S O S--phosphate

[fastfly48]

Please help me!
I've had my first ever tank (20G) running for over 2 months now.
But it's been SUPER DOOPER cloudy for 3-4 weeks now. I can't get it to go away! I'm on the brink. This is too hard. I do water tests, clean the tank, do water changes, feed the right amount of food, research, check temp, maintane filter, clean gravel/glass etc...etc....and I'm not getting anything in return...mostly becasue I can't see into my tank anymore!

Every time I go to my lps they just get me to buy stuff. I can't seem to get an answer as to how to get rid of this cloudiness/bactrial bloom/algae bloom. They've sent me home with activated carbon, extra sponges, Phosgaurd etc...etc...but none of it's working.
I did some tests and apparently i changed too much water, so now the tank is cycling again. So ammonia was up a little and phosphate was high.

I thought my set up (freshwater tropical) was rather common. So I also thought that any problems that came up would be common and easily answered/resloved. I can't think of anything radical I've done to have this cloudiness. Now my plants seem to be dying too.

Please help me.
Ry.

ps. the only natural light the tank gets is from a sky light. I covered it up for 2-3 weeks but it changed nothing.

 

[Zagz]

Have you added a declorinator to the water? Also most of the stuff to clear water doesn't work well. Any chance there is anything at all with metal in your tank? My stepmom had a treasure chest that had a metal pin in it and the tank was cloudy until we removed the treasure chest.

 

[fastfly48]

Yes I add declorinator.
Metal hey? mmmm......don't think so. The only substrates in my tank are:
gravel, moss rock (clean well before use of coarse), vallis, java fern, one peice of bog wood (ararently this can turn the water a funny colour, I cleaned it very well though, but my water was cloudy way before I added the wood anyway) ummm...oh and my thermometre, heater and filter intake.

I did add an elephant statue for a little while, but I cleaned that and it was hollow plastic. I didn't like the look of it though so I removed it within a few days. And that was well before the water went yuk.

Anything there that could be a problem?
Thanks for replying/ helping out! Much much appreciated
Ry.

 

[Zagz]

I'd try stopping water changes and gravel vacs for now. Do you have any fish in the tank or are you doing a fishless cycle? Sometimes the best thing is to let nature take it's course. I don't see anything in your tank setup that should be a problem.

Out of curiousity are you adding anything for the plants as fertilizers?

 

[Zagz]

Your problem is perplexing me, what color is the cloudy? White, green brown? I'm doing a search to see if I can figure anything else out, I'll post again soon.

 

[fastfly48]

Well you see, My tank cycled I'm sure of it.
However, then the water went gross so I started doing almost daily 25-30% water changes. I also kept the tank in the dark for a few days and cut back on feeding. All this did help a little with the cloudiness, but lets be realistic, I cant' keep that up all the time!lol

I added fish (3 danios then 1 brissle nose Pleco then 2 cory cat fish then 4 neons)once the tank cycled. However now that I changed so much water apparenly the tank is cycling again. Doh.

I've been really patient, for a month now, but nature dosen't seem to be able to cure this. I'm not adding any fertilizers.
Aparenly the plant are competing with this algae for food and light?

thank you thank you. plz keep it coming.
Ry.

 

[fastfly48]

With the lights off the water looks bright green.
However with the lights on it just looks yellowy brown.
Thank you so much for your help.
Ry.

 

[Zagz]

Test your water out of the tap, leave a glass of water out overnight and test the ph ammonia and nitrite. Maybe your tap water is a problem. What kind of fish do you have? Maybe overstocked?
A google search brought forth many pages with different ideas. HTH. Good luck and post how it is going, oh and don't give up, there will be a solution.

http://www.google.[acronym="Calcium...loudy+aquarium+water&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
(paste and copy it into your browser, I can't get the url tags to work with it, LOL)

 

[fastfly48]

Thanks for your support Zagz. I shall do a tap water test and have another look around google.
Fish? I have 3 danios, 1 brissle ones pleco, 2 cory catfish and 4 neons (too few I know, the filter was hungry... ) I don't THINK that's too much for 20g. Or is it?
cheers.
Ry.

 

[Zagz]

No that isn't overstocked for your tank. I will keep my eyes out for any further suggestions, I'd keep doing small water changes, don't bother the gravel, to keep the ammonia at 2 ppm or less for the cycle. It drove me crazy till we found the source of my stepmom's cloudy water. LOL. I'm going to pm a guy I know that might be able to help.

 

[greenmaji]

Check out this thread..
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=56396
You have what we call greenwater. if you see green at all its greenwater.
You will want to get a PO4 testkit and test your tapwater to see if its causing the problem..
Other tips to fix and prevent this are in the tread linked above.. HTH

 

[Zagz]

I'm curious to see how your tank works out. Hopefully it will clear up shortly with all the advice. LOL. Let me know how you do.

 

[fastfly48]

Thanks alot guys.
Yes, I'll let you know when (optimistic there...) things start to change.
cheers.
Ry.

 

[fastfly48]

Ok. I went to my lsf tday.
My tap water has phosphate, not much, but enough to make big problems for me.

Apparently when I do a water change I'm adding phosphate into my tank. I have phosgaurd and activated carbon in my hang-over filter but they don't seem to be doing anything at all, or not enough...
My tank water is all good with ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels all perfect...it's just green...

The guy at the shop painted a pretty dam dull future for me and my tank. He rekons that I'll always have trouble with blooms and cloudy water because of the phosphate content in my water. And that it will only get worse in summer

The tank looks gross and it seems that this problem is in-cureable for me.
I got the tank from my parents for my 18th bday and they really want it to work out...but it seems it won't.

Anyways...I'll keep crossing my fingers.
Ry.

 

[Menagerie]

There must be a way. I am going to change the title of your thread and those that have dealt with phosphate problems will hopefully join in.

 

[fastfly48]

Thanks a whole lot for that Menagerie. I hope you are right.
I just don't understand why this is so hard.
I did everything right and haven't had clear water in months.
thanks again.
Ry.

 

[dskidmore]

Do you have a super-walmart nearby? For 66 cents per week, you can buy your two gallons of water change water out of the culligan water machine. The RO process removes most of the phosphates.

If you don't like the taste of your tapwater, you could also consider purchasing your own RO unit to have for drinking water and aquarium water.

I had alot of algae problems due to the nutrient content of my tap water, and I have had alot more sucess since switching to RO water.

 

[fastfly48]

super-walmart? Um....sorry, I don't think there are ANY walmarts in Western Australia...
I have a water purifyer, but it is only really for drinking water. It would take AGES to get enough water from that to do a water change.

Oh, by the way, the algae is still there. It's now been two months. Once again I've tried keeping the lights off...and once again that seems to have helped a little, but as soon as I turn them on the algae gets worse than ever!
I think I've lost another neon too. There where a couple of weeks when the water was so bad that I could hardly see a few inches into the aquarium....

I don't know what else I can say here. Nothings working. I feel hopless. Without the light all my plants are dying...well...what's left of my plants are dying!

Anyways...don't want to depress you too so I'll stop it there! :?
Hope all your aquariums are flying along.
Ry.

 

[dskidmore]

Sorry, didn't notice your location.

Many grocery stores here have bottled water. Either RO filtered or distilled should help your situation. You might check around and see which stores carry it in your area.

Generally the issue with those drinking water RO systems is that the tank becomes pressurized, and the filter starts churning out less water as the tank gets near full. If you put a T in before the pressure tank, divert some of the output to an open container, with a float valve to keep it from overflowing, you can get more water for water changes out of your existing filter.

 

[fastfly48]

ok. That all went over my head :?
What the?

I haven't posted in a while so here is the latest...
I'm blacking out my tank. Seems to be the only thing that helps.
The water looks slightly better...vallis is all but gone, java fern still going well though...

I bought some phos gaurd for my filter. So now my hob filter has one phos gaurd, one activated carbon and one sponge. I also cut back the intake to 25%, hoping this would make filer the water better?.

anyways. My tank's now had this blooms for a solid three months straight.
Could I perhaps remove one of my tube lights to reduce the light in my tank?
bler...
I'll go now.
night.
ry.