I bought my new tank, its 90L i think, i will measure it precicly sometime. i have added some plants, i have 14 Vallis because the woman in the shop gave me 14 for the price of 10, i got all the substrate etc in and the water is cycling, i will be getting fish at some point next week, i maybe getting a few catfish this weekend.

I have 1 problem, i did all the water and stuff, it has all the plants in and bogwood, but the next morning, the water was really green, there are no fish in it yet, i thought it could be the bogwood relesing tanin, but i didn't think it should be this green, also the plants aren't looking too happy, does any1 know what could be up and what i should do?

Any Help Would be Great :D

Shouldn't have turned green in such a short time unless it was getting direct sunlight for prolonged periods.

Have you added anything.. (chemicals.. conditioners etc) to the water ?

Do you have a filter running ?

The Filter is working fine, all the gravel was heavily washed before putting it in, there are no chemicals in the water and there never will be. its not getting direct siunlight for more than a few hours a day, because it is round the corner from the window. i really am stumped. :-? :-?

It's surprising how even "reflected" sunlight can give you an algae prob.

Ommited to ask what lighting you are using, and how long you have your lights on...?

If it's still fishless, then it can't really be from an overload of nutrients.

Only solution I can think of is shading the tank for a day or so to see if things improve, or reducing the amount of time the lights are on.

Possibly your first fish might be a small pleco or BN.. or a SAE

Tanks sometimes go green like yours. If left alone and normal water changes are performed, the algae normally burns itself out pretty quickly.

It's actually a good way to remove all the muck in the water. When the algae starts to die off, you'll need to do a couple of decent water changes a few days apart or it will come back.

Ok well it is relitavely close to the window but round the corner, the lights are on for bout 14Hrs and i''l cut that down now to about 10 i think.

i will be getting catfish soon so hopefuly they'll help me et rid of some algae.

I wouldn't go below 12 hours a day. Plants need that much time to grow properly. It's often only a small amount of excess time that makes the difference. You should always change things slowly anyway so the tank doesn't get shocked...

ok well I've got my computer back up now, the tank had priority over space for a while

the lights are now running for 12 hrs and i've been doing regular water changes, the water is beggining to look better now. the tank has also been moved so it is further away from the window.