tank cycling and bacterial bloom

[aznxcalikid]

i have 2 fish tanks. one pebble substrate for my larger s. american cichlids and one fine sand substrate for my small mbuna.
my pebble tank has been clear from the day i got it and it has never had a bacterial bloom but my sand tank has been clear up until a month ago. it started getting a gray cloudiness and got a little worse everyday. then i made a big mistake by doing a 80-90 percent water change and replaced it with the water from my clear tank. i thought that the water would be balanced and wouldnt have a bacterial bloom but 2 days later it was very very cloudy green. i couldnt even see my fish through it. so after waiting a long time i made the same mistake again by replacing 80% of the water with the established water. same results.
why is this happening to the sand tank and not the pebble tank? is there any way to bypass this annoyance without waiting or a diatom filter.

 

[Cohazard]

Using water from established tanks doesn't have any beneficial affects.

Established substrates are what hold the aerobic nitrifying bacteria that keep our setups balanced.

Have you tested the water in the sand setup to see if the bloom is related to water params?

What kind of lighting do you have? It sounds like your lighting is too strong, which is causing what is commonly called 'pea soup'. It's an algae bloom rather than bacterial.

HTH

 

[bigspizz]

Is the tank by a window? How did you clean your sand exactly?

 

[pdbrady]

It's an algae bloom rather than bacterial.

Is the tank by a window?

+1

 

[aznxcalikid]

i have a bad habit of leaving the lights on. i work on stuff overnight so my tank is on for a very very long time plus sunlight during the day time. its pretty close to my window too but ive been reducing light for a while now. its still very green.
i just took the established filter bag from the tank that i got the established water from and switched it with my cloudy tank.
should i undo that step.
plus there used to be brown algea constantly growing on the sides of the tank even when i wipe it off but now i got a magnet and there hasnt been algea growing anymore.

 

[Cohazard]

The brown algae was part of the nitrogen cycle. if you're not familiar about what that is, it's very important fish keeping 101, so it would be a good idea to google it.

Moving established filter media was a great idea, don't undo that, but the established water doesn't make a difference except add nitrates, so use fresh instead.

The window proximity and the extra light hours, combined with high nitrates (from transferring old tank water) caused the algae bloom.

Cutting down the hours the light is on (by using a timer), using fresh water from the tap for water changes, and moving the tank so it gets less direct/indirect sunlight should fix the problem.

HTH

 

[aznxcalikid]

so should i change the water now with new water? ive already made a 25% change yesterday.
and im familiar with cycling but when something happens i cant tell what it is.

 

[Cohazard]

so should i change the water now with new water? ive already made a 25% change yesterday.
and im familiar with cycling but when something happens i cant tell what it is.

yeah it can't hurt. I do 50% minimum on all my tanks (including heavy planted).

Keeps nitrates really low and the fish seem to grow faster.

 

[aznxcalikid]

should i do a 100% change to start fresh with the established filter? I have amquel+ to remove nitrites nitrates and ammonia chlorine and chloramine.

and here are pics just to give you an idea. the clear tank is what it was like after i made my first 100% change w.o the established filter.

 

[Cohazard]

Do you know what your nitrates are like? I wouldn't want the levels to drop so fast, so I would do 50% today, 50% tomorrow.

What kind of lighting do you have? If you shades are always closed like that, then that's not an issue, but the long light hours are.