Foggy Water - Need Help!

[goawayou]

30 gallon tank.
has been ok for a few weeks. one pleco, one american cichlid. i do 'regular' water changes about every 2 months - 10gallons of change.
i use CLEAN filtered water from the API filter - then add API salt. alittle less than one tablespoon per 5 gallons to add some nutrience back to the water.
using bubbles in back corner.

I'm having an issue w/ murky/foggy water.
i have enclosed pictures.
PH is around 7.2
GH is about 4*
KH is about 3*
Ammonia is 0.
Phosphate is a little above 2ppm.

i didn't think this would be a phosphate bloom, as it doesn't look 'green' enough for that.

anything else i can try? it got this foggy in about 7 days. i don't know why - haven't changed feeding habits or food.
just changed the carbon filter right when i thought it started to get foggy...guess that didn't help...

any suggestions and help is greatly appreciated!
thanx!

 

[drobbyb]

Green water. This is caused by sunlight hitting the tank and the presence of ammonia (even small enough amounts to not be picked up by the ammonia test). That parrot cichlid will get way too big for a 30 gallon tank. They need at least 75 gallons to be happy.

What probably has happened is the filter cannot keep up with the waste that the fish is producing, leaving it to be gobbled up by the algae you see in the water.

 

[waterdrop]

Right, agree with Robby, we've got some Parrot Cichlids in one of the university tanks that are as big as the ornaments in that tank! They're in something closer to 200 gallons!

Have you got sunlight hitting it? Perhaps there's a way to block the sunlight. Also, that tank looks to not have plants, so any artificial lighting would only need to be the minimal few hours you wanted to view the tank.

But the main thing appears to be maintenance. In the picture it looks like you've done a good job getting some good liquid testing kits and that shows you care. You've just missed out on some of the basic info (unless I'm wrong and don't understand the principles you're following) perhaps and this forum should be a good place to pick up some things.

For a tank like that, normally we'd suggest *weekly* water changes, perhaps 50% (although it would be good to review your tap water stats for ammonia, nitrite, pH and nitrate) done via a deep gravel clean with a gravel siphon. The return water should be treated with conditoner and roughly temperature matched (your hand is good enough for this.) Initially, it may be that the members will recommend a black-out period to try and give the green water a hard time. It also may be that a series of large gravel-clean-water-changes will be necessary to get things turned around. None of this should be undertaken without a more thorough review of which tests gave which water stat numbers and the addition of the nitrite and nitrate stats from liquid tests.

The other main thing is that the filtration will need to be reviewed. The members will want to know the make/model and your flow rate if you know it. Each type of filter media and why you chose it should be gone over. It sounds like your filter is cycled fine but may have a capacity problem for the given tank and fish load and it may be that you are not using the optimal media types.

Also, your chemical additions will need to be reviewed and probably changed.

Hopefully before long you'll have a nice clear tank with a nice plec and parrot and will be forming a plan for rehoming the parrot to someplace he can grow into and figuring out your future stocking for the 30g!

~~waterdrop~~
ps. Welcome to TFF!

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome to the forum GoAwaYou.

If you can find a source of live daphnia, you have a perfect daphnia culture medium. If you put daphnia in a breeding net into a tank like that, the water will be clear almost as fast as it turned green. Then you can release most of the daphnia into the main tank and call them fish food. I have tried many times and failed at establishing a green water culture to feed daphnia because they are such good fish food. The closest I ever came was when I left the culture tank light on 7 / 24 and dosed lightly with ammonia as plant food. I must agree that lots of light and small traces of nitrogen will give you a green water bloom like that. If you don't have real plants in the tank, cut the lighting to only be on when you are in the room to admire the fish and the water will clear fairly quickly unless you are getting sunlight on the tank.