i have a 120 lightly stocked community tank. 1 large piece of holey rock 3 amazon plants and 2 drift wood pieces. filter is a 3 drawer diy with a sponge filter and a spary bar on the return. plenty of aeration from the power head and other air stones. all levels are zero and ph sits about 7.8 to 8ph(texas water) . i have had this tank running about 4 months now and i still have a small yellowish tint. i just cant get rid of it. i replace about 15gallons every week. like i said its lightly stocked. anyway i just cant get the water to get clear. i have a 55 gallon tank running with just a aquaclear 70 and that tank is so crystal clear. not sure what im missing here. all fish are healthy and happy .
yellowish tint
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I place my bet on tannins from the driftwood. It will make a sort of light yellowish to light tea brown tint to the water. How did you treat the wood before putting it into your tank?
the wood actually came with my older 55 tank and it didnt bother that tank so i kinda ruled that out. they are small pieces about 14 inches long and about 2inch thick
well in that case im kinda stumped lol.
Im not sure what in the rest of that setup could be doin that..
Im not sure what in the rest of that setup could be doin that..
Changing only 15 gallons a week on a 120 gallon tank won't remove the tannins from the wood. I have had wood that leached for years. If your 55 gallon had carbon that may have removed the tannins and you not notice them as much. Do you use carbon in either tank? I would bet money on it being tannin acid leached from your wood.
It could still be that, but it doesnt usually take long for the wood in my tanks to stop discoloring the water from the tannins and from what he said i think his pieces have been in water for a while.
But then again i boil my driftwood first which helps alot, so i could be wrong.
But then again i boil my driftwood first which helps alot, so i could be wrong.
no i dont use carbon . just sponges ceramics and bio balls. i will do bigger water changes the next few weeks and see if that makes a difference. thanks guys for the info
not sure if anyone is still here but an update on this. it was a algae bloom . how it started no clue. but i got a seachem purigen packet and made a home made carbon filter with a small pump and a gatorade bottle and shut the lights off. tank cleared and back to clear water in about 8hours.
An algae bloom would not die off and clear up in 8 hours and is not yellow. Carbon could remove tannins in that period possibly. I'm interested to see how you determined it was an algae bloom?