brown algae, green water. Help?

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M

MurderedOut

Gambusia
MFK Member
Nov 29, 2008
122
1
16
Slidell, LA
Hey guys. i have a newly set up 75g. i cycled it with platies, swordtails and guppies for 4 weeks. Right now i have 3 senegal bichir(2 albino) that are 4 inchs a piece. One common pleco thats about 6". and a 5 inch ghost knife.

Filtration is a Rena XP3, and an AC110. Also have a korilia 4 powerhead, and a rena 300w smartheater.

XP3 basket setup:

top basket:
Filter Floss
----------
Fluval bio max (1 pack)
----------

Middle basket:
Rena Bio stars(2 bags) and Seachem matrix
----------
30ppi filter pads (2)
----------

Bottom basket:
20ppi filter pads (2)
----------
Fluval prefilter (1 pack)



And then the AC110 is setup:
AC Biomax
AC Biomax
mechanical filtration pad.



The water is turning a murky green color. ive been doing water changes like mad since i noticed it gettin worse. ive been doing about 40% every 3 days.

i know its pretty common for a new tank to get an algae outbreak.

ive reduced the light time to 8 hours a day.

what should i do? water changes are helping but gets right back to normal in 48 hours.
 
I had this same problem for some time. Like an idiot I use algae destroyer. This killed off a bunch of fish. And took me a while to figure out what was killing them. SO dont use any algae destroyer. Do a 30% w/c every other day. After a couple weeks it will be clear. Just be patient and stay away from the chemicals.
 
Is it near a window or getting any natural light ? If all else fails a UV sterilizer always works
 
I also threw up a background on mine. So the back and one of the sides has a black back. This also helps w/ algae and looks sweet. But it will eventually pay off. I also threw in a few live plants. My tank gets sunlight atleast four hours a day through the front. But its crystal clear now....and I have some happy plants.
 
nowhere near sunlight, and no sunlight in the room, black background on the back.

hopefully it will clear up soon, if not i might have to get a uv sterilizer.

anybody else have any suggestions.
 
i got brown algae in my 75 and bought "Tetra algae control" broad spectrum control and its been 3 days and the tank looks about cured. i have mostly cichlids and a few others and they are still going. it does say on the back kills brown, green-blue, hair algae, and green water. hope this helps
 
I've used Tetra Algae control with success as well. I hate adding chems though, so I used it at half dose. After 24 hours of letting it pump through the system I do a 50% water change.
 
what lighting system are you using? how old are the light bulbs? new? used? what are your water perameters testing at? usually a spike in nitrates will cause green water. whats your tap water perameters? Is the water better or worse after the WC's? my well water comes out at 30ppm for nitrates. so I've learned to counter this w/ alot of live plants in my tanks to suck them up. You can also try a micron pre-filter pad cut to size to put into your HoB filter to help filter out those tiny algae particals. a majority of the "chemical" fixes simply bind the algae into large particles so you filter floss can filter it out mechanically.

If your water perameters test out fine then I'de try a finer pre-filter padding. and I'de shut off the lights completely for a few days. With your stock I'de also consider some java moss tied to some driftwood or other decor. It will utilize the nutrients causeing the algae break-out in a "healthy" manner. I also wouldn't scrape the tank sides as long as the water is green itself.. allowing the algae to grow on the glass sides is easily removable compared ot the water particles. and by allowing it to grow it's sucking out the nutrients the nasty "green water" uses. Once the tank is crystal clear watered after a few weeks (yes it can take weeks to balance out) you can remove the algae off the sides. after doing this in a few tanks.. I have never gotten green water in them ever again. just algae on the sides, which is easily removeable comparatively.

Never used a UV sterilizer. But I've heard good things about them.
 
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