Jump to content

Green water


ksabby

Recommended Posts

Hi,

I have a 35 gal tank with a 170 gph biowheel filter and when I do a water change ( 15% +/- ) the water turns very cloudy and green whithin a few days but then clears up after a week or so later. I have a total of 11 fish in the tank and some live plants. I do not rinse the bio wheel when I do a water change. Can some one tell me what I am doing wrong?

Kurt..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The green is an algae bloom and might be connected with your water supply. Are you on a municipal supply, well water or rainwater?

You may not be doing anything wrong.

Can you give me the dimensions of the tank? I am useless at figuring out tank size by volume. I know 35US gal is about 132.5 litres but would prefer to know the tank size.

What sort of fish are they?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

i too have struggled with this... for months..

only things that worked:

1.diatom filter (very hard to attain)

2. Daphina (works a miracle. Place in breeding set for a few days)

excess nutrients in the water helps it .. i found lighter feeding helped slightly

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Check the phosphate level in the water you are using for water changes. It should be below 0.25ppm. If you don't have a test kit, your LFS may be able to help.

Also try leaving the water in a bucket for 3-4 days before testing. Take a fresh sample and an aged sample to be tested at the same time. Sometimes phosphates are bound in dissolved organic matter and are released after several days if left to stand.

It sounds like a phosphate dose is causing a temporary algae bloom. Once the algae and plants use up the phosphates everything settles down.

The problem, of course, may not be phosphates but is likely to be either phosphates or nitrates as these are the 2 most common causes of algae outbreak (nitrate should be between 5-15ppm). If it is neither of these you will have to look for something that is present in the water you use for waterchanges but is not present in the tank (or at much lower concentration).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...