Mini cycle?

[Mharmon97]

I think my tank is going thru a mini cycle because this foggy/ugly water quality came right after i cleaned my hob filter real well and swapped out one of my bio medias so i think its a bacteria bloom, ive been doing water changes i did them everyday for about 4 days 50% each and stopped cuz it looked better i let it go n it turned greenish yellow so now im back to doing daily water changes somebody please help me out my peaceful hobby is turning into a stressful one and my tank is never this dirty looking ive always done weekly pwc and over filter my aquarium with an aqua clear 50 and a small aqueon internal rated up to 10 gallons and an airstone for one 20 gallon long so im very confused as to what to do sorry for drawn on post please help!!

 

[Mharmon97]

I should add i barely feed any of the fish in the tank and have tried cutting the light source, cutting the lightsource keeps it from getting green ish yellow but its always foggy, water changes help but after a Day i goes back to how it looks now

 

[Mharmon97]

Tested water
Amonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate:10
Ph:7-7.5
Did it at lfs and guy says nothing standing out with my water and he was surprised how normal the levels were hes saying i should just wait it out anybody care to add information

 

[Baker]

Most likely you're dealing with what we call "green water" it's not the typical bacterial bloom that is infamous with most new tanks, it's actually algae growth in the water column. It's very hard to get rid of because, as it is a single celled photosynthetic organism, the replication process is extremely fast and has compounding effects. Water changes won't usually do it. One of the easiest ways to deal with green water is a UV sterilizer, but a complete blackout over the course of 1 week usually does the trick too. I noticed that your tank is directly in front of a window. This is the cause of green water. To black out the tank you need to ensure that 0 light is getting into a tank by covering it with a dark blanket or sheet.
Do note though that this process is VERY hard of plants and will usually kill them so if you have real plants you may want to move them into a bucket so they can continue to photosynthesize.

Hope that helps, if you have anymore questions just ask.

 

[Mharmon97]

Okay i have like $100 worth of live plants all in a specific aquascape(cant see it lol) so id rather not rearange the tank just for a black out would a cheap uv sterilizer in the horizontal light form do the job for a 20 gallon or will i need to get a uv filter and is any of this hurting my fish i have a bolivian that ive become severely fond of and would hate to lose him sorry for all the questions this information is very helpful and appreciated

 

[Baker]

No it's actually generally pretty good for the fish, it lowers their sight distance which can act as a de-stressor and provides cover for small fish and fry and it helps clean the water of toxins, you could use flourish excel but I wouldn't use it without researching it a bit further as it can be dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Or any other algaecide manufactured for aquarium use. Just be careful and follow the directions carefully. Flourish excel is actually advertised as a source of co2 but the main ingredient is also considered an algaecide and it should clear up the algae for you

 

[Mharmon97]

Okay so i got the uv sterilizer pump, i also have regular co2 booster by api are you saying that will kill it off or help it grow faster? And do you think the uv sterilizer will kill it off completely or only subdue it till i take the pump out

 

[Baker]

A UV sterilizer is made purely for removing things like algae from the water column so that should do it.
Flourish excel is not advertised as an algaecide but it's main ingredient, "polycycloglutaracetal" is basically glutaraldehyde, which among many other things, is an algaecide. So although it's sold as a product that introduces organic carbon into the aquarium, it also reacts with cell structures by splitting their proteins and restructuring them in a way that destroys cell walls. In single cell organisms like algae, it kills them outright.
I'm not sure what the active ingredient in API co2 booster is but it's probably the same as flourish, I'd look it up first. If it is, it will work in the same way.