Cloudy/greenish water 30g fresh

[Court9588]

Ok so my 30gallon freshwater tank must have just recently had an algae spike of some sort but I'm not appreciating it. My water is very cloudy and murky with a green tent. I did about a 30% water change about 5 days ago and the water cleared up some for about oh I'd say a few hours and then went right back to before. I have a bio wheel 150 (30 gallon) filter on my tank that I've been using for almost 2 years ( since I started the tank) I wasn't sure if maybe investing in a new filter would help this situation or just make things worse by changing my bio wheel up. I would like however when the time is right to switch to a canister filter, just not sure if now it would be a good idea. Also I went to my local petstore yesterday and had my water checked out to make sure everything was normal, which it was and also I purchased 2 live plants (have never worked with live plants before) but the associate at the petstore said sometimes live plants will help with algae problems. Anywho, I think that's about all the details, I would really just love to take care of this algae issue and get my tank back to looking healthy and hopefully start planting and getting some good mossy veg growing in there and hopefully some good aglae... Sure would love to get a plecostomus for my tank, I just think they are so cute. Any help sure would be appreciated! Thanks bunches, Court

 

[Court9588]

Had to re-edit to add a pic. Not the best pic but hopefully it'll show you a little better what I'm trying to explain. Thanks again

 

[Bettababe1011]

What are your parameters? If you have high nitrates, the algae will love that. How much light does your tank get?

 

[Court9588]

Not really too sure on all the exacts of the parameters, but the petco guy said everything was normal and looked good when he tested my water sample. If more detail would help I could have it retested and post results. And my tank is in a basement with only one small window, so it doesn't see much if really any direct sunlight. I leave my tank light on about 6-8 hours a day.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Not really too sure on all the exacts of the parameters, but the petco guy said everything was normal and looked good when he tested my water sample. If more detail would help I could have it retested and post results. And my tank is in a basement with only one small window, so it doesn't see much if really any direct sunlight. I leave my tank light on about 6-8 hours a day.

You need to get your own test kit.

I recommend the API master test kit. Get a liquid test kit, however, because the strips are notorious for being inaccurate.

 

[Court9588]

You need to get your own test kit.

I recommend the API master test kit. Get a liquid test kit, however, because the strips are notorious for being inaccurate.

Ok cool thanks. I'll post my results maybe later today, if not today, definitely tomorrow.

 

[Bettababe1011]

Yup. Cool. Glad I am starting to be helpful on thus one.

 

[mfdrookie516]

How long are you keeping your lights on every day? How much and often do you feed?

 

[Bettababe1011]

How long are you keeping your lights on every day? How much and often do you feed?

His lights are on six to eight hours he said.

Yeah, how much do you feed?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Oops! That's what happens when you glance over things.

FWIW, at this point, I think a blackout is going to be the best option... but finding the reason is important or it'll just happen again. Whats your weekly water change like? About how much? Do you thoroughly vacuum the gravel?

 

[Court9588]

Ok so I got my test kit today and I really think petco needs to choose a new in house testing kit. My results were completely different,
pH- 6.0
Ammonia- somewhere between 0.50 and 1.0ppm
Nitrite- 0ppm
Nitrate- was closer in color to 80ppm but not near as dark as 160, so somewhere around 100ppm

My weekly water changes are usually about 20% and I vacuum the gravel every water change and rinse my filter pad off. I replace the filter about every 3 weeks. Every once and a while I'll do a 30 - 40% water change if the gravel is looking dirty and it takes more time to vacuum.
As for feeding, they get fed once a day in the morning about 5 mins after I turn the light on. I'm not sure if there is an exact mesurement for feeding fish but I give them about 3 pinches.
Thanks for all the help :]

 

[Court9588]

Oops! That's what happens when you glance over things.

FWIW, at this point, I think a blackout is going to be the best option... but finding the reason is important or it'll just happen again. Whats your weekly water change like? About how much? Do you thoroughly vacuum the gravel?

Ok so here's the most resent pic from this morning, I feel like the cloudiness has gotten a smigit better. All I've done so far is leave the light off for about 2 days now and just tested the water yesterday. So maybe I'm just being hopeful but today I had planned to do another bigger water change to help get these parameters down. And then just continue the blackout process. Maybe I should go ahead and get a new canister filter, like I had wanted to and run it along with my 30g bio wheel filter until the new one gets set up... What do you guys think?