seriously green water

[moist]

the water in my 55 gal has gotten really green lately. Wen i started out it had a slightly yellow tinge to it, but i am pretty sure this was because put driftwood in it without drawing all the colour out of it. but the last month or so it was jus become really green. my lighting isnt that powerful its not even a watt per gallon. iv got probably a medium planted tank. iv tried doing 1 big water change (prob 80%) and then the usual 20% after that, but it is to no avail. after the 80% water change it was back to green within 2 days. any ideas what i can do.

o btw, iv just changed my lightin so its on for 4 hours off for 2 then on for 4 then off for the night. I just did this in hoped it'l work, but does anyone hav any other tips? thanks

 

[tsalvageboy]

Did you change the carbon filters? Or do you have an undergravel filter? If so you might have alot of anaerobic bacteria building up if you have high or low spots.

Goodluck, Tim

 

[mellowserra]

Run your water through a diatom filter, super for clearing it right up.

 

[Dubby]

Try adding activated carbon and filter floss into your filter. Reduce the feeding and continue changing about 25% water every week .

 

[freddyk]

The end result of the problem is that you simply have too many nutrients in the tank, and your plants are not using them. While adding hardware or chemicals may temperarily clear it up, it won't fix the problem. To fix the problem you need to track down where the excess nutrients are coming form. Common ones might be:

Too many fish
Not enough water changes/tank maintenance
Too much plant fertilizer or too rich a soil mixture
Overfeeding

 

[mike190762]

Hi, I inherited a 130L tank off a friend. It was thick with algae when I had it. The timer on the tank wasn't working, so they'd left the light on all day.

I tried an 80% water change twice, putting accuclear in the water and cleaning the filters every week. No joy.

I'd ordered a timer from my lfs. It arrived 2 days before I went on holiday. I set it for 4 hours a day, placed 3 x week food blocks & went on holiday for a week.

When I came back all the algae had gone. I did another 80% water change, put in new filters and fingers crossed, it's been all clear since!!

 

[moist]

thanks for all the advice. iv changed my carbon filters, did one big 50% water change, going to cut back on feedings, and make sure i neva miss my tank maintance. according to all you'r experiences iv got my fingers crossed it'l work
thanks again.