Green Water?

emilyekk

emilyekk

AC Members
Apr 28, 2009
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I swear the problems I am encountering with my 55 gallon are never ending.


I have a planted tank, about 11 plants. Some are really teeny but the others are BIG like to the top of the tank... I don't know why but no matter how often I do water changes or how long since I've done one - my water is green looking. Nothing I seem to do makes a difference either... and the water is never crystal clear either. I don't currently have a testing kit but other than a bad batch of tetras about 2 weeks ago all of my fish are doing well. It's been like this ever since I added the plants even though I would assume the plants are not causing my green water.

I am also running an aquaclear 70 HOB filter and as of last night a fluval 305... so I would think I have enough filtration... I also think I'm UNDERstocked on fish so I don't get what's going on or what I can do to make it better...

I do a 20-30% water change every Wednesday...

any ideas? I know I need a testing kit, and I am getting on for my birthday (beginning of September), but I have never encounted a problem like this and was wondering if anyone has insight into my "green water"... also should mention if I scoop the water out - it's not green... not even cloudy.. so i don't know why it looks like that in the tank. It just looks REALLY bad, makes me look like a terrible fish keeper with an eternally dirty tank no matter what I do... :(

Also the tank has been set up since end of June/beginning of July if that helps.
 
I'd say from noon every day to maybe midnight? Should I cut back to like 6 hours?

also - would that account for the cloudiness?
 
Probably algae. Harmless, but ugly as heck. If you dont want it that bad, I suggest decreasing the amount of plants.. and the amount you leave your tank light on. I know those are 2 big factors.
 
Since you started getting the murky water, have you tried letting the water changes go for an extra week to see if it gets worse? Because I'm thinking if it gets worse, it's green water -- and if it stays the same it's something else.
 
Do a search for "green water". You will find numerous threads regarding this topic.
 
Plants do not cause green water. Cut your photo period to 7-8 hrs and cut back on any ferts you may be dosing. I suspect it's due to your fairly heavy bioload coupled with the 12 hrs of light. Watch the foods you are feeding, as well.
Another thing to consider is that maybe your lights just make the water look green due to the spectrum of the bulbs being used.
 
Another option is to ADD plants, even floaters to absorb more lights and nutrients, to starve out the little floating algae that causes green water.
 
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