How can I clear my water?

[SeverumGuy]

I can't seem to get my water to clear up. It stays a yellow color like pond water. I'm not running carbon in my filters because I have live plants and everywhere I go tells me that plants seem to do better without it. It's a 55g tank and when I do a water change I normally change 10g. When I add the fresh water, the tank will clear up a lot for a day then go back to the same. I have two HOB Marineland filters if that helps with any ideas on what I can do. It's not harming anything, but the tank looks dull and harder to see through the sides. Does anyone know a product I can put in my filter that will clear my water up without removing my liquid fertilizer and without harming my plants?

 

[mudraker]

25% PWC weekly will always help clear your water and is good for your tank, fish and plants period.

What size filters are you running?
What type of lighting?
What are your paramenters?
What types of food are you feeding your fish?
What is the fish bioload?
What kind of fertz and how often?

All of these influence both the quality and the appearance of your water.

 

[SeverumGuy]

Changing 10g of water is roughly a 25% change. I do my water changes every Sunday. I have a Penguin 350 and a Penguin 200 HOB filter that I'm running without carbon in them. I have a two bulb T12 fixture that I'm running with two 40 watt bulbs in. One is a Powerglow and the other is an Aquaglow. The tank has been set up about 6 months and has been cycled for 5. I feed my fish Sera food and the occasional frozen blood worms. I'm not overstocked on fish. I've only had live plants for about three weeks so I've been running Sera Florena fertilizer. I'm almost out of that so I'll be switching to Tetra fertilizer. I leave my lights on for a little over 12 hours a day. I've had this problem ever since my tank finished cycling, but the only reason I think it has gotten slightly worse is because I took out the carbon from the filters. My 10g is crystal clear and the 55g and 29g that I had before this one were both crystal clear. This has never been..I just don't know why.

 

[happygirl65]

I would bump it to 50% every week and reduce the amount of hours your lights are on....it sounds like green water to me which is a free floating algae, it can eventually get looking like pea soup.

This indicated an imbalance of nutrients in a planted tank. Increase your water changes will help but you might also consider a 3 day blackout...it can work WONDERS...it's cheap and VERY easy to do.

We can help you more if we know a little more...how long has the tank been set up...what lights do you have....how long do you have the tank lit everyday...is the tank near a window...are you fertilizing...if so with what and how often?

Also, what plants do you have? It's possible some are not aquatic and are fouling the water...a pic could help us identify.

 

[ChizerBunoi]

I run carbon in my planted tanks with no ill effects. To be able to see the tank properly is nicer than having a yellow tinge. But that is sort of taboo isn't it?

Do you have a piece of driftwood that is leaking tannins?

 

[reefdiver]

ppl say they dont use carbon in there planted tank due too fertilizer. They will be sucked out by the carbon

 

[maxst2]

run carbon for awhile. Negative effects are minimal really..

 

[mfdrookie516]

sounds like tannins to me

 

[SeverumGuy]

Yeah, I have three pieces of driftwood in the tank. It's not an algae bloom, it's not green and my sister has had it before and it's nothing alike. I got it to clear up some by putting in some Seachem purigen. It's only been a day so I'm expecting it to get better than it has. How long does it normally take for the tannins to leech out of the driftwood so it won't affect my water?

 

[summit]

Purigen is a good choice, I run it on all my tanks and is plant safe and does a much better job than carbon IMO. As for how long it will take to clear up, each piece of wood is different, it could be a while still I hate to say, mine still leech tannins after a year and a half, although not nearly as much. Is it aquarium safe driftwood? I would suggest running the purigen permanently, otherwise the tannins leech will probably come back, its just partof having driftwood in your tank, but the purigen should take care of it, although it will have to be renewed each week by bleaching more than likely.

 

[theotheragentm]

Did you soak your driftwood for a couple weeks before putting it in the tank? Driftwood leeches tannins into the water. It'll go away over time as you continue water changes. Taking it out and boiling the wood a few times speeds up the leeching process.