please help!

[New]

idk if it's algae or not, but theres also been an ammonia spike (i've been doing pwc's 1-2 times a day) heres pics
also, the tank started smelling pretty badddd

 

[New]

can anyone help?

 

[user404]

yeah...that looks pretty rough...I would pull that filter media and change it ..I dont think that will wash out..and flush a good bit of that tank like 75% of it..
it would re-cycle the tank but that looks pretty bad by this point
are the Nitrates and Nitrites in it very high?
if your getting HIGH ammonia anyway, I would just purge a good bit of that tank.. and hopefully the cycling wont take too long...

 

[New]

Ya i did a 75% yesterday, its down to .5-1 ppm ammo, and 0 nitrite

 

[BakerBoy17]

I can't see from the picture but are there any fish I'm the tank?

 

[New]

yes, 5 harlequin rasboras, 4 corydora catfish, and a baby angel which will be moved to a 50+ gallon tank once we move sept 12th

 

[BakerBoy17]

Oh. Well is it stock lighting?

 

[New]

compact fluorescant

 

[daileene]

oh no...do another 2 50% PWC so it will be at least 0-0.25ppm. Ammonia more than 0.25ppm for a long time is detrimental to your fishes.....

 

[daileene]

this might be a dumb question but did you put water conditioner when you change your water...

 

[New]

yeah, every time i add water

 

[daileene]

okay...when you do another PWC today or as soon as you can to lower that ammonia to 0-.25ppm, take your filter media out and swiss them on your old tank water to get all the gunk out. You don't have to change them until they are literally falling apart. Don't clean them out with tap water so your beneficial bacteria will not die. see if that will help the cloudy water.

 

[daileene]

how long has the tank been set up? If it just recently, you probably had an ammonia bloom. Just keep the ammonia lower than 0.25ppm at all times and your residents will be fine.

also, how long does your light turned on? if it is an algae breakout, you could probably lower the photoperiod to 8 hours. More than that might be the reason for the algae, if indeed it is an algae breakout.

 

[New]

its pretty newly setup about a month cycled, the light is on 8 hrs a day cause i have live plants, idk if its algae or not :/

 

[daileene]

okay that probably is an ammonia bloom or you have a lot of excess food around the bottom that needed to be vacuumed. Excess food uneaten builds up ammonia, also their bioload creates ammonia as well.

 

[New]

hm, so just keep up w/ a lot of pwcs and cleaning substrate w/ siphon?

 

[daileene]

yes...you can never go wrong with too much PWC and cleaning the substrate...although don't vacuum the whole substrate all at one time. Do 1/4 of one area in one PWC and then the rest in another PWCs. Just so the beneficial bacteria will not be all gone, coz some of them lives in the substrate.

 

[New]

k, ill make sure to do that