water problem..

[rafahl]

hello everybody,im raf,i live in macedonia greece and i have a 180 liter tank with 2 pacus and 1 oscar inside.I know very little about aquariums and have to deal with a seriouse problem since i got this one.The thing is that my water seams so dirty and green all the time even though i am trying to take good care of it.My filters are new,the temperature is fine,i change the water often(i meen an amount of it)adding baktiria and antichlorium.I also used a special device that filters the water burning all this green(permenently they told me)through a special lamp.But the problem remains cause after two or three weeks my tank looks like a swamp again(although it dosent seem to bother the fish)..If somebody has any idea why this is happening plz contact.Thanx and hope to gain the most from joining.

 

[abrahamavelar]

how much do you feed them?? and how often do you clean your filters??????? i have a cichlid tank and a sw tank, and i have to wash the media and clean the filter on my cichlid tank every other week, because if i leave it longer it will be just green. that thing that has the light im pretty sure its an UV sterilizer and what it does it kills bacteria, also try using ro/di water i used to use tap and it looked clean but when i switched to ro/di and it looks way cleaner

 

[mfdrookie516]

Welcome to AA The main problem i see is that you are overstocked... that tank alone is small for an oscar, adding two pacus to the mix, you are way overstocked. Most of the time, algae (aka green water) is caused by overfeeding and too much light. How much food do you feed and how often? How long are you leaving the lights on each day? Does the tank get any light from any windows?

 

[abrahamavelar]

+1 also how big are your fish you might think you are not over stocked the rule in fresh water is one inch of mature fish (fully grown) per gallon. one oscar usually get really big and their waste is alot cuz they are messy eaters, and pacus get really big too, they are messy eaters too

 

[rafahl]

First of all thank u for your reply.I am pretty sure that my tank is not over stocked cause my fish(i meen all 3 of them together)are not more than 30cm long.I dont think that a 180l tank is small for three fish this size.The light could be a problem cause my restaurant(this is where i have my tank)has many windows and light(not sun)comes through them pretty much most of the day.As for the aquarium it self i have the light open about 7-10 hours a day.The feeding could also be a problem,u c i feed them about twice a day and although they eat like pigs they still seem to be hungry..the thing that made me think that i may be overfeeding is that people that saw my tank like 2 weeks ago,seeing it again made them go WOW look how big your fish got..I hope that this is the problem cause i can change my feeding rythm,if the problem is the light there are not many things i can do about it..thank you again

 

[rafahl]

ps. abrahamavelar i clean my aquarium+its devices about once a week top once every 10 days..think its pretty much enough

 

[abrahamavelar]

your fish are going to get bigger, the lights i dont think is the problem either, you can try feeding the twice a day like you are doing but with less amounth, all fish will look hungry every time you walk by them, also what re you feeding them????

 

[rafahl]

i am feedint them "dr bassleer`s"complete food for ornamental fish

 

[abrahamavelar]

oh ok what i would do is give them once in a while feeder fish an or frozen shrimp