Cloudy Water - Not Bacterial Bloom

[orandas]

It is also reuseable which makes it worth while in the long run.

Can i wade in with a question....to make it reuseable, requires bleaching it? Thats what i read, and that was the deal breaker for me.

 

[minnnt]

Why? If you would have read a little further you would seen that to purify the bleach you use dechlorinator such as prime. I couldn't imaging having purigen in the cupboard and not in the filter. What a waste! I wish they would send me some! Fancy flogging it?

 

[orandas]

... but it is very different as it will deal with ammonia, nitrite and nitrate as well, unlike carbon.

In other words, it can starve your bacteria by removing the ammonia and nitrite from your water. Unless you plan to continually use this stuff, be very careful about how you use it and what you do when you remove it.

hi, when i say "i liken it to carbon" what i meant was that yes it extracts what it says it extracts from the water, but once its full, and its not removed from the filter, it will release it back into the water, just like carbon. Carbon when its full, and not removed from the filter, releases its extracted contents back into the water.

It was a while back when i researched about the purigen. i wanted to use it initially, then read about other peoples experience with it and thought againsted it.I read about others bad experience, of rechargeing the purigen after its been used up. About how much water conditioner, is required to remove the bleach from the purigen etc all seems cost ineffective to me and hassle.

I wouldn't want to rely on a product, which i have to continually replaced too often, nor if i can't monitor it safely. i would rather not rely on something like that to extract impurities, when water changes ought to do the same.

 

[orandas]

Why? If you would have read a little further you would seen that to purify the bleach you use dechlorinator such as prime. I couldn't imaging having purigen in the cupboard and not in the filter. What a waste! I wish they would send me some! Fancy flogging it?

ok its been awhile since i researched it. But carbon requires salting/boiling(can't remember) to re-charge it, and i think purigen requires bleaching and then soaking in water conditioner (alot of it) to re-charge it. (i assume people buy it to use it, then recharge it, to reuse it etc)

i would never just take the manufacturer's words for it, but others (non-biased), experience of it.

Its a waste if i paid for it,but we didn't.Its not sitting in the cupboard, its being traded for something actually worthwhile for the fishes.

 

[orandas]

we recently tried another product "Pozzani", thats 'suppose' to remove nitrate from the tap water(our problem) before it reaches the tank.

Yes the 1st cartridge work brilliantly, but apparently, "not all cartridges are created equally" it wud seem. So thats a waste of money.

Yes they extract, but when they don't, how will one know, then it all leaches back into the water from where they came from,more hassle and monitoring.

So instead of monitoring the real problem, end up monitoring the system set-up to monitor the real problem, and lining their pockets.

 

[minnnt]

Something better such as what though?

Unsure how much prime you think you have to use, but its not that costly that it makes it unaffordable to use.

 

[orandas]

Something better such as what though?

Unsure how much prime you think you have to use, but its not that costly that it makes it unaffordable to use.

I've search high and low for alternatives....but none....all just gimicky. Tired of paying just to be their guinea pig. I'm just gonna get of my derriere, and do water changes.

For the record I've never used purigen; i read some pretty good reviews about it, and then found some bad comments about it, and to avoid giving myself grief, just left it.

Look at it this way. Purigen is an absorbing material. And after its initial use, one needs to recharge it, to reuse it, via bleach, then to remove the bleach via conditioner.

Some bad comments say that they can still smell the bleach even after loads of conditioner..etc Would i risk it? Nope. i plan to see how long i can keep the same fish, and not how pretty my tank looks. It seems logical that purigen being an absorbing/porous material will retain some bleach. Isn't a whiff of bleach fatal for the fishes.Do i wanna keep buying new purigen, i don't have an infinite fish budget, long term,thats for sure.

Don't this forum tell newbies not to bleach absorbant/porous 2nd hand filter media? Just throw it away and buy new.

Long term use, water changes are way cheaper than anything in the shops.

 

[minnnt]

It lasts up to 6 months, and would probably cost £1.50 at the most to recharge it. It keeps water crystal clear and free from most impurities therefor making the water probably the most safe it could be for your fish. Prime is the most concentrated dechlorinator available so would soon remove the bleach. It is rated at 0.25ml per 10 litre, so 2 table spoons full in a cup of water would be pretty strong.

Just my opinion though!

 

[Prime Ordeal]

It's a shame this thread got sidetracked into the pros and cons of Purigen (interesting though it was) because this problem sounds like a standard case of green water to me.

That being the case you need to address the root cause of the problem, not add in unecessary and costly additives.

Green water (free floating algae) is caused by: excessive light (intensity and/or duration), overfeeding, overstocking, excess nutrients, lack of plants, inadequate filtration.

Looking at your stock level it doesn't seem excessive (although if all fully grown it's getting close) so rule that out. You should for a few days keep the lights off permanently and, if practical, shade the windows to see if it helps the problem. And don't overfeed, feed half of your normal amount for a few days. That combination should eliminate the green water and you then need to decide how to maintain that state which will be a combination of reduced feeding and/or reduced light level/duration. Also adding fast growing plants such as hornwort (which the dollars shouldn't eat) will rob the algae of their nutrients which may be the best option.

Also you never stated your actual water readings (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph). The readings should never be anything more than ammonia:0 nitrite:0 nitratereferably less than 40ppm.

 

[Branwyn]

It's a shame this thread got sidetracked into the pros and cons of Purigen (interesting though it was) because this problem sounds like a standard case of green water to me.

That being the case you need to address the root cause of the problem, not add in unecessary and costly additives.

Green water (free floating algae) is caused by: excessive light (intensity and/or duration), overfeeding, overstocking, excess nutrients, lack of plants, inadequate filtration.

Looking at your stock level it doesn't seem excessive (although if all fully grown it's getting close) so rule that out. You should for a few days keep the lights off permanently and, if practical, shade the windows to see if it helps the problem. And don't overfeed, feed half of your normal amount for a few days. That combination should eliminate the green water and you then need to decide how to maintain that state which will be a combination of reduced feeding and/or reduced light level/duration. Also adding fast growing plants such as hornwort (which the dollars shouldn't eat) will rob the algae of their nutrients which may be the best option.

Also you never stated your actual water readings (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph). The readings should never be anything more than ammonia:0 nitrite:0 nitratereferably less than 40ppm.

as stated in my earlier posts it IS NOT green water but white. i was very careful not to over stock as i did my research before getting my fish so the tank would be best laid out for these two species. also not over feeding and also tried the lights off for a few days. again as in previous post i said they are not anywhere near windows so again that isn't a problem and they have artificial plants due to the silver dollars.

i have also stated all water readings were spot on using a API master test kit.

this is why I am also stumped and posted the question what may be causing it.

 

[Branwyn]

sorry for the late replies but login wouldnt allow me onto this site so had to wait for admin to sort it for me.

will be doing alot more reading before i use the purigen which arrived this week. it comes bagged but now very wary after reading some of the advice but your advice has been greatly welcome. the cloudy water is still the same but fish happy and not showing stress and still laying eggs. but have also discovered four baby silver dollars in the tanks so maybe i should start bottling the water and labeling Viarga which also raises a new question....

would purigen be harmful to add now I have baby dollars? the corydoras eggs and fry I have in a separate small tank in kitchen but there four dollars have appeared out of no where.

 

[Branwyn]

It's a shame this thread got sidetracked into the pros and cons of Purigen (interesting though it was) because this problem sounds like a standard case of green water to me.

That being the case you need to address the root cause of the problem, not add in unecessary and costly additives.

Green water (free floating algae) is caused by: excessive light (intensity and/or duration), overfeeding, overstocking, excess nutrients, lack of plants, inadequate filtration.

Looking at your stock level it doesn't seem excessive (although if all fully grown it's getting close) so rule that out. You should for a few days keep the lights off permanently and, if practical, shade the windows to see if it helps the problem. And don't overfeed, feed half of your normal amount for a few days. That combination should eliminate the green water and you then need to decide how to maintain that state which will be a combination of reduced feeding and/or reduced light level/duration. Also adding fast growing plants such as hornwort (which the dollars shouldn't eat) will rob the algae of their nutrients which may be the best option.

Also you never stated your actual water readings (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, ph). The readings should never be anything more than ammonia:0 nitrite:0 nitratereferably less than 40ppm.

as stated in my earlier posts it IS NOT green water but white. i was very careful not to over stock as i did my research before getting my fish so the tank would be best laid out for these two species. also not over feeding and also tried the lights off for a few days so went through all the common sense check lists first. again as in previous post i said they are not anywhere near windows so again that isn't a problem and as previous stated they have artificial plants due to the silver dollars.

i have also stated all water readings were spot on using a API master test kit. if you read back all the factors you mentioned i answered in original post questions for white water not green xx

this is why I am also stumped and posted the question what may be causing it.

 

[Prime Ordeal]

as stated in my earlier posts it IS NOT green water but white.

Ah, ok, I saw you say it was like 'pea soup' which led me astray somewhat!

Well if it's white and you've eliminated any possibility of it being from your sandy substrate then there are only a few possibilities left.

What you need to do is fill a clear glass with the cloudy tank water and put it somewhere where you can observe it easily. Watch what happens to the cloud, it'll do one of three things:

1. stay exactly the same, in which case it's a bacteria or infusoria bloom.
2. the cloud will disappear from the bottom of the class up until it's all gone. That's dissolved air bubbles from your filter/s.
3. it'll settle from the top down and that's sediment, normally from the substrate.

I know you've said your readings are spot on but would you mind actually stating what they are please?

 

[Branwyn]

as stated in my earlier posts it IS NOT green water but white.

Ah, ok, I saw you say it was like 'pea soup' which led me astray somewhat!

Well if it's white and you've eliminated any possibility of it being from your sandy substrate then there are only a few possibilities left.

What you need to do is fill a clear glass with the cloudy tank water and put it somewhere where you can observe it easily. Watch what happens to the cloud, it'll do one of three things:

1. stay exactly the same, in which case it's a bacteria or infusoria bloom.
2. the cloud will disappear from the bottom of the class up until it's all gone. That's dissolved air bubbles from your filter/s.
3. it'll settle from the top down and that's sediment, normally from the substrate.

I know you've said your readings are spot on but would you mind actually stating what they are please?

my readings are

ammonia = 0
nitrite = 0
nitrate = 0
ph = 6.5

 

[minnnt]

Please bare in mind that this member is blind...