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i don't know what's wrong with my tank...
it's a 60gal tank and over the past 3 weeks the water has gone very green..
and i mean so green that u can't even see the driftwood 15cm away from the glass.
all my fish are all doing fine including my discus(so i am guessing my water qualities r fine)and i have 2 filters for my tank
a AquaClear 300 and a eheim of some sort...
plzz help

Last edited by BGK at 25-Nov-2004 21:01

It could very well be suspended algae of some type. That tends to make the water in a tank turn green or cloudy, but it is pretty easy to get rid of. Adding some floating live plants works wonders, as they outcompete the algae for nutrients and light. Also, simply cutting down on feeding and light (if you have no live plants) works well, too.

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And when he gets to Heaven, to Saint Peter he will tell: "One more Marine reporting, Sir! I've served my time in Hell."

Can you tell us how long the tank has been up and running?

If it is only recently set up how long was it going before you put the stock in? or any new stock recently added (perhaps making an overload on the filtration)

Have you done any tests? ph, nitrate/ites



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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

I would do a 50% water change every few days until it clears up. I agree with books on cutting down on the food. The alage is feeding on something in the tank, excess food could be the cause.

Green water (planctonic algae) is a real nuisance algae. Algae spores are always present in the water. Spores can be introduced by almost everything that is introduced to the aquarium. New fish, snails, plants, rocks, freeze dried food, shrimp, etc. All these spores require to explode is enough nutrients, that's when the trouble starts.

Water changes are of no help, it often worsens the situation because it introduces new spores. Nutrient control is the only way to clear up the water.
---------------------------------------
How do you do nutrient control?
1. Water change,
2. During water change vacuum substrate,
3. Wipe down glass,
4. Clean filters,
5. Float water sprite in tank,
6. Reduce feedings of fish,
7. Stop plant feedings.

Repeat...


Last edited by Bob Wesolowski at 30-Nov-2004 00:43

__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Ive found that when my tanks have green water it is usually from direct sunlight. Where we have just had a season shift the sun has moved on the horizion. That would be the first thing id check out. As mentioned above a water change will usually only introduce new food for the algae to feed on. The other thing that happens to me is my nephews have been playing with my timers, you should only be putting 10-12 hrs of light on a tank. If you are in this range may need to cut back a bit. A pretty immediate fix to your problem is to drape a towel or blanket over the tank to cut all all direct or indirect sunlight and keep the lights off for a few days, just make sure you are not cutting off the o2 supply to the tank.

One other option is that your tank may be getting too warm. Incandescent lights ttend to heat up an already warm tank.

Bdadawg

My nephew's tank got greenwater (pea soup), when he didn't realize he bumped his timer and the light was staying on way too long.

It was a never ending battle for me. I happen to have a diatom filter, which filters out very fine particles and polishes the water. I used the Whisper Diatomagic and within 15 minutes it was crystal clear. I shut the tank and room light off for 3 days and shut the shade (the room is pretty dim already as the only window faces north). When the tank light was rescheduled, we set it for just a few hours a day in the beginning, with only a dim room light on after that for another few hours in the early morning and evening. I started to see signs of it again about 10 days later. I repeated the process again and dimmed the tank longer - it didn't work. We were back to square one again about two weeks later.

He has no live plants or snails in the tank. As a last resort, I used the diatom filter to polish the water one more time and get it crystal clear. Then, I used just a half dose of algae fix. My thought was that as long as one of these single-celled creatures remains, there can be more and more. That finally did the trick. It has never returned to the tank after that first, half dose of Algae Fix.

I decided to use half dose because I don't like using such chemicals. It will kill live plants, and can cause a massive die off of snails causing an ammonia spike, if you have snails.

The product would have worked on the pea soup without polishing the water first, but you would have to use full dose and follow instructions.