Just had a phone call from a young friend of mine.

Wanted to know why his tank has gonegreen, and how to fix up an in water algae bloom

He told me his tank was 1.500 x 600 x 700, or about 650 lts

He has two pumps valued at $300 each and squirting out 1300/hr.

He SAYS he has filled it up slowly with fish over the last 6 weeks

YES

Six weeks.

This is what he has in it.

There could be more but he was relying on his memory and what little he could see in his tank thru the green murk

2 Pimildious clarius

2 Paradise fish

2 Gol/blackeyed ancistrus

2 B/n

10 Variuos angels

6 Odessa barbs

6 Rosy Barbs

100 Neons

20 Cardinals

20 Blk neons

50 Glolites

20 Penguin

12 Guppy

2 Blk Molly

1 Silver Shark

8 Various corydora

2 Rainbow Sharks

1 Redtail Blk Shark

1 Fighter

He did a water test as we talked.

Amm 0

Nitite 0

Nitrate 5

I'm not sure, but I think his skating is VERY thin ice

Wadda-ya think

Alan 104

ps. he has only lost three fish, one was sick looking when he got it tho.

Al

thats alot of fish

i think im just to used to marine tanks mow to give a good opinion,

a tank that i setup for someone suffers from green water. i will be getting a uv for the tank as the fish are really healthy its just the greeness thats frustrating

650 litre - but around 200 fish? Come on- If that aint overstocking then what is?

Forgive my maths if its wrong but 267 fish in a 5 foot tank seems a little too much by the time you add gravel, filter components, plants, rocks and decorations its going to leave him about 1 fish every 2 litres which is a milk carton lol. Ammonia levels are good for that amount of fish however. How often is he doing water changes?

Also if the tank is kept out of the sunlight with covers on that should reduce the algae as it did mine. It eliminates the need for expensive risky chemicals.

Alan did he say were his tank was positioned? like close to a window etc

what ever he does he should NOT use an alge kill tablet , as I know you are awear, the dead alge will pollut the water creating a bigger problem.

what is he feeding his fish and how often?

the alge may be masking water prob's as a green tank is often a clean tank just green( alge using nutriants that may other wise be a problem)

there deffinatly looking for trouble adding that many fish in only 6 weeks

for thou's how said the tank is over stocked etc - I don't agree compleatly, you can keep that many fish in that volume of water and they can be health BUTthe tank will never be in harmony , it will require lots of maintanance all the time - not much fun

During our talk, he has agreed to curtain the daylight out, maybe cut down on tank lighting too.

I also told him not to use algae rid.

No idea what he is feeding them.

But he's our newest member so be kind to him when he comes in.

He admits that the tank is very lightly planted.

He is going to improve on it in the very near future.

He's from Tauranga.

Alan 104

Maybe add another 50 SAE's :lol:

I would think the tank must look like rush hour in Auckland, nose to tail fishies :lol: , surprising the nitrate is that low with so many fish producing waste, how heavily planted is it? Maybe more plants will use some of the nutrients the algae are feeding on, pity he's not in Auck, could get the Ambulia going for free.

A UV light would sort the waterborne algae but it would be better to sort out what is causing it.

If the nitrate is 5 then there's a lot of fertilizer in the tank that the plants aren't using. Is the tank densely planted? I'm guessing not, as enough plants would use the nitrates. I'd recommend using some Nitra-zorb and to add more plants. Otherwise, lots of water changes and be sure and get the lower level of water near the gravel, not just suck stuff from the top.

Caserole - your comment that the tank may not be overstocked. I agree in some respects, the tank "may" not be overstocked. If both cannister filters are BIG ones and loaded with top of the line bio media (ie Siporax), and have big prefilters, and the tank is having 10% gravel cleaning water change daily (or every second day) then things may be okay. But, much more likely in my humble opinion, this tank has too many fish per litres.

The point some have made of NOT using algae eliminating chemicals -pills - liquids is excellent. thanks for that - something else to tell those 'new to the hobby' people who sometimes ask me those funny questions about 'great revolutionary products' the LFS has for sale. I hadnt really thought through exactly what this algae stuff does - just ignored it on the grounds of it being a rectifier rather than a preventer etc.

IMO, wouldn't panic (or do any think crazy just yet) just keep doing the water changes and try adding some more plants.

6 weeks is still pretty new and from what I have seen bigger tanks can take longer to settle down and find that ballance, maybe he should cut right back on the feeding to, maybe only feed every second day for a while, lower the waste going into the tank and give the filters a chance to catch up sooner.

YES as the tank has only just been set up it is likely the filters have not cycled properly for the number of fish.

:oops: for got to ask Alan ( thanks suphew ), you said there are two pumps pumping twice the tanks volume but not what the filteration is ?

or what % of water change/s are being done per week ?

I suspect it's just a new tank - mixed with brite light and a high bio load, the tank just needs to be given time, twecked a little and sunlight(?) checked/stopped .

the problem with green tanks other then you can't see the fish is if the alge dies off all at once, then you do have a BIG PROBLEM.