Green water!

[littlefishies]

Please can anyone help me. I just can not get the tank water nice and clear. It has a greenish hue. It looks even worse when you look through the side. Also I have to change the filter pads weekly. Should I be changing them as often as this.
Please help.

 

[yvez9]

Sounds like you ahve algea issues

what's the temp of the water, fish you keep and what kind of lighting do you have and for how long?

 

[littlefishies]

The temperature in my tank is kept around 76, light is an aquaglo 20w. Which I have on for about 12 hours as I have live plants. My fish are 3 tinfoil barbs, 2 bala sharks, three gouramis and a feathfin cat fish. They are only small right now in a 40 gal tank. I plan to get a larger one in time. I do regular water changes too. As you can tell I am very new to this.

 

[yvez9]

if the tank has just been stup, it is possible you'rer having an algea bloom which should go away with water changes

you can try putting your lights on for 8-9 hours a day. your plants won't suffer from that

 

[littlefishies]

Thanks for the info. I have had my tank set up since about the end of February. I guess that is still classed as new, yes?

 

[Iron Man]

There are many things to factor into the equation when dealing with algae blooms. But remember if all else fails and you still have greenwater, like I did once (I was by a window actually but it was the only place I could fit it).....try barley straw.

http/www.fishpondinfo.com/barley.htm

HTH

David

 

[pumaf1]

I have had this as well how much water change I ahve just done a 20%

 

[keane]

Please can anyone help me. I just can not get the tank water nice and clear. It has a greenish hue. It looks even worse when you look through the side.

Also, what decor do you have in the tank (plants, substrate, bogwood etc)?

It may well be algae, as suggested, and you haven't really got a "clean up crew" in your tank to combat this

Also I have to change the filter pads weekly. Should I be changing them as often as this.

No. something sounds not right. What filter are you using? It may be too small for your tank.

let us know.

steve

 

[littlefishies]

My filter is a Tetra-Whisper 40 for a 20 to 40 gal tank...my tank is 38gal. So probably I need to add another filter or get one bigger.
I have in my tank a large fake driftwood, couple of fake plants....started to introduce live plants this past couple of weeks. Have about 6 small live plants now. I have gravel on the bottom.

Thanks......W

 

[soph]

Hi,
I am soph. Maybe if you take some of the real plants out your water may clear. after that take it one step at a time, in pther words, put one plant in at a time.

Good luck

 

[littlefishies]

Hi Soph,

I did'nt add the live plants all at once. Someone told me they were good thing to add to combat algae.

 

[soph]

if you get 2 plec and 2 clown loaches, they might help decrese it.

 

[Squirrelbuddies]

I have had that nasty green water in my 55 gallon. (Most easy to notice when looking through the tank sideways and it also looks very green in a white bucket.) It was an algae bloom of large proportions! I tested my tank for phosphate and discovered there was an extreme amount of phosphate in the water. I believe it was due to a very high organic load in the tank. (many of my plants and surface living algae died during a parasite treatment.)

Anyway, the way I got the green water to go away was to first reduce the phosphate which I did through lots of water changes. I also bought a plec to clean up the algae growing on the plants, etc. Then I continued to do 15-20% water changes several times a week. AND, since my tank is in a sunny room, I close the shades while I'm away at work so the sun does not shine on the tank.

The water looks great now. But it did take some work and a couple of weeks. (I have nicely toned arms now from lugging 5 gallon buckets of water!)

Hope this helps--

sb

 

[pica_nuttalli]

if you get 2 plec and 2 clown loaches, they might help decrese it.

hate to break it to you, but that's pretty poor advice.

(1) plecos have extremely inefficient digestive systems and produce a lot of excess waste. plecos also eat surface algae and so would not have any impact on a suspended algae bloom. also, an adult common pleco is too big for a 40g. 2 bristlenoses *might* could work, but that would only be in terms of size.

(2) clown loaches are schooling fish and should be kept in groups of 4 or more. clown loaches also grow to an eventual foot in length, so are not suited to a 40g in the long term. clown loaches are carnivores and do not eat algae, although they could help clear any food that makes it to the substrate. or you could try feeding less.

algae can only proliferate if its being fed. so try cutting back light or breaking it into 2 hours of light, 1 hour of dark. also reduce feeding your fish to once a day or once every other day. continue performing regular water changes, ~15% a week. add fast-growing plants to use nutrients up before the algae can get them.