Lovegasoline
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2017
- Messages
- 44
I'm experiencing an attack of algae from hell and am nearing my wits end.
I have one male Red Eared Slider turtle about 12 years old with a approx. 6" shell, Mr. T. I adopted him when he was about 1 year old from a roommate who purchased him as a baby but was neglecting him due to ignorance on correct care... he lived in a salad bowl.
He's in a 37 gallon tank with a Rena/API Filstar XP2 large (3 basket) canister filter. He's fed in the tank with ZooMed Maintenance pellets, romaine lettuce, and occasionally with feeder fish, dried shrimp, carrot & other veggie bits. I have a foam filter over the water intake tube which is cleaned weekly to help keep the canister filter clean. The canister filter baskets contain: (bottom>top) #1) 4 foam filters from coarse to fine, #2) a full basket of Fluval Biomax ceramic media, #3) a single layer of filter floss.
The tank sits on the kitchen window facing north in NYC and gets direct sunlight part of the day. There's an above tank basking area. I realize the tank is a little small for the size of the turtle, however it's the only space available.
This tank setup has been stable for about 12 years, and has been doing well. The only change to the tank's filtration was that a few months ago I doubled the volume of the Biomax rings ... biomedia basket was always only half full since I set up the tank: I figured more media surface would offer better filtration so I ordered another box, effectively doubling the ring volume. In past years the tank would get algae only very occasionally, maybe once or twice a year and it's routinely eliminated by a thorough cleaning of the tank and filter along with 1-3 chemical treatments of Tetra Algae Control, then things are back to normal. Afterwards it might get a little algae formation on the glass, but the water remains clear after the cleaning and treatment.
However, for the past few months the tank water has turned completely green. I do 100% water changes and meticulously clean everything and treat the water with several applications of Tetra Algae Control, but the algae keeps returning with a vengeance in about a week or two, with the water turning avocado green or darker and you can't see more than a couple inches into the tank before any object is subsumed by the green murk.
What's different from the past instances of algae contamination is now the Fluval Biomax rings are completely indelibly green colored. They're stained green. In the past even on occasions that the tank turned green, the ceramic media would be an off-white-to-grayish color - not green. Now, they are green and after swishing and agitating them in tank water to clean them, they retain a heavy deep green stain ... the green tint has penetrated into the rings and will not wash off.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago I once again did a 100% tank water change. I meticulously stripped and cleaned EVERYTHING, every trace of algae from tank and filter. I removed hoses and scoured their insides as well as all fittings. I disassembled the filter inset sub assemblies and parts completely. The only thing I did not do is deep clean the Biomax rings, as usual I just swished them around in tank water so as to preserve the beneficial bacteria (I don't think rinsing them in tap water would even remove the green tint, it seems to have deeply penetrated completely through the material of the rings). I refilled the tank with tap water (NYC), added a little water conditioner, and also a treatment of Tetris Algae Control. About a week later the tank water is completely green. Gah! I'm at my wits end. This is becoming too much work. I'm not sure what to do at this point.
Could it be that the rings need to be either completely disinfected/cleaned and/or replaced entirely?
Anyone with advice or insight into why the tank is behaving differently now then previously, with water now perpetually green, and any suggestions on how to remedy this would be greatly appreciated. I never thought I'd get to a point where I'd consider giving my turtle away, but I share the place with roommates, the tank is unsightly, and because the water is nearly opaque green, it obscures half the sunlight entering the kitchen.
Help!
I have one male Red Eared Slider turtle about 12 years old with a approx. 6" shell, Mr. T. I adopted him when he was about 1 year old from a roommate who purchased him as a baby but was neglecting him due to ignorance on correct care... he lived in a salad bowl.
He's in a 37 gallon tank with a Rena/API Filstar XP2 large (3 basket) canister filter. He's fed in the tank with ZooMed Maintenance pellets, romaine lettuce, and occasionally with feeder fish, dried shrimp, carrot & other veggie bits. I have a foam filter over the water intake tube which is cleaned weekly to help keep the canister filter clean. The canister filter baskets contain: (bottom>top) #1) 4 foam filters from coarse to fine, #2) a full basket of Fluval Biomax ceramic media, #3) a single layer of filter floss.
The tank sits on the kitchen window facing north in NYC and gets direct sunlight part of the day. There's an above tank basking area. I realize the tank is a little small for the size of the turtle, however it's the only space available.
This tank setup has been stable for about 12 years, and has been doing well. The only change to the tank's filtration was that a few months ago I doubled the volume of the Biomax rings ... biomedia basket was always only half full since I set up the tank: I figured more media surface would offer better filtration so I ordered another box, effectively doubling the ring volume. In past years the tank would get algae only very occasionally, maybe once or twice a year and it's routinely eliminated by a thorough cleaning of the tank and filter along with 1-3 chemical treatments of Tetra Algae Control, then things are back to normal. Afterwards it might get a little algae formation on the glass, but the water remains clear after the cleaning and treatment.
However, for the past few months the tank water has turned completely green. I do 100% water changes and meticulously clean everything and treat the water with several applications of Tetra Algae Control, but the algae keeps returning with a vengeance in about a week or two, with the water turning avocado green or darker and you can't see more than a couple inches into the tank before any object is subsumed by the green murk.
What's different from the past instances of algae contamination is now the Fluval Biomax rings are completely indelibly green colored. They're stained green. In the past even on occasions that the tank turned green, the ceramic media would be an off-white-to-grayish color - not green. Now, they are green and after swishing and agitating them in tank water to clean them, they retain a heavy deep green stain ... the green tint has penetrated into the rings and will not wash off.
Anyway, a couple weeks ago I once again did a 100% tank water change. I meticulously stripped and cleaned EVERYTHING, every trace of algae from tank and filter. I removed hoses and scoured their insides as well as all fittings. I disassembled the filter inset sub assemblies and parts completely. The only thing I did not do is deep clean the Biomax rings, as usual I just swished them around in tank water so as to preserve the beneficial bacteria (I don't think rinsing them in tap water would even remove the green tint, it seems to have deeply penetrated completely through the material of the rings). I refilled the tank with tap water (NYC), added a little water conditioner, and also a treatment of Tetris Algae Control. About a week later the tank water is completely green. Gah! I'm at my wits end. This is becoming too much work. I'm not sure what to do at this point.
Could it be that the rings need to be either completely disinfected/cleaned and/or replaced entirely?
Anyone with advice or insight into why the tank is behaving differently now then previously, with water now perpetually green, and any suggestions on how to remedy this would be greatly appreciated. I never thought I'd get to a point where I'd consider giving my turtle away, but I share the place with roommates, the tank is unsightly, and because the water is nearly opaque green, it obscures half the sunlight entering the kitchen.
Help!