Uv For Bacterial Bloom?

[mark.w.jones]

But 10 - 20ppm nitrate is far from excessive so I doubt that is causing the problem. I think your best bet is to buy loads of fast growing plants and plant up 50% of you substrate. One extra plant will make a minimum impact. The following are all easy to grow in low light and fast growing varieties:

Dwarf Ambulia
Thai onion Plants
Hornwort

Buy a load of them along with a decent liquid fert and maybe consider carbon addition, either with something like Seachems Flourish Excel or a basic fermentation system. There is a chance that excess phosphate is an issue in your tank. There are bags you can add to your filter to reduce phosphate levels. They are not that expensive and are maybe worth trying. Put these things in place and if after a month you are still getting bacterial blooms go for the UV filter.

 

[SJ2K]

Cheers for the tips!

 

[Darkstar]

the only reason the i wouldnt use on constantly is that it creates an almost sterile environment and your fish will be more prone to disease than if you didnt use one.

Taking this sentence as is is untrue imo.

 

[chrisdoesntmiss]

the only reason the i wouldnt use on constantly is that it creates an almost sterile environment and your fish will be more prone to disease than if you didnt use one.

Taking this sentence as is is untrue imo.

Fair enough, I should have explained further. If long term exposure to an almost sterile environment is provided for your fish their immune system will start to shut down as it is not being utilised. Its basically chemotherapy for fish. After a long term period of this "clean" environment, if the UV is shut down as no longer needed and the water becomes contaminated with a disease, for arguments sake we will say ICH. All of your fish will suffer from it as there immune systems have been suppressed and it unable to cope with the disease in the way it was previously able to.

I will pull up the full article on this when i can find it and post for further details.

Chris

 

[Bungy]

SJ2K

I sympathise with your problem mate, 2 months ago I set up a 70G (377L) tank and pretty soon after setting up I had what has been described as a bacterial bloom - a white haze to the water, I can physically see the small white particles floating in the water. I have loads of live plants fed by purpose made brown pellet things, over which I have sand. im well under stocked with fish at present, only around 20 due to an outbreak of ICH having not observed the "fishless cycle" (big mistake). I have therefore been using Meds for a while (eSHa EXIT) and put the bloom down to that (also having removed my carbon from the Fluval 405 for the duration). Now the white spot is cleared I have replaced the carbon and also put in 2 x polishing pads in an attempt to clear the bloom. One week on and it is still present. My LFS advised using some B-CLEAR to get rid of it but after 3 days there has been no improvement. All my stats are bang on and I perform around 20% water change per week with a good vac of the gravel and removal of dead or dying plant leaves. Im stuck as to what to do next other than sit it out and wait.

 

[SJ2K]

WHEY, somone in the same boat (Btw, good choice in meds there!)...Mine seems to be clearing, slowly, as before problem is im sure as soon as anything is alterd it'll just spring right back

 

[Iron Man]

What are you keeping in your Eheim?

 

[Majjie]

the only reason the i wouldnt use on constantly is that it creates an almost sterile environment and your fish will be more prone to disease than if you didnt use one.

Taking this sentence as is is untrue imo.

Fair enough, I should have explained further. If long term exposure to an almost sterile environment is provided for your fish their immune system will start to shut down as it is not being utilised. Its basically chemotherapy for fish. After a long term period of this "clean" environment, if the UV is shut down as no longer needed and the water becomes contaminated with a disease, for arguments sake we will say ICH. All of your fish will suffer from it as there immune systems have been suppressed and it unable to cope with the disease in the way it was previously able to.

I will pull up the full article on this when i can find it and post for further details.

Chris

I'd be interested to see that article ... since I too think the original statement is unlikely.

I have small internal UV filters permanently on three of my tanks - but there's no way that this gives an "almost sterile" environment. It simply removes any bacteria/algae that are free in the water. The vast majority of bacteria and other microorganisms in the tank will be attached to surfaces, won't be sucked into the uv filter and will carry on living happily. Pathogenic bacteria (when introducing new fish, for instance, or after the outbreak of a disease) will be in the water and will get killed.

Bacteria don't live in open water because there's nothing there for them to eat. A repetitive bacterial bloom must either be coming from a more concentrated area of bacterial growth - like in the filter - or there must be organic matter in the water (from overfeeding, for instance, or when a tank is newly set up and the filter isn't working efficiently, or if there's lots of dead plant material).

Algae, on the other hand, can live in the water, because they can photosynthesise and don't rely solely on organic carbon.

Some cloudy water problems in tanks won't be due to bacteria at all ... they will be due to chemical interactions, especially if you have very hard water (that's why they can vary with different water treatments). If your cloudy water has a chemical cause then a UV filter isn't going to help.

 

[Bungy]

Thanks for the very informative update Majjie, my bloom could easily be down to excess plant matter, its a fairly new tank setup - around 10 weeks now and I heavily planted from the start - naturally there was an element of "die-off" from damaged leaves etc but I do my best to pick these off as and when I notice them and net any flotsome in the tank. After sitting it out for 3 days after treating with B-Clear there has been no improvement so ive repeated the dose last night and will just have to wait to see what happens. If no joy then Thursday and Sunday are my water change days so perhaps ill do a bigger water change this time to see if this helps.

Just a point to note however, because i have had to use Meds in my tank from a fairly early stage due to WhiteSpot and poss Fin Rot (eSHa EXIT and eSHa 2000) I have not been using my activated carbon nor have I dared to "clean" my filter (Fluval 405). Now the meds are clear I have put back new carbon and a couple of polishing pads and noticed pretty much straight away the water clearing but this was only in colour - ie removing the Green hase due to the Meds. Im not 100% sure when I should clean my filter media and replace the little White round thingy's in two levels of trays....? any ideas?

 

[Majjie]

Just a point to note however, because i have had to use Meds in my tank from a fairly early stage due to WhiteSpot and poss Fin Rot (eSHa EXIT and eSHa 2000) I have not been using my activated carbon nor have I dared to "clean" my filter (Fluval 405). Now the meds are clear I have put back new carbon and a couple of polishing pads and noticed pretty much straight away the water clearing but this was only in colour - ie removing the Green hase due to the Meds. Im not 100% sure when I should clean my filter media and replace the little White round thingy's in two levels of trays....? any ideas?

Hi Bungy

There are only two reasons to use activated carbon in your filter; firstly to remove chemical treatments that you've used for diseases and secondly to remove colour in the water. Otherwise carbon filters are pretty much a waste of time .... except if you've had one in there a long time it will be acting as a biological filter (carbon has lots of surface area for bacteria to attach to). Once a carbon filter has been in the tank around a couple of weeks (the exact timescale is open to debate), the carbon is inactive anyway. It's also possible (although I'm not sure there's much concrete evidence) that carbon will release chemicals back into the water when it is "full up" (so to speak ).

I'm not familiar with Fluval 405 filters ... but if the little white round thingy's are the ceramic rings (or noodles) then don't replace them ever; unless they're physically falling apart. That's where most of your friendly bacteria are living. Same goes for any big foam sponges. You can rinse either or both; in tank water .... but don't do it too often and try not to do all of them at once.

The only filter material that needs changing frequently are the pre-filters ... the thin white ones usually (could be your polishing pads). These remove larger particles and are quite likely to clog up (but try rinsing them first - don't go buying new ones all the time ... unless, of course, you're loaded!)

Ignore any literature that came with the tank/filter which says you must change the media regularly ... except for changing those coarse filters.

Neither the type of bacterial bloom which makes the water cloudy, or the fine cloudiness caused by chemical interaction, will harm your fish.

Personally, I'd hang on in there and wait for the cloudiness to clear ... keep up regular water changes, keep picking out any dead leaves and encourage your plants to grow with a bit of fertiliser.

Majjie

 

[SJ2K]

What are you keeping in your Eheim?

A small but very messy mouse.

...Ceramic rings, course sponge, lots of floss and substrat pro

 

[Bungy]

Just a point to note however, because i have had to use Meds in my tank from a fairly early stage due to WhiteSpot and poss Fin Rot (eSHa EXIT and eSHa 2000) I have not been using my activated carbon nor have I dared to "clean" my filter (Fluval 405). Now the meds are clear I have put back new carbon and a couple of polishing pads and noticed pretty much straight away the water clearing but this was only in colour - ie removing the Green hase due to the Meds. Im not 100% sure when I should clean my filter media and replace the little White round thingy's in two levels of trays....? any ideas?

Hi Bungy

There are only two reasons to use activated carbon in your filter; firstly to remove chemical treatments that you've used for diseases and secondly to remove colour in the water. Otherwise carbon filters are pretty much a waste of time .... except if you've had one in there a long time it will be acting as a biological filter (carbon has lots of surface area for bacteria to attach to). Once a carbon filter has been in the tank around a couple of weeks (the exact timescale is open to debate), the carbon is inactive anyway. It's also possible (although I'm not sure there's much concrete evidence) that carbon will release chemicals back into the water when it is "full up" (so to speak ).

I'm not familiar with Fluval 405 filters ... but if the little white round thingy's are the ceramic rings (or noodles) then don't replace them ever; unless they're physically falling apart. That's where most of your friendly bacteria are living. Same goes for any big foam sponges. You can rinse either or both; in tank water .... but don't do it too often and try not to do all of them at once.

The only filter material that needs changing frequently are the pre-filters ... the thin white ones usually (could be your polishing pads). These remove larger particles and are quite likely to clog up (but try rinsing them first - don't go buying new ones all the time ... unless, of course, you're loaded!)

Ignore any literature that came with the tank/filter which says you must change the media regularly ... except for changing those coarse filters.

Neither the type of bacterial bloom which makes the water cloudy, or the fine cloudiness caused by chemical interaction, will harm your fish.

Personally, I'd hang on in there and wait for the cloudiness to clear ... keep up regular water changes, keep picking out any dead leaves and encourage your plants to grow with a bit of fertiliser.

Majjie

Majjie
Thanks very much for the advice - seems like ive been doing the right things thus far - I added another dose of B-CLEAR 2 nights ago - it initially turns the water white like pouring milk into the tank - but this clears within 24h but sadly it has not caused the small particles of bloom to clump and be cleared by the filter - having just read your response I have realised that ive left the new activated carbon in the filter while im treating with the B-CLEAR - perhaps Id be best advised to remove this and dose again in a few days?

What are you keeping in your Eheim?

A small but very messy mouse.

...Ceramic rings, course sponge, lots of floss and substrat pro

SJ2K
Is your bloom clearing at all yet.....still struggling with mine at the moment??

 

[SJ2K]

Yup mines clearing, just give it time and plenty of fresh water changes thge particules will slowly become less and less dense untill its totally clear. Good luck mate.

 

[Majjie]

Majjie
Thanks very much for the advice - seems like ive been doing the right things thus far - I added another dose of B-CLEAR 2 nights ago - it initially turns the water white like pouring milk into the tank - but this clears within 24h but sadly it has not caused the small particles of bloom to clump and be cleared by the filter - having just read your response I have realised that ive left the new activated carbon in the filter while im treating with the B-CLEAR - perhaps Id be best advised to remove this and dose again in a few days?

Yes ... I would. B-Clear says that it's enzymatic - so it would most likely be removed by activated carbon. Although if the carbon has been in the tank for any length of time it won't be removing much anyway.

 

[TribeOfShroom]

Would an actived carbon filter become innert after 6 weeks?