Foggy water

[alia258]

My fish tank recently went through a crisis of extreme foggy water and the filter broke at the same time. I washed out the tank and completely restarted it, since the filter was broken anyway. My tank has now completed a full cycle (it's been six weeks) and it was crystal clear two days ago. Yesterday I noticed that the water looked really green, so I took out the carbon cartridge (it was covered in brown muck and some roots, from the excess left in the gravel) out and rinsed it under the tap. I was told that doing so can add a week onto the life a filter cartridge and it's worked fine for me in the past. Today the tank was still greenish so I tossed the filter and put a new one in this morning. It's been about 10 hours, but there's no sign of it clearing up. Should I be worried about this? Or is it something a simple water change can fix? Here are some pics:
Right side:


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Front view:


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Left side:


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The background on my tank is black with some hand drawn stuff in silver. My wall is also blue (you can see it in the left side pic) any ideas on how to fix this? Please help!

 

[Snype2live]

glad to see you got your tank straight from last time im going thro the same thing with my ten gallon the water always a green tint and i think it has something to do with me having 2 40 watt compact flourescent bulbs (you know the curly ones that replace reg incondesent bulb) in a reg incondesent hood ...so i cant help just thought i would post saying i having same issue and glad to see you stuff back straight

 

[Alyxx]

Always rinse the filter in old tank water, not under the tap! The chlorine and such that can kill your fish if you used straight tap water will also wipe out your beneficial bacteria. Chlorine is put into our water in the first place to kill bacteria. As far as the looks of your water, it appears a bit greenish, so you may be dealing with algae in the water column. Put some tank water in a clear glass and look at it under light, if it is green, it is most likely an algae bloom, and you should reduce your lighting by a couple hours a day to prevent this. For now, large water changes should help. Keep an eye on your parameters, replacing the filter media without seeding the new media first could put you into another cycle.

 

[alia258]

Seeding?

 

[alia258]

Oh and is there anything I can put in the water to deal with the algae? I've never had algae in the water column, will it eventually stick to the glass?

 

[Alyxx]

Seeding the filter media means running it next to the old media for a few weeks to transfer some of the beneficial bacteria colony onto it to prevent another cycle. And no, algae in the water column won't stick to the glass. It is a different kind of algae that doesn't adhere to surfaces. Change the water and reduce your lighting. If you can move your plants to another tank, blackout the whole tank for a couple days with a blanket and it will die off. Google green water, there are a few ways to deal with it.

 

[alia258]

I can't move my plants. Isn't that little
Sponge thing in the filter supposed to grow BB to avoid another cycle? I thought it was. Will swords do okay with the blanket on top? I'm sure the anacharis would be okay. Would the fish be bothered at all? And what about guppy fry?

 

[Alyxx]

The fish will be fine in the dark for a couple days. You may need to give your plants a little care after a few days without light, though. They should be ok. The sponge thing does grow bacteria, but you are still removing a good bit of the colony when you change out the pad, so it is always safer to go ahead and seed a new filter pad to avoid a mini cycle. The bacteria will have to build their numbers back up every time you remove the pad if you don't grow some extra on the new one beforehand. And remember, rinse old pads in old tank water every few weeks and don't replace them until they are falling apart. Don't forget to rinse the sponge out every now and again too. Otherwise the detritus that builds up will just continue to decay in there and the filter can become a nitrate factory.

 

[Alyxx]

Oh and is there anything I can put in the water to deal with the algae? I've never had algae in the water column, will it eventually stick to the glass?

Look up hydrogen peroxide treatment, I have never done it myself but I have read on here that it can be added to the water to kill algae and it is safe for the fish and plants as long as you don't pour it on top of them directly. It dissociates into water and oxygen in water pretty quickly.

 

[Fishy Aston]

Wait for a little while.

Filter will still be kicking in.

Thanks
Aston

 

[cerulean_blue]

Oh and is there anything I can put in the water to deal with the algae? I've never had algae in the water column, will it eventually stick to the glass?

I think everyone already nailed this one. But yes it seems like an algae bloom and I had this issue a couple months ago. The short term solution, I used the Algae Control stuff they sell at petsmart (forgot the name). It worked perfectly. It cleared it up in a day, and I scrubbed the glass before I dosed and again a week later. Than I did a big water change and haven't had a problem since.

I have also reduced the amount of time my lights are on and started feeding my fish less.

 

[alia258]

So just more water changes and less lighting? And a blanket over it during the day? Is that the gist of it?