Im sure ive asked this, or its been asked a bunch but....

[Copachick]

Awhile ago we had a huge algae bloom in my 29 gallon. The tank started getting cloudy next thing we knew the water was green. No matter how many water changes we did it never cleared up.
We were getting ready to move so we figured we drain the 29 gallon and put everyone that was in there, in our 36 gallon. Well we set the tanks back up in the new house and put everyone back in its place. This time we left the fishies that were transfered to the 29, in the 36, and we put the tetras that were in the 36, in the 29.

Now, a few days ago we noticed the water getting cloudy again. And I sware this morning the water looked like it had a green tint all over again!!
We have platys, a few tetras and Otos in the tank. The tanks are never in direct sunlight, we feed once a day, and do 25-35% water changes every week along with vaccuming the bottom.

What is one to do about this problem??

 

[Copachick]

The cloudy tank is the 36 gallon, with the same fish as the 29 gallon had.

 

[Mikalicious209]

Food! Too much, from what it sounds like. I'm curious as to how much/what you feed them.

 

[Copachick]

A few pinches if flakes, and brine shrimp once a week . We dont overfeed. They eat everything

 

[JoeBob]

How about your lights? I was able to get my algae problems under control by reducing the hours the tank received each day I thought since I had live plants I needed 12 hrs a day. I cut back to 8 and it really helped. Lots of plants helps too.

 

[Copachick]

yeah maybe. we use to only keep them on about 5 or 6 hours until we got our real plant. but we've had it for awhile and still have no idea why its green in there now. those fish seem to dirty the tank no matter which one they're in. the other tank stays crystal clear though.

 

[Mikalicious209]

Ive been having some of thr same probs. My tank would get hazy, then full out cloudy, to the point if the fish weren't right up against the glass you couldn't see them, and then bam, next day, crystal clear. im not an expert, but I'm pretty sure it's because of the algee wafers I feed my loaches and cories. It seems like when I put one in, in a few days, the hazy comes.

 

[Mikalicious209]

One suggestion I have is to leave thr lights off for a few days. I'm not talking full out blackout, but don't turn the tank lights on. See if that helps. If not, you can rule out your lights being a factor also, don't kno if it's posted, but what substrate do you have?

 

[Copachick]

 

[Copachick]

blury... only full pic of it I have

 

[Copachick]

And the tank that USE to have the algae bloom didnt even have the live plant in it... so we only kept those lights on for a few hours in the evening as well. It just seems like whatever tank the Platys go into, they turn green. Grrrr. .. And no matter how many water changes we do it doesnt go away. I left theyre lights off yesterday and im doing it today. Just wish I knew why it was doing that

 

[Mikalicious209]

And it never catches sunlight? Cause to me, it sounds like an algee bloom. Algee is rampant when there are too many nutrients, more than the real plants need. You could try thr blackout method, but that might only be a temp fix. Are you opposed to getting some more live plants? That could really help if there us some more competitionfor those excess nutrients.

 

[Copachick]

I think we were thinking about getting more live plants. We only got one for the time being to see how it does. Like a trial run. And nope it doesnt get direct sunlight. Just the ambient light that the living room had. Blinds are closed and its not that bright in there. Yeah its definitely an algae bloom.
Im just afraid that its going to get out of control like our last one did. Luckily we were able to swap fish and drain that tank and start over when we set them up in the new house. Now we dont have anywhere the fish can go if we needed to start over.
Are water changes every day for awhile too much? Like 5 gallons a day. Its a 36 gallon tank..

 

[Vircomore]

Do you have a good Nitrate test? With the test tubes and drops, not test strips.

I suggest doing a test of Nitrates both in the tank, and from your tap water, because the number one cause of Algae is excess nitrates in a system.

 

[Copachick]

Yeah we have the API test kit. We just did a test I want to say a week ago, nitrates were like 40 or 60ppm, and we did a water change after that.

 

[Mikalicious209]

You may end up Having to do a black out. Eco and ryan have a thread about this. It sound like something along the same lines, that might be a good thing for you too look at.

 

[Copachick]

Yeah I guess if a few more water changes and leaving the light off for a few days wont work, Ill look into that. Its a shame too.. it was always such a pretty crystal clear tank