This is what I was thinking as well, ferts and lights. We had the same problem in one of our tanks ... plants looked great, water was green looking. We ended up halving some of the ferts we were adding, things cleared up and that tank hasn't had that issue return.
Green water driving me crazy!
- Thread starter Jhncf
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This is what I was thinking as well, ferts and lights. We had the same problem in one of our tanks ... plants looked great, water was green looking. We ended up halving some of the ferts we were adding, things cleared up and that tank hasn't had that issue return.
Check your tap for Phosphates. Mine tend to go up in the summer but I use RO water only as my tap sucks year round for other reasons.
Hang a filter sock in the tank. Put some daphnia in the filter sock. They will clear up the green water in no time. When the water is clear feed the daphnia to your fish.
On Monday I sold all my small community fish except my two emerald catfish as i'm stocking the tank with predatory fish soon. Because the tank was empty of fish I completely vaccumed all of the substrate, cleaned all algae off of the glass then completely drained the tank. I then refilled it and only left half of the lighting on and now, two days later it's getting cloudy again. It actually started getting cloudy yesterday but it's worse today. It's obviously not nitrates causing it as there are two 3" fish in the 90 gal tank and I know my tap water never shows any nitrate. How do I test for phosphate? If I need a UV, what size would suit my tank? Thanks for the help guys, really need this sorted as I hate looking at the tank like this!
To test for phosphates get a phosphate (PO4) test kit. Post your water parameters, stop dosing. How old are your light bulbs? If you can, turn your lights off for a few days or more. Most tanks don't need a scrubber/sterilizer. A lot of people that use them are putting on a bandaid instead of finding the real problem. You say it's getting cloudy again, what color cloud this time? Are your running carbon?
My guess would be the fert dosing.
My guess would be the fert dosing.
That happened to me awhile ago, just covered sides with black paper and turned the light off till it disappeared. Water changes don't help
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Howdy
Blacking out with a blanket for 3-4 days is a good method, always works, but only treats symptoms. Same with UV.
Cleaning the tank and substrate is a really good start, but obviously not quite enough.
This is a tough nut to crack.
First, take baseline water parameters before water change. You need to know phosphate and nitrate levels as well as pH to begin.
Then, as many mentioned before, stop fertilizing for a couple of weeks. That's your washout phase. Keep up your water changes. Your plants will survive. Then take water parameters again, before water change and also (important!) measure just tap water. Without changing water, add ferts and measure phosphates and nitrates again one hour after addition (to make sure ferts are well mixed into the entire tank).
You now what four different sets of data, and comparing them will be a crucial step in finding a solution.
Tank now vs tank after washout
Tank before vs after ferts
Tank vs tap
Lastly, I found that interrupting lighting by 2h mid day reduces algae growth. Set lights to 7-12 and 2-9pm.
Btw: what plants do you have in your tank?
HarleyK
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Blacking out with a blanket for 3-4 days is a good method, always works, but only treats symptoms. Same with UV.
Cleaning the tank and substrate is a really good start, but obviously not quite enough.
This is a tough nut to crack.
First, take baseline water parameters before water change. You need to know phosphate and nitrate levels as well as pH to begin.
Then, as many mentioned before, stop fertilizing for a couple of weeks. That's your washout phase. Keep up your water changes. Your plants will survive. Then take water parameters again, before water change and also (important!) measure just tap water. Without changing water, add ferts and measure phosphates and nitrates again one hour after addition (to make sure ferts are well mixed into the entire tank).
You now what four different sets of data, and comparing them will be a crucial step in finding a solution.
Tank now vs tank after washout
Tank before vs after ferts
Tank vs tap
Lastly, I found that interrupting lighting by 2h mid day reduces algae growth. Set lights to 7-12 and 2-9pm.
Btw: what plants do you have in your tank?
HarleyK
Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
