White On Glass

[binaryripper]

Ok so my friend got me into tropical fish. Every time I go to his house and see his tank it looks CLEAR!!!!

My tank is clear but not super clear as his.

I get this whitish powder like stuff that sticks on my glass and then when I brush it off, the water gets cloudy.

Here are the chemicals I use in the tank:

Cycle
AmQuel + (Removes nitrate, nitrite, Ammonia and other stuff)
NovAqua(Water conditioner)
Ick Clear(Tank Buddies)

All my water tests are normal.

So what could this be?

 

[*Fishkies*]

Do you have fish in the tank?
How long do you leave the lights on?

 

[Puffdaddy]

There is no need for the use of cycle it is a waste of your money. Do your fish currently have ick? Also is your tank cycled completly?

 

[binaryripper]

I have fish. My fish do not have ick on them, the ick is for ick in the tank. I had an algae problem so I used it.

I would say my tank is cycled because if it wasn't my fish would've died by now.

I thought I have to use that cycle stuff every week, like it instructs you.

I leave the lights on for 10 hours a day.

 

[*Fishkies*]

Products often sit in the warehouses of pet stores for a very long time. So by the time a customer purchases the product, all the live bacteria that was supposed to be in this product "cycle" would have died. Also temperature fluctuations happen a lot in pet warehouses, storage areas, transporting products from location to location. Those two reasons above are reasons not to use the product cycle and others avaliable that say they contain live bacteria.

According to your water stats your fish tank is not cycled.
Also just because your tank is not cycled doesn't mean your fish have to die! Certain breeds of fish will live through anything and are quite hardy.

Ick/ich in the tank? Ich is a parasite that affects a fish. I have never heard of ich in a tank....anyone else here heard of this?? As for an algae problem, less light will help with that.

 

[binaryripper]

So I guess the obvious question would be how do I know if my tank has bacteria?

How do I cycle my tank?

Wouldn't less light kill my plants?

 

[*Fishkies*]

how much natural light/sunlight does your tank get? This could contribute to why your having an algae problem.

Do you have a liquid test kit? If not, I suggest getting one. This would help in determining when your tank is cycled.

If you have more questions about help with cycling your tank with fish. PM rdd1952 he has lots of information and knows a lot on cycling. He has written the two articles on fishless cycling.

 

[drango91]

it sticks 2 ur walls right, i get that too, i believe it is algea as my oto wouldnt be alive if it werent, i havent fed him ANYTHING he has soley nibbled on the back tank wall and is thriving(he doesnt eat the algea wafers i left him)

 

[binaryripper]

My liquid test are all in good shape.

My tank gets zero natural light, the only light it gets is from the fluorescent lighting.

So all in all I have a white algae problem?

I never knew algae could be white.

Is there a specific name to it, so I can find out how to get rid of it?

I brush it all off and it comes right back like dust.

 

[binaryripper]

Well I added an algae killer tablet so we will see how that goes.

I just want my glass and water to be super clear.

 

[binaryripper]

When adding an algae treatment tab, how long should you wait to put your snails and plants back in?

 

[binaryripper]

bump

 

[fishlette]

be careful when using products to deal with algae. the one and only time i ever used it, i ended up with an algae bloom due to the product killing off bacteria in my filter; mini cycle killing off all my convict fry. i dont know exactly what did it but everyone here told me it was the algae clear. try getting a bristlenose cat or an otto or something else to deal with the algae

 

[binaryripper]

I had an oto but it died. I think it was because it died of hunger. On another forum I was told they like to be in pairs and that was maybe the cause. From what I have read Oto's are a fragile fish.