Cichlid Tank - never clean

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
PeacockBass said:
Oh? Please, explain to me exactly what happens.

How does a water change FEED the problem? WHAT is FEEDING the algae? WHAT is it EATING thats in the "new" water? HOW is it prolonging the problem? Oh? Oh?

Please, elaborate.
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If his tap water has any amounts of phosphates then he would be feeding the problem. With green water I would do a black out for a couple of days, not turn on any lighting and keep feeding to a minimum. I would check my tap water for nitrates and phosphates and to get real technical I would keep my nitrates to 10ppm and my phosphates to under 1ppm or less. A 10:1 ratio keeps algae blooms at bay. If you have barely any nitrates and phosphates in your tap water then change the water when it reaches 15 ppm nitrates and learn how long it takes to get to that value. If it takes 2 days, then do water changes every 2 days, if it takes 3 weeks then do water changes every three weeks.

The main problem is the balance between your light levels and high nutrients in the water. Do not use the algae fix potions you can buy at the store...
 
Algae needs nutrients and light to grow.
Where do nutrients come from in an aquarium - food, fish poop and contaminated water from an external source.
Find the source, you are either feeding too much, your filters are inadequate or your tapwater needs to be treated first.

Covering your tank, millions of water changes, etc, etc, are only temporary measures which don't help.
 
On the orange tint post right above, some real pro's in Houston (not me) say put Kent Organic Adsorption Resin in the Eheims....especially on the wood issue. Like someone said above go big time water changes if the fish can handle it. Watch overfeeding especially freeze dried krill--the fish love it but it tints the water badly. Keep the light off.
 
What size are your fish? Full grown you will be a tad overstocked.... and it honestly sounds like some overfeeding is going on... can dirty up the water way fast...
 
75 g... My emperor 400 cleared up my green water.. Plus i had to up the water changes as i had allot of waste due to My oscar . Half the food that goes in to his mouth as most Oscars comes right back out of the gills. Causing rott... hense feeding into green water..

I just had an bloom of cloudiness.. Not Greeness.. Cloudiness and i let it cycle out. I've also heard of using a Diatom filter they are spendy but it takes the cloud away first time..

I might add a part where my water filters through gravel then sand as this will catch the cloud particals. And vuala clear water..

Sounds like , i have to agree with food and crap concetration if the tank is already cycled. Also agree with sour girl a tad over stocked with big messy eaters and heavy waste machines fish :) I have those same fish and i had to do heavy water changes to clear up the green and then I figured out my problem was the food, as suggested above.. I started deleting things til i found it. and it stopped when i stopped over feeding. Not feeding less times per day, just less food.

I'm not saying your fish, but this was my problem at one point for almost a year i went livce only and once a week. and my water was clear clear clear and my fish were healthy.

I apologise for the long winded answer but i had to as to hopefully not feed the fire that is burning in this thread.. Hope i was of help..
 
Ok, here's the absolute best advice I can give you. . .

1. Change only 20-30% of the water each time. . . too much is only killing off bacteria and feeding the algae.
2. Vacuum only 1/3 of the tank each time you vacuum. All that brown stuff you're pulling out is poop. . . that poop is filled with useful bacteria. . . Bacteria competes with algae for food. . .
3. Stuff your fish like Rayman said and turn out the lights for 3 days along with covering the tank completely so that NO LIGHT gets in. Algae could grow off an L.E.D. from a clock radio practically. If it's not gone then turn on the lights to feed your fish again then repeat process.
4. Anacharis, hornwort, and water sprite are all hardy floating plants that cichlids won't tear up that will also compete with the Algae and steal food from it. The more good plants in there. . . the less the bad plants (algae) have to feed on.
5. Turn off your UV sterilizer unless you can set it to VERY low flow so that all the water flowing through it is sterilized enough to kill the algae. Otherwise turn it off b/c it's only going to feed it.

JMHO
--Jimmy
 
apart from the obvious, get a nice big powerful powerhead and get piping that will fit onto the Powerhead, drill holes all thru it then put the pipe in a sponge...works a treat!
 
Richie said:
Covering your tank, millions of water changes, etc, etc, are only temporary measures which don't help.
Click to expand...

waterchanges ARE the key!!!

yes covering your tank doesnt help, yes, right on that part, when the algae dies, it decomposes creating more organics for new algae to process once you turn the lights back on.

and if you say " ill do a water change before i turn the lgiht back on"

well then that leads us back to the fact that you needed to do more water changes from the start......
 
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