's a picture of how it looks today. And a picture of the 46 gal for comparison's sake.

Also a picture of how it looked pre-cloudiness.

 

[THE V]

The picture makes the cloudiness look green to me. If it is green then it is algae not bacteria.

If it is green then UV sterilizers work wonders or you could mess with the amount of light and fertilizers to help the plants out-compete it.

If you had goldfish in the that tank I'd say increase the light and ferts and let it turn into pea soup. It's good for them.

 

[Michwol42795]

UV sterilizers are also expensive, I would only do that as a last resort.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

No goldfish. And in all reality it's not green. The haze with all the plants in it makes the pic look green, but in real life it really is not.

I went ahead and disassembled the Whisper 3 tonight and cleaned it out. Nothing super substantial there, but a bit of gunk, so hopefully that will help as well.

I'm also debating whether or not I should just revert back to the way the whipser was originally designed and use the cartridges. Right now I've got layered filtration in there - two sponges (AC brand), a media bag filled with Eheim ceramic rings, and a blue bonded pad. I did have filter fiber in there but tossed it in the trash when I cleaned it out and haven't replaced it yet. I'll have to cut new and I need to get dinner going so I will have to do that later.

I also raised the spray bar for the eheim to get a little more surface action, just in case low oxygen is an issue.

As for the light situation, I've got 2 - 32 watt daylight bulbs inside a reflective light strip unit on it for 6 hours daily (4:30pm - 10:30pm). On occasion I also turn on the less powerful 40 watt that came with the tank for a few hours in the evening. I need to get a new bulb for that strip fixture. The one that is there is very dull and a little yellowish in color as far as the light that it casts. Just haven't had a chance to do that yet. So the wattage on the tank is pretty minimal. I'm not sure if it's enough to cause algae issues? Or is there a type of algae caused by lack of light? I always though algae was a "too much light" type situation?

 

[Star_Rider]

looks like algae bloom

one way to tell is take a white styro cup or any white cup and fill it with tank water.. if the water has a green tint..it confirms algae bloom

algae blooms are caused by an imbalance, nutrients, light etc.
you could try a three day blackout

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Will my plants be OK w/ a 3 day blackout? The white cup test suggests algae. Slightly green hue to the water. I double-checked by testing the same way with my bowfront, and the water was clear. So I'll turn the lights out for the next couple of days and see how it does. Hopefully my plants will be OK in the meantime.

How do I prevent this going forward?

 

[Michwol42795]

Blackout sounds like a good idea, do a large water change then cut the lights and keep as little light from getting into the tank as possible. The plants will live but will look very sickly. When it's over try adding more ferts and dose Excel or add some CO2 to prevent more algae.

 

[rainbowcharmer]

Doesn't Excel tend to melt a lot of plants? I'm not sure I want to melt them??

Also, if I need to add ferts, does that mean that my nitrates are probably too low, and that a large w/c will actually do more harm than good?

I had a thread about low nitrates before, and was recommended to reduce the w/c's that I'm doing to help raise the nitrates a bit and to possibly add nitrates if I couldn't get them above 10. Perhaps this is my problem? Can algae be caused by too few nitrates?

 

[THE V]

Yes, nitrates are one of the factors that lead to algae blooms. Instead of reducing water changes, dose nitrate into the water. Unless you have a very heavily stocked tank your plants are not getting enough nitrate to out-compete the algae.