Aquarium Water

[Shelby]

I have a 35 gallon hexagon aquarium with some live plants and some fake. I have not medicated my tank or added anything to it. It has been running for a few months and I do maintenance like I'm supposed to so why is my water suddenly turning yellow? When I drain the water into a white bucket it looks like someone urinated in a bucket of water.

 

[star4]

Do you have any bogwood in the tank? it can leech tannins turning the water yellowish brown.

ps. LOVE your dogs

 

[kgthomas]

Yip totally agree, my bogwood leeches the tank brown after about 2-3 days. So if you have any bogwood in the tank that could be the likely culprit.

Keith

 

[justjon]

If it is that, the solution is to boil it to death about 4-5 times, and this will majorly decrease tannin release..

It can be helped by temporarily putting carbon in your filter media too, this is what I did, and a week later with about a 50% water change alltogether and it's gone

 

[Athena]

Presuming that you've already done your water tests for any high ammonia levels...are you adding fertilisers to the tank for the plants? If so, that can sometimes tinge the water yellow.

Other than that, another cause could be plants that are decaying (do they all look healthy green or are they yellowing a bit?).

Regards - Athena

 

[Shelby]

No bogwood, no fertilizers, no meds of any kind. I haven't added anything new and I have no idea why the dang thing is suddenly turning yellow. I did about a 65% water change last week to kill the color its right back again. I have no idea why. It's just really odd. It isn't cloudy or dirty and doesn't look dirty.

**EDIT**
Just saw the last plant comment. I'm beginning to think that is it. My pleco has been doing a number on one of the little plants. I guess I didn't realise plants would change the water color. They are not decaying so much as all that is left of it is the "veins" but I bet the green color is leaching into the water from the plant. I'll take that plant out and see what happens.