Cloudy Water Help Please

[Dave Spencer]

Forget the black out and anti algae. Anti algicides will harm your plants.

Buy a UV steriliser and get to the cause of the ammonia. Green water is just about the most difficult algae to clear from your tank.

Anybody saying don`t carry out water changes in this instance is far from experienced.

Go with whatever advice you feel is best, and good luck. Make sure you get the bottom of what caused all this.

Dave.

 

[pauly]

Yeah you really need to find the cause. You don't have any dead or rotting plants in there do you?

I think the blackout is worth trying, before investing in a UV steriliser (at least £60). It may not work, be it could.

Bactinettes should work if you do have ammonia.

What filter are you running? You sure its working properly?

Pauly.

 

[emmag21]

Its a fluval 305 external filter. Im fairly sure its working fine xx

 

[Dave Spencer]

I think the blackout is worth trying, before investing in a UV steriliser (at least £60). It may not work, be it could.

Crikey Pauly, you don`t shop around much. £60?

A huge water change, followed by a blackout, followed by another huge water change would hit it hard, but black outs rarely clear this type. The other problem here is that if the ammonia levels persisit, they will rise during the black out whilst water changes can`t be carried out.

I was involved in a thread where the virtues of adding a willow branch was discussed, but I don`t think it is worth going down that road.

Dave.

 

[pauly]

Dave, why don't you recommend a suitable sterilizer for Emma to consider?

Emma - any chance of a pic? Just being nosey like Is your tank brand new? You haven't changed the lights or anything?

Pauly.

 

[Dave Spencer]

There are lots of cheap inline ones on eBay, or run a pricechecker site.

Come to think of it, is it Fuval that has that silly ribbed hosing? The ID of the hosing will need to match the size of the fittings on the UV. The ribs could be a problem, so maybe you could get some nice clear hoses, too.

Pics always help!

Dave.

 

[quantumnerd]

UV sterilizers are the way to go!

But I am a bit of a newbie...
The UV sterilizer should be put between the canister output, and the tank, right?

Otherwise when replacing filter media, all healthy bacteria that you actually WANT will get killed before they can root in the filter media.

But, hey, listen to WD and mr. otherguy =P

 

[waterdrop]

Hi Quantum,

This is a very old thread you've attached to.

If you need to know about UV units I'd suggest posting in the Hardware section (I personally don't know which tube is considered ideal for a UV unit.)

~~waterdrop~~