Bacterial bloom help

[Clentipo]

So I have a 20 gallon planted tank. It was seriously overgrown with some dead plants and needed to be maintenenced in a bad way so yesterday I pulled about 90 percent of my plants out and removed some decor that I no longer wanted in the tank then replanted everything added root tabs under each rooted plant. I did a 50% water change and cleaned the glass but left the filter alone. This morning i woke up to a pretty bad bacteria bloom, so I did another 20% water change and added an air pump with a 1w inch air stone for more aeration. This is my first bacteria bloom and want advice on how to speed up the process of it going away without adding chemicals. I know it will go away on its own.

Tank specs
20H
Marineland 900 powerhead
20g aqueon filter with activated charcoal cartridge
100w adjustable heater set to 78 degrees F
69 watts of CFL 6500k full spectrum lighting
Eco complete substrate
Low amount of decor
Lots of plants mostly stem but some rooted

Readings before maintenance
PH 7
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20

Readings today
PH 7
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrites 0.5
Nitrates about 30

Should I leave lights off until it clears up? Adjust heat? Anything to speed the process up without adding chemicals.

I also put in a dose of Prime yesterday and will add another dose today since ammonia and nitrites are present unless I shouldn't.

I also use Flourish Excel and Flourish comprehensive. Should I stop dosing until it clears?

 

[osolynden]

I had a similar problem for a while when I mucked things around. I added a small relatively inexpensive UV sterilizer and it did the trick for me.

Let's see what other advice comes in?

 

[Sebby132]

Chang the filter media to finer stuff, less light will help and UV steriliser is great! The three should clear it up pretty quick.


Sebastian Blake

 

[Clentipo]

Thanks I woke up this morning and did a 25% water change. It's clearing up some but not much. I dosed with prime again and have stopped my liquid fert dosing. The bacteria is starting to collect in my filter pretty bad. That was actually going to be my next question. It's collecting enough for it to affect water flow a bit. Whitish brownish in color. I have a spare activated carbon cartridge but won't be able to get anything else until my LFS opens. I'll be testing my parameters again soon for now my fish seem to be alright. I've slowed feeding down and I'm only running 23 watts of lighting for 6 hours. Normally it's 69 watts for 10 hours.

 

[osolynden]

I am using an Aquaclear 20 filter (different brand) and can use any filter media. I am unsure if your filter is similar? I do know if the flow is slowing the filter is clogging and being less efficient. For me that would mean cleaning time and rinsing the media out in aquarium water from a partial change.

I have a sponge, ceramic bio rings in a bag and Purigen in a bag.

Good luck.

 

[Clentipo]

Mine is the Aqueon quiet flow 20. It takes a cartridge that sits with a removable holder thend has a bio scrubber on the output that is also removable. Not sure if I can use any type of media but I probably could if I made a custom cartridge for it to sit in the cartridge holder. Up to this point I've never really had any issues so I've always stuck with activated carbon, so now it's time to expand my knowledge on filtration.

 

[platylover26]

I would say just to shut the lights off/shorten the amount of time you have them on. Also, put some filter floss in the filter, or some more filter media thats a bit finer. Then, just wait for a few days, and do some small water changes, like 10%, and don't stir up the gravel too bad.

 

[Clentipo]

Yeah ive been leaving the gravel alone since that's what caused this. When I do my changed I just get my vacuum close enough to the bottom to get what's on top of the gravel. I'm about to go to the LFS right now to get some filter media and floss. Since I changed the cartridge the tank is already looking a lot better but still cloudy. That was about 3 hours ago. I'm also going to clean my filter a bit because it's looking pretty gross right now.

 

[Clentipo]

Thanks for all of the input. I was hoping there were quicker natural ways to speed it up but like with most things patience is key.