Ever since I sold my O's and put 3 SMALL cichlids in my 55 gallon I can't go more than 3 days with out it turning green with algae. I have done a 90% water change each time and bought new catridges for my filter. What else can I do in order to keep the algae under control?
Turning Green
- Thread starter Haro71888
- Start date
are you possibly feeding your new, smaller fish the same ammount you were feeding your large oscars out of habit?? or did you maybe change foods to one that may cloud the water??
make sure your not overfeeding, as this is the only thing i can think of if you do everything else the same now as you did before without issue. it may be an easy thing to do since you were used to feeding bigger guys for awhile.
make sure your not overfeeding, as this is the only thing i can think of if you do everything else the same now as you did before without issue. it may be an easy thing to do since you were used to feeding bigger guys for awhile.
Check your nitrate and phosphate levels in your tank water and tapwater. Has your water company done anything to your tapwater?
The green water is being caused by an algae bloom, which you already know. Algae blooms are usually caused by a combination of the following;
Warm water (ever wonder why the local pond is green in the summertime?)
High Nitrates (or sometimes disooved phosphates)
Too much light
A quick and easy fix is to do the following in order:
50% water change and heavy gravel cleaning with cooler water (not COLD water - you'll shock your fish) Make sure you remove all of the organic junk from the gravel!
Use water conditioner to help remove unwanted minerals
Add carbon...it will help to eliminate any unwanted chemical compounds
Add beneficial bacteria
Turn off the lights and keep the tank devoid of any light for 3-5 days.
Increase water circulation
Do not clean out your biological filter media; you'll only add to your problems. Add more mechanical media and clean it everyday, as this is the only method to actually remove the algae from the tank. You won't effectively remove all of the algae; the idea is to starve the algae of one or more things it needs - warm water, light, and food. After the algae dies, you will need to continue cleaning out your mechanical media daily to continue to remove the detritus left from the dead particulate algae.
How does this fix the root of the problem? Well... Algae blooms happen as a natural way of buffering excess nutrients in the water, usually nitrates. By making sure you siphon all of the organic matter out of the gravel, you should be removing the source of the nitrate problem. The only way this wouldn't be true is if you tap water had high nitrates in it (nasty). If that's the case, you'll need to treat your tap water seperately.
This is exactly the steps I took to eliminate the same issue in my 150 a few years ago. My bloom occurred because my heaters malfunctioned and raised the water temp, and I was overstocked to begin with. Good luck!
P.S. Test your water....and again tomorrow...and again....
Warm water (ever wonder why the local pond is green in the summertime?)
High Nitrates (or sometimes disooved phosphates)
Too much light
A quick and easy fix is to do the following in order:
50% water change and heavy gravel cleaning with cooler water (not COLD water - you'll shock your fish) Make sure you remove all of the organic junk from the gravel!
Use water conditioner to help remove unwanted minerals
Add carbon...it will help to eliminate any unwanted chemical compounds
Add beneficial bacteria
Turn off the lights and keep the tank devoid of any light for 3-5 days.
Increase water circulation
Do not clean out your biological filter media; you'll only add to your problems. Add more mechanical media and clean it everyday, as this is the only method to actually remove the algae from the tank. You won't effectively remove all of the algae; the idea is to starve the algae of one or more things it needs - warm water, light, and food. After the algae dies, you will need to continue cleaning out your mechanical media daily to continue to remove the detritus left from the dead particulate algae.
How does this fix the root of the problem? Well... Algae blooms happen as a natural way of buffering excess nutrients in the water, usually nitrates. By making sure you siphon all of the organic matter out of the gravel, you should be removing the source of the nitrate problem. The only way this wouldn't be true is if you tap water had high nitrates in it (nasty). If that's the case, you'll need to treat your tap water seperately.
This is exactly the steps I took to eliminate the same issue in my 150 a few years ago. My bloom occurred because my heaters malfunctioned and raised the water temp, and I was overstocked to begin with. Good luck!
P.S. Test your water....and again tomorrow...and again....