Cloudy Water

[Armchairandy]

Hi Guys

I have a relatively new tank(95ltrs), about 3 months. Did the fish free cycle etc started with easy fish 5 guppies no problems slowly added 2 angel fish and then a pearl blue Gourami, and then a rainbow shark. All fish look fit and healthy. I change about 20% of the water each week and treat the new water with Aqua plus and then treat the tank with Aqua cycle. Everything was fine until last week, when the water suddenly became very cloudy over a few days. The water is green. I have carried out a few water changes 20% each time twice a week but this does not seem to help. I have tested the water and the readings are the same as when the water was clear.

Any help would be appreciated, I would like to get a couple of African Dwarf Frogs, but not until I have sorted this out.

 

[kim03333]

sounds like it could be an algae problem. what are the readings for your water? particularly ammonia. if you cycled, then added some fish and waited a while some of the bacteria from the fishless cycle may have died and then when you added more fish there would have been a larger biological load for the bacteria to deal with. you need to test water. also why are you using aqua plus and aqua cycle? i haven't come across these product but all you really need to treat the new water with is a declhorinator. how much light is getting to your tank?
sorry, i just realised you said you have tested your water. i think it would be algae though

 

[scuba_jez]

tests ok but the water is green..... well

Anyway, green tinted water is most likely algae, move the tank away from windows, or pull the curtain. Natural light is the enemy!

btw kim...aqua cycle is a product that supposedly puts the ammonia and nitrite decomposing bacteria into the water which essentially skips the cycling process however there is much controversy over whether this or similar products actually work due to transit temperatures, age of pack, etc etc.

 

[kim03333]

tests ok but the water is green..... well

Anyway, green tinted water is most likely algae, move the tank away from windows, or pull the curtain. Natural light is the enemy!

btw kim...aqua cycle is a product that supposedly puts the ammonia and nitrite decomposing bacteria into the water which essentially skips the cycling process however there is much controversy over whether this or similar products actually work due to transit temperatures, age of pack, etc etc.

ok thanks, i thought aqua cycle would be something like that. there are loads ofsimilar products on the market isn't there. i know the general consensus is that they probably won't hurt your tank but they probably won't work either.
my lfs tried to sell me nutrafin cycle once. i even bought some (before i joined the forums) it didn't work!!

 

[waterdrop]

Would be interesting to know if sunlight is hitting your aquarium at any point of the day or just what the light situation is like. Or, if no sun, then what quantity of bulbs and wattages you are using on the 95L tank.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

Time to not panic. Green water algae will not hurt your fish. For some fish, green water is considered a tonic of sorts. I have an outdoor pond that has started to show some green water after only 4 months but I know it is getting direct sun part of the day and it will probably stay green until I drain it for winter. In your case, you can reduce the amount of light in your tank and the green water should go away on its own. If you are impatient about it, a UV unit will kill green water algae quite effectively because the algae is suspended in the water and will pass through the unit. If you kill the algae you need to be careful doing it. When plants die, like green water algae, they decompose and add to the biological load in the tank. If they die off too fast, you could end up with a mini-cycle.

 

[mark.w.jones]

Do you have any real plants at the moment? The reason you have green algae is possibly too much light combined with an excess of nutrients. Without knowing any more I would advise you to drop your lighting to 8 hours a day with a 2 hour break in the middle. So 4 on, 2 off, 4 on. This "siesta" has been shown somewhat to be detrimental to bacterial and algae growth. You also could do with planting around 50% of your substrate with fast growing plant species. Dwarf Ambulia, Straight Vallis and thai onions are all good starters. Are you over feeding? A small pinch of food once per day that is completely eaten within a minute is all you should be feeding. Frozen foods should only be fed once per week. Take these steps and you will soon start to see an improvement. Use algae treatments as a last resort if all of the above show no improvements within a fortnight. As mentioned above be careful as most algae treatments contain a floccing agent which clumps the algae together so it gets stuck in your filter. UV is a very effective treatment but treats the symptoms rather than the problem, ie you will still have a nutrient imbalance in your tank. Hope that helps, I've rambled on a bit

 

[Armchairandy]

Do you have any real plants at the moment? The reason you have green algae is possibly too much light combined with an excess of nutrients. Without knowing any more I would advise you to drop your lighting to 8 hours a day with a 2 hour break in the middle. So 4 on, 2 off, 4 on. This "siesta" has been shown somewhat to be detrimental to bacterial and algae growth. You also could do with planting around 50% of your substrate with fast growing plant species. Dwarf Ambulia, Straight Vallis and thai onions are all good starters. Are you over feeding? A small pinch of food once per day that is completely eaten within a minute is all you should be feeding. Frozen foods should only be fed once per week. Take these steps and you will soon start to see an improvement. Use algae treatments as a last resort if all of the above show no improvements within a fortnight. As mentioned above be careful as most algae treatments contain a floccing agent which clumps the algae together so it gets stuck in your filter. UV is a very effective treatment but treats the symptoms rather than the problem, ie you will still have a nutrient imbalance in your tank. Hope that helps, I've rambled on a bit

Do you have any real plants at the moment? The reason you have green algae is possibly too much light combined with an excess of nutrients. Without knowing any more I would advise you to drop your lighting to 8 hours a day with a 2 hour break in the middle. So 4 on, 2 off, 4 on. This "siesta" has been shown somewhat to be detrimental to bacterial and algae growth. You also could do with planting around 50% of your substrate with fast growing plant species. Dwarf Ambulia, Straight Vallis and thai onions are all good starters. Are you over feeding? A small pinch of food once per day that is completely eaten within a minute is all you should be feeding. Frozen foods should only be fed once per week. Take these steps and you will soon start to see an improvement. Use algae treatments as a last resort if all of the above show no improvements within a fortnight. As mentioned above be careful as most algae treatments contain a floccing agent which clumps the algae together so it gets stuck in your filter. UV is a very effective treatment but treats the symptoms rather than the problem, ie you will still have a nutrient imbalance in your tank. Hope that helps, I've rambled on a bit

 

[Armchairandy]

Do you have any real plants at the moment? The reason you have green algae is possibly too much light combined with an excess of nutrients. Without knowing any more I would advise you to drop your lighting to 8 hours a day with a 2 hour break in the middle. So 4 on, 2 off, 4 on. This "siesta" has been shown somewhat to be detrimental to bacterial and algae growth. You also could do with planting around 50% of your substrate with fast growing plant species. Dwarf Ambulia, Straight Vallis and thai onions are all good starters. Are you over feeding? A small pinch of food once per day that is completely eaten within a minute is all you should be feeding. Frozen foods should only be fed once per week. Take these steps and you will soon start to see an improvement. Use algae treatments as a last resort if all of the above show no improvements within a fortnight. As mentioned above be careful as most algae treatments contain a floccing agent which clumps the algae together so it gets stuck in your filter. UV is a very effective treatment but treats the symptoms rather than the problem, ie you will still have a nutrient imbalance in your tank. Hope that helps, I've rambled on a bit

Guys

So many answers, I really appreciate your help. Where to start, firstly the aqua produts came with the tank, and I am following the instructions blindly as this is my first go at this. Any thoughts would be appreciated, the plus is supposed to dechlorinate tap water and the cycle is put in to support bacteria. the tank is in our conservatory, not a fully glazed one I would add. the tank is positioned adjacent to the kitchen with just one side (the rear) being glazed and the roof is opaque polycarbonate. We do not have the lights on during the day but probably for three hours at night. We have plants (three types) at one corner of the tank. we have been feeding the fish (flakes) every other day because the man in the shop told me to. The bulb is a sunglow 20W came with the tank which is an all in one kit tank. What we will try is covering the tank during the day to see if that makes a difference. Is it worth changing 20% of the water twice weekly I do it once a week usually. Great site loads of info and friendly people, cheers

Andrew