Greenish water

[econto4]

Dear all,

I have an annoying problem with my aquarium. It is a 200 liter tank and is provided with two external power filters, one undergravel filter, and one UV sterilizer. I keep mostly goldfish in it. It is located in a room of my house without the possibility of sunlight and anyways I keep the shades closed. The only illumination is from the lamp in the cover, which I turn on only few hours per day.

Despite all of this and, even though I do the regular 30% water changes, and filter maintenance (every three weeks for the changes and every 15 days for the filters), the water becomes light green or sort of yellow shortly after the changes. I have tried many algae killing substances they sell at pet stores, marine salt, a liquid called aquaclear, and anything you can imagine, but I can not solve the color problem on my aquarium. The water does not look dirty or polluted and does not have particular bad smells, it is just green to yellow.

My brother has a similarly equipped tank with the same kind of fishes and his water is always crystal clear.

Can anyone give me any hint on what is the origin of the problem and what can I do to solve it definitively?

I will really appreciate your help.

 

[Corey]

Do you have relatively new driftwood in the tank?

 

[econto4]

Yes, some 6 months ago I put a driftwood inside the tank

 

[rollin_22]

could very well be the drift wood if it wasnt soaked and cured beforehand.... otherwise you might not be getting enough light.....

 

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

Put a bit of water in a clear jug, take it outside (during the day) and see if it's really green, it could be mild green water, tho I don't see a reason.

It could be tannins.. What temp. do you keep the water at? higher the temp the more it leaches... boiling the wood could help suck some of the discolouration.. Also activated carbon or Seachem Purigen (can be regenerated) can help remove the colour aswell.

 

[lovemybarbs]

If you choose to black it out. It works. They told me to black out the tank for three days and it is crystal clear now. It sucks not seeing your fish for a few days, but it cleans up nicely.