white film.

[timwag2001]

i just tore my filter apart and it was very dirty from my flourite when i tore some plants out. i hope that was contributing to the murky water and will alleviate my issues a little bit. i just did a 50% water change and noticed a green tint in my white bucket. soo... that sucks.

 

[timwag2001]

been doing 50% water changes every day. after the first change i checked my N,P, and Fe (chelated) levels and guess what. after a 50% water change it read Fe 1ppm. so i've been going nuts trying to get my level back down to normal. clarity has improved but not satisfactory yet.

and i think i've found my problem. i was mixing up some K and dropped my teaspoon. in the time it took me to pick up the spoon the weight changed from 4.6 grams to -0.2 grams. after checking over and over again it's hardly ever accurate, and fluctuates a lot. so who knows what i've been dosing. N is at 20ppm and P is .25ppm right now

 

[dundadundun]

wow, not good. need to get that scale worked out or use measuring spoons. they never need calibration. do you have known values to test calibration against? as for your issues you're never gonna get rid of that scum with all that crap in the water. you need better filtration for sure. i have no idea what you're running but i definitely agree with tanker... you need micron pads... maybe a polishing pad or two first to keep things from clogging too fast. then you can adjust your feeding and/or increase surface agitation from there. water changes will not really get rid of the scum on the surface unless not changing it is the issue. it will maybe, but not permanently. high iron and cloudy water are good indications that fluorite has been stirred up so you'll probably need to clean that filter pretty often for a while. i swear by over-filtering. not necessarily better flow but more media definitely! media is not only surface area for bacteria but also ("the net" that) catches everything. very, very important imo.

 

[fishorama]

If your scale is that inconsistant, you can use this http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php to measure in teaspoons rather than grams.

Did you use the DIY clay root tabs? That may be adding to the iron & flourite problems.

 

[timwag2001]

the root tab thing is a possiblity but i only used a few. i'm pretty sure that i just screwed up weighing it because of the busted scale. using the teaspoon is what i'm gonna do once my tank is squared away but i feel better weighing it.

are there any local stores that sell scales that you know of?

 

[fishorama]

So how's it going Tim? I have some micron (50 or 100 mcn) filter pads or a quick filter you could borrow.
No idea on the scale. Do you have a cop friend? We used to get confiscated drug scales at the bird hospital I worked at. Not sure they were that accurate for what you want...

 

[timwag2001]

it is not going
i'm not getting it to clear up too much.
did two 50% water changes yesterday to try to help but it killed the two flower and two amano shrimp. too much stress?
i think i'm gonna spring for a uv sterilizer.

 

[fishorama]

UV will only kill the green water algae & bacteria etc in the water. You'll need some fine filter media to get the killed stuff out. I got a cheapy petsmart 24w UV. It's quite large in the tank.

Did you try a quick filter on your powerhead? They're not expensive, I don't know if they fit all PHs. They're kinda big too.

 

[timwag2001]

i bought a large foam block that i cut into pieces and fit onto my powerheads. been doing that for a while ever since i was trying to breed my rams

so i got a surface skimmer and was able to rig it up to my ehiem. cleared up the surface film in minutes.

now i just have the cloudy water. you think that clarity will put a dent in it?

 

[chonhzilla]

so the green water is no more?