Green Cloudy Water

[Grumpy62]

I have a 55 gallon tank that I have had for 2 years, About 5 months ago it turned green. My water chemicals seam fine PH 6.8 to 7, Nitrate, Nitrite and amonia are at 0. for 3 months I did dayly water changes and two monts ago I went drastic and did a 100% water chang. now 2 months later it is back to green. I have no Idea as to what is doing this. I have mediun rocks less then an inch in depth. one live plant and sone plastic plants. I added sone crushed coral to bring My ph level up(when I set it up) but I havent introduced anything new in over a year. My fish seem to be fine though I did loose two after the 100% water change. I only have 2 catfish , 2 blue gromies, and an angle fish in this tank.
Any help would be gratful

 

[rkilling1]

Some more info is needed.

What do you add to the water when you change it?

Any filter maintainence?

Did you move the substrate around?

How old are the light bulbs?

I doubt you will see any NO3 or NH3 with that much algae in the water column. Green water will uptake the nutrients that caused it in the first place. Normally having a measurable amount of NH3 is the cause.

I am very intrested in the water change that killed two of your fish.

Did you add any fish when or about the Green Water on set? ( I know you said you haven't added anything in over a year, but I still have to ask)

How often do you clean the substrate?

Once we figure out what caused the problem, we will help you get ride of the algae.

GW (green water) is not that easy of a problem to get ride of as I am sure you are aware of. IE 5 months of it.

You came to a great place for help. That is the beginning of getting your tank back to normal.

 

[Grumpy62]

Green water

I have a wisper 3 filter, I change the filters once a month and clean them once at 2 weeks. When I change the water I always vacume the rocks. The lightbulbs are at least 2 years old they came with the tank. 2 two foot flouesent. I havent added anthing untill after it went green the first time and that was the live plant. Thought it might help. After removing all my fish and changing all the water I lost My 2 red dwarf gromies within a week. When I change my water I only add water conditioner.
Thanks for the help
Bruce

 

[rkilling1]

Changing that much water if you don't do regular water changes could have been what caused the fish to perish. The fish become adapted to thier water over time. A lot of people perform PWC's weekly.

As for the GW, that is one tough cookie to get ride of in most cases. Since you really don't have a planted tank, have you considered performing a black out on the tank for about a week? That would entail wrapping the aquarium with blankets or the like to ensure no light enters and not running the aquarium lights. The plant would have to be removed when you do this. Only feed the fish every other day and perform PWC frequently during this period.

Monitoring the tanks chemistry would be a good idea. As the algae dies it will add to the bioload and most likely cause an NH3 and NO2/NO3 increase.

If that is not possible, those that have had this problem use either a UV sterilizer or diatom filter to either kill the algae or remove it.

From personnel experience, I used a diatom filter and cleaned my tank in about 2 hours. The algae was never seen again. That was about a year ago. Some LFS's rent out diatom filters. My diatom filter was nothing more then a magnum 350 cannister filter that had the Micron Cartridge installed and coated with diatom powder.

EDIT: Just wanted to clarify some things. I didn't mean to make it seem as though you neglected your tank. Monthly PWC's, if that is what you are doing, is fine with most people as long as you don't have a high bioload. IE the NO3's (Nitrates) don't built up too much during this time. Even though NO3's are not as harmful to fish as NH3 (ammonia) and NO2 (nitrItes), it is still harmful in high concentrations.

That and adding water that is vastly different in tempature could have caused the same problem.

Sudden changes to your fishs environment are very stressful to them. Though I can't blame you for wanting to get ride of the GW. I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing. Just know that algae spores are very hardy and have evolved to become very hard to over come. Even changing all the water will not ride yourself of GW as you already know. The algae spores are all over your aquarium including in the substrate.