Lost control of tank badly, need help please

[Flaggers]

Hey guys,

I have had my aquarium for about 7 months and this is the first 'major' issue that I've had. My tank has suddenly gone extremely cloudy and the water is turning greener and greener by the day. It's at a point now where you can't see through the tank at all, it's that cloudy/green. It seems to have happened out of the blue, as I didn't make any changes to my tank or add any new fish or change the fish food etc. I have tried some API AlgaeFix additions, which seemed to do nothing and I have ordered some API AccuClear to see if that helps. I have tested my water several times and the PH, Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite are all fine.

Any advice here because it's freaking me out - thank you.

 

[Essjay]

First of all, please stop adding chemicals to the tank as they will affect the fish. It's too late for the algaefix as you've already added it, but don't add accuclear. That works by making the particles stick together - and also stick to the fish's gills.

A green bloom is an algae bloom caused by a single celled algae. Can you help us to help you, please.
How long are the tank lights on for?
Is the tank situated where sunlight falls into the tank?
Are there any live plants in the tank?
What are the numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
Do you overfeed the fish - is there often uneaten food on the bottom of the tank?

 

[Flaggers]

First of all, please stop adding chemicals to the tank as they will affect the fish. It's too late for the algaefix as you've already added it, but don't add accuclear. That works by making the particles stick together - and also stick to the fish's gills.

A green bloom is an algae bloom caused by a single celled algae. Can you help us to help you, please.
How long are the tank lights on for?
Is the tank situated where sunlight falls into the tank?
Are there any live plants in the tank?
What are the numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?
Do you overfeed the fish - is there often uneaten food on the bottom of the tank?

Understood, won't add any more chemicals.

The tank lights are on for approx. 10-12 hours a day.
The tank is full of live plants, I would need to discuss this with my wife and find out exactly the names of all the plants though lol. There's 6 live plants in there.
The tank is 150L, I have 7 tiger barbs, 12 neon tetras, a catfish and a red tailed shark. They don't fight or have any issues etc.
I feed the fish once a day, a little mix of black worms, granules, veggie pellets and occasionally for a treat I feed them some crushed krill and plankton.
The tank is not in a position where sunlight hits it directly, no
The PH is sitting at 7.4, the temperature is 22-24 degrees, the ammonia is always around 0-0.10ppm, nitrate is 5.0-9.0ppm, nitrite is 0.30ppm.

I don't see food sitting on the bottom of the tank that much, no.

Here's a current picture of the tank as of 5 minutes ago, so you can see how bad it is:

 

[Essjay]

Initially, you may want to try a total blackout to kill the algae but you need to sort out what's causing it or it'll come back. Wrap the entire tank in something which will block out the light, and unplug the tank lights. Don't even open the blackout to feed the fish, they'll be OK without food for a few days. Leave the blackout in place for 3 days

Then cut down the tank light duration to 6 hours. You may already, but have the light on a time switch so it comes on at the same time of day for the same length of time every day as this is better for the fish. If the plants seem to be suffering with 6 hours, increase to 7 and see how they do. But go no further than 8 hours.
If this doesn't work, we need to think of something else.

 

[Flaggers]

Initially, you may want to try a total blackout to kill the algae but you need to sort out what's causing it or it'll come back. Wrap the entire tank in something which will block out the light, and unplug the tank lights. Don't even open the blackout to feed the fish, they'll be OK without food for a few days. Leave the blackout in place for 3 days

Then cut down the tank light duration to 6 hours. You may already, but have the light on a time switch so it comes on at the same time of day for the same length of time every day as this is better for the fish. If the plants seem to be suffering with 6 hours, increase to 7 and see how they do. But go no further than 8 hours.
If this doesn't work, we need to think of something else.

Okay so no lights or food for 3 days and see where we go from there? Sounds good.

Thank you for the advice mate, will provide updates.

 

[Colin_T]

Green water is caused by too much light and nutrients and not enough live plants to use the light and nutrients. You can fix it by reducing light (as @Essjay mentioned), or adding more live plants. Doing a big (75-80%) water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week can also help get rid of it.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

 

[Flaggers]

Green water is caused by too much light and nutrients and not enough live plants to use the light and nutrients. You can fix it by reducing light (as @Essjay mentioned), or adding more live plants. Doing a big (75-80%) water change and gravel cleaning the substrate every day for a week can also help get rid of it.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

Okay no worries, thank you for the information and advice. I will try a big water change tomorrow - what chemicals would you recommend adding with the new water? I only normally do 10-15% water at a time when I do changes, so doing a big 70-80% would obviously require some chemicals, right?

 

[Essjay]

The only chemical needed is a dechlorinator, regardless how much water is changed.

 

[Flaggers]

The only chemical needed is a dechlorinator, regardless how much water is changed.

Okay, thanks. I have some Prime Seachem, any thoughts on it being a good product or not?

 

[Essjay]

That's good to use. Many of the members on here use it.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Make sure that you shake the bottle of Prime really well before use.

Many people have been caught out by the black flecks at the bottom of the bottle and think the liquid has "gone off" especially since it doesn't smell very nice anyway. The black flecks are absolutely normal.

Always shake the bottle hard.

 

[Josh1993]

Holy crap, that's a huge bloom. Has this been sorted yet? I wonder what caused it?

 

[Flaggers]

Make sure that you shake the bottle of Prime really well before use.

Many people have been caught out by the black flecks at the bottom of the bottle and think the liquid has "gone off" especially since it doesn't smell very nice anyway. The black flecks are absolutely normal.

Always shake the bottle hard.

Got it, thanks.

Is it best to add all the water and then add the chemical into the tank or add the chemical into the water before I add it into the tank? Just trying to figure out the best way to do this as I haven't done massive water changes before.

 

[Essjay]

It depends how you refill the tank.

Buckets - add the amount of Prime (or any other dechlorinator) to every bucketful of new water at the dose rate for the amount of water in the bucket.

Hose - before starting to refill add enough Prime to treat the volume of the whole tank, not just the amount of new water. Other dechlorinator manufacturers also say to add enough to treat the whole tank volume, but others say add only enough for the amount of new water so always read the instructions or contact the manufacturer if the instructions don't say.

 

[Flaggers]

Did a big 70% water change and haven't had the light on for 3 days. Just fed the fish tonight, tank is looking MUCH better already. I'll see what happens in the next few days and monitor.

What would be the suggestions if it just goes green and cloudy again?