Melanie Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 A friend has a rather large tank and has recently had a change in his water quality. He has lots of algae on the sides, lots on rocks and the fake plants in his tank--he doesn't have live plants in his tank. And the water is also very cloudy. So far, he added Cycle to his water in case the cloudiness is because of a mini cycle. He changes 10-15% of his water every 2nd week. He also added an algae killer. He also bought a shade to keep sunlight out of the fish room to kill the algae. This was all in the past 48 hours or so and now his water has gotten worse and he now wants to change like 90 percent of it, and/or clean all the gear from the tank and do a 15% water change daily until it clears. He has artesian water with no chemicals. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljtan55 Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 Hey Melanie, the algae killer stuff never worked on my tank, and it was green and cloudy for aaagggeesss (months) but I got lots of advice form ppl on this site and its FINALLY (woohoo!) gone clear. Anyways if ya reduce light to the tank (about 10 hours a day), so if ya put the light on a timer it'll help. Fish that eat algae are great, so a bristlenose, otos or blackline flying foxes, or for a cold-ish water tank a borneo sucker/hillstream loach are good to remove the algae thats there. Also it might be a sign of too much phosphates in the tank, and if you put plants in the tank it'll suck up the excess nutrients that will feed the algae. Alternatively theres stuff like Chem-zorb that will absorb that stuff. I put in Phos-zorb in my tank and now theres so little algae I'm worrying the algae eaters dont have enough to eat... Water changes help, but if you don't remove the cause its just going to keep on happening, over and over again I tried the algae killers (Algae-rid) to be specific, but I didn't see ANY change at all, and it just got cloudier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiverJohn Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 Well here is what i would do... Do a 25-50% water change straight away. depending on Number of fish etc... 10-15 % every two weeks may no be enough, most here would recomend that 10-15% is a minimum weekly change. Any ornements that you can easily get out, do so and clean them in hot water. rinse well and return to the tank. Check your filter, if there is an algae bloom, it may have become clogged and flow reduced. rinse it carefully ( Ie dont clean all the cr@p out) and re-install Comlpetely close the blinds to keep sunlight off the tank, if nessasy cover the tank during the day. You dont mention lights... so will assume your friend has some. turn them right back. to say 6 hours per day, if your friend has more than one set , consider turning 1/2 of them off completely. Slightly longer term you may need to check the age of the light tubes, if more than 9 months consider replacing them AFTER thing are under control! Feed the fish while the lights are on. Check how much your friend is feeding. Be very pedantic and ensure everything is being eaten ( in about 3-5 minutes) Finally continue to do a daily water change of 10-15% till it comes right. And MORE details about your friends tank would help. Exact size, fish (qty and size), lights. Oh and long term.. try real plants...the fish will love you for it ( but thats just me :lol: :lol: ) HOpe that helps. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melanie Posted August 26, 2006 Author Report Share Posted August 26, 2006 His tank is 366 litres and he has discus, some corys (2 I think), one of those big sucker fish, and probably a few other things I've forgotten about. I don't remember what tank lights he has, the problem seems to have been a big old window in his house that didnt have a shade. It now has one. I'll pass this all along to him. I was worried, however, that such a huge water change would set the tank on a cycle and kill his fish. Oh and I'm a real plant person. My tanks are like fish jungles. He never has been one for plants, not sure why. I suggest it to him every now and then, but he never seems keen on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pixiejanet Posted September 4, 2006 Report Share Posted September 4, 2006 a friend of mine had real problems with green water etc, not liking chemicals he`s gone the `green` route...by putting willow twigs in the tank, long ones that go into the substrate, as they begin to root they absorb the algae...clear tank...took a while but all`s well now!! Just a thought....xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim r Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 I had a similar problem with green water tried everything, lights, chems and water change after water change,in desperation I bought another filter and hey presto! no more probs. And boy do my fish swim fast. cheers jim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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