Eclipse Corner 5 - Cloudy!

[realdeal]

I've had my Eclipse Corner 5 tank up for about 2 months now. I have one Goldfish and on algea-eater type fish. The tank has an 11 Watt Compact Fluorescent lamp.

Lately the water has become cloudy with almost a greenish tint to it. I have done water changes and changed the filter material.

When I do the partial water change, the water looks great for about a day and then it goes cloudy again.

Any ideas?


Thank you.

 

[Zagz]

First I have to ask how big is your goldfish and your algae eater? Goldfish are notoriously messy fish and with a tank of that size you may have to do water changes every couple of days. My step mom had 2 fancy goldfish in a 15 gal and the water was never clear. She got a 44 gal for them and strong filtration and the water is now clear. What kind of filter do you use on the tank?

 

[realdeal]

First I have to ask how big is your goldfish and your algae eater? Goldfish are notoriously messy fish and with a tank of that size you may have to do water changes every couple of days. My step mom had 2 fancy goldfish in a 15 gal and the water was never clear. She got a 44 gal for them and strong filtration and the water is now clear. What kind of filter do you use on the tank?

The algea eater is tiny. The Goldfish is medium size... I think? I have photos posted below. I put the bananas in the photo to *hopefully* help you judge the size. The filter on the tank is the one that's built into the hood.


What do you think?

 

[Zagz]

I can't see or access the pics. I have several larger goldfish and I run 20 times turnover filtration on the tank. I would guess that the filter isn't strong enough to keep the water clear for more than a day or two. Do you have any test kits and test your water parameters? It is a small enough tank that doing water changes every couple of days should be relatively easy. Add dechlorinator to the water when doing water changes every time.

 

[realdeal]

Try again... See pics above.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

LOL at the bananas... i seriously spit out my drink, that was cute... Looks like a free floating algae if it has a green tint. Does the tank ever get sunlight? How often do you do water changes? What are your test readings (if you have a test)

 

[realdeal]

Unfortunately, I don't have a test kit. Can someone recommend one?

The tank is never in the sun but the tank light is on for numerous hours a day.

 

[Zagz]

Ok now the pics are showing! Pretty goldfish btw. I would still up the water changes to 50% every 2-3 days and see how that works. You don't have to change or clean the filter that often btw. For now the goldie will be ok in that tank, but keep in mind they do get much larger and should have 10 gals per goldfish. Another option that might help is to get an Aqua Clear filter. There is the A/C 20 that would work on your tank, although you may have to modify the hood a bit. I have a 5 gal I use for QT and I run the A/C filter on it. It is rated for up to 20 gals I believe.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Aquarium Pharm is an excellent choice for test kit. Call your lfs and see if they test for Phosphates. If they do, have them run a test for you. Otherwise purchase a kit for it. Based on the pics, it sounds like suspended algae. Do several water changes over the next few days, performing deep gravel vacs in the substrate. Feed lightly and keep light minimal.

 

[realdeal]

Is it possible that this is happening because the tank light is on too much? Should I cut back on how long the tank light is on for?

 

[rich311k]

How do long do you have it on? With just fish 5-8 hrs is plenty.

 

[realdeal]

I would have to say approximately 12 hours per day.

 

[noncentric]

I would have to say approximately 12 hours per day.

If those plants are just plastic/fake, then the plants won't need the light on for 12 hours/day. If the light is on that much because you want to view the fish for that time, then you may want to consider getting moonlights (white ones would probably be good). Moonlights are LED lights, so they won't contribute to algae growth the way those 11watt CFs will.

There are a lot of moonlights on sale on EBay, or you can check out one of these.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Product/Prod_Display.cfm?pcatid=12760&N=2004+113544

For your size tank, you'd only need one or two lights (one or two bulbs). There are some moonlights with more bulbs, but that's because they need to cover a longer area. You could get more bulbs though, if one or two isn't bright enough for you to see your fish...and you still wouldn't be contributing to algae growth.

Good luck!

 

[realdeal]

So does the light contribute to Algae growth? Is there a lamp I can replace the current one with that won't contribute to this growth?

Thanks

 

[Zagz]

Light definately contributes to algae growth. As for the lighting I will leave that to more experienced light members.

 

[jcarlilesiu]

Cut down on light and see if it effects the cloudiness. Can't hurt anything not having any live plants in the tank. Cut the light down to about 4 hours per day for 2 weeks and look and see if its helping.

 

[An t-iasg]

Eclipses are nice tanks but with your fish - two "messy" fish in a small tank - the filter probably can't keep up. IME, green water algae is caused by under-filtration. You could try to add an AquaClear HOB filter as mentioned. I have an Eclipse 5 hex and I've tried to modify the filter with little to no success, so I don't have that tank up anymore. Or you could try leaving the Eclipse hood and filter in place and adding an internal filter to supplement, like a Fluval Plus internal filter.

Cutting down on the light is a good idea. It's a general "rule of thumb" to add CO2 injection if your lighting is around 2 watts per gallon to counteract the algae. You are at 2.2 watts per gallon, which is borderline. If you don't want to add CO2, you could decrease the light or add moonlights as mentioned. You could also look for a screw-in PC that is 9 watts, as long as it fits in your hood. I had a 9 watt PC screw-in in my Eclipse tank and didn't use CO2.