changing coldwater to tropical

[tmdavies]

hello i have a 63 litre freshwater tank with 3 common goldfish 2 weather loach and 8 zebra danios. today i will be changing it to tropical.
The last 4 months ive had trouble with green cloudy water that i cant seem to shake. is there anything i can do while my tank has no fish in to get rid of the green water? like a 100% water change.
stocking ideas appreciated aswell
thanks

 

[librarygirl]

What happened to the goldfish? 63 liters is only 16 gallons; for that may goldfish you'd need at least a 40 gal. Green water is usually a sign of green algae. Is the tank in direct sunlight? Are the lights strong and/or on for a long time during the day? What is your water change schedule? I suspect the issue isn't that it's a coldwater tank, but something else. Green algae can happen in freshwater tropical setups as well.

I'd start with a 100% water change, move the tank if it's in direct sunlight, and keep the lights off for at least a few days, vacuum the substrate and rinse the decorations off in old tank water, see if that helps.

For stocking a 16 gal tank there are a number of options. Anything in particular you are interested in?

Also I'm assuming by now the tank should be properly cycled, but if you aren't going to add fish for a few days you'll want to keep the filter media wet and the bacteria fed with an ammonia source (pure ammonia is best) to prevent the bacteria from dying off.

 

[jlk]

Im am curious as well as to what happened to your fish? 3 common goldfish (plus other fish) in a 16gal tank is a nightmare in the making! It would explain alot of your water issues. I agree with the large water change & thorough vaccumming but you need to keep feeding the bacteria (until its restocked)with an ammonia source. Do you have a water test kit?

 

[tmdavies]

sorry its 63 gallons lol 240 litres haha

 

[tmdavies]

im not changing to tropical to get rid of the algae just want to go tropical and thought since im not gonna have any fish in the tank for a couple of days i may aswell sort the alage out. Its in no direct sunlight it all started when i added to much ferts been like that since. hopefully the 100% water change and tank clean out will fix it.
thanks for the concern tho guys

 

[NoFishingAllowed]

sorry its 63 gallons lol 240 litres haha

You were giving these people a heart attack

 

[librarygirl]

You were giving these people a heart attack

LOL Whew! Glad to hear it's a larger tank.

You didn't say what happened to the fish, but, it's none of my business, just curious.

I'm not familiar with ferts but I'm guessing it could have contributed to the algae issue; I know they contain phosphates and other minerals that algae really like (I think).

Some water changes and cutting down the ferts should help. Just keep everything wet and if it's going to be more than 2-3 days before adding more fish I'd dose the tank with ammonia (up to about 4 on the API Kit) every day to keep the bacteria fed. Then the day before you get fish do a large pwc to get nitrates down but don't dose ammonia again. Just make sure it's pure ammonia with no surfectants, dyes or perfumes. Also give the bottle a shake and if it foams, don't use it. ACE hardware has pure ammonia.

You have a lot more options for stocking a tank that large. Any thoughts on what you'd like?

 

[tmdavies]

i sold all my fish to my lsf its a good one that has really healthy large tanks.
was thinking platys, clown loach, siamese flying fox, gold nugget pleco, silver dollar, rummy nose tetra and harlequin rasbora dunno if they can go together not very experienced with tropical fish

 

[picture_117]

Be careful with the flying fox though, a true Siamese Flying Fox is Crossocheilus siamensis, these do great and eat all kinds of algae.
A Flying Fox, Epalzeorhynchos kallopterus , will be territorial and cause problems with small fish.
Just my 2 cents if you decide to go with it, I've seen many mislabeled

Golden Nugget Pleco is aggressive towards other bottom dwellers I believe, but maybe it'll work with a large tank like yours.