Last plea for green water cure before total tear down

[fish_4_all]

Well my tank has been down to 4 C. trilineatus(1 adult and 3 about half sized), 3 neon tetras and one betta for over a month now and I still have blue green water. Water changes twice a week, 50-65%, HOB filter, medium sponge filter, java moss and anacharis.

Ph- 7.2-7.8
Nitrates- 30ish
Nitrites- 0
Ammonia- 0
Alkaliniity- 120-180
Hardness- 75-150 about 100ish

Lighting 1.5 watts or a little less per gallon

Water goes a little clearer after each water change but next days is blue green again.

If I can't cure it in the next month I will either be tearing it down completely or waiting for another day to set back up and getting out of the hobby completely.

Please help if you can.

 

[greenmaji]

your NO3 is about 10-20 ppm higher then it needs to be..
And you didnt give a PO4 messurement.. do you have a PO4 testkit? you will want to get your NO3:PO4 ratio down to 10-23:1.. my guess is that you have more then 3ppm of PO4 in your water and that is the cause algae problems..

Aids in removing greenwater...
the blackout method, Filtering with a diatom filter, using a UV sterillizer, keeping live daphnia, and the very bad
algaecides

here is a link on the blackout method
http://www.aquariaplants.com/cloudygreenwater.htm

 

[fish_4_all]

Nope, no PO4 test kit. Until I get one, how do I reduce the PO4 level and what causes them to be so high?

Tried the blackout method, 3 weeks, no light and no luck. Except my C. trilineatus seemed to love it or hated it when I turned the lights back on. They moped for days.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

Anyone had luck with Phos-X? A sample of it came with my Aquaclear 200.

 

[greenmaji]

Do big frequent water changes.. this should get your PO4 down..
While your at it here are some more tips..

Turn off your filter when feeding the fish..

Feed only enough food to be completly consumed in 45-60 seconds once a day..

Make sure that your filter and tank are clean.. the intake tubes and all surfases of the inside of the tank.. anything that is in contact with the water could use wiped off(glass) or cleaned.. make sure not to clean everything all in one day though(bacteria can die and cause greenwater as well) this includes vacuming all the gravel even under rocks and decorations..

Phos-X and other medias that remove PO4 can be used.. they do work with limited sucess (they do remove PO4).. but finding out were the PO4 problem is coming from is essential to help prevent algae problems from happening again..

 

[aquakev]

the amount of water you are changing could be contributing to your problem by restoring the micro nutrient levels in the tank. Mabey try letting it go for a while with a short photo-period(light) and no water change for a while and let the algea starve itself off the nutrients. this could reduce it to a managable level. - by changing 50% of the water you are only removing 50% of the algea and restoring many nutrients.-try it it may work!

 

[gfink]

Do big frequent water changes.. this should get your PO4 down..

Not true if the tap water has high phosphate levels like mine!

Since I have high phosphate levels in my tap water I use Phosguard from Seachem. I just put a bunch of the resin beads in a filter bag and that does the trick. I need to keep tabs on it with my phosphate test kit.

Once my nitratehophate ratio was back around 10:1 my green water vanished.

 

[Biznatch]

Green water is usuallyu caused from NH4 from what I have read, but once it's there it uses any of the available nutrients. I just defeated green water in my tank that was so bad my diatom filter could get rid of it fast enough, even with daily recharges. I had to buy a UV and run that and the diatom filter for like 2 days and I can finally see in my tank again. It looked like pea soup it was so bad.

 

[lyquidphyre]

this always worked for me:

http://aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=13431

 

[JHawk]

I was at the exact same point as you...Ready to throw in the towel b/c of green split pea soup water. I just (about 2 hours ago) did what lyquidphyre just recommended. (I happen to have a Magnum, so that helps) The tank is absolutely crystal clear like never before!!!

 

[fish_4_all]

That might work if the water actually had anything floating in it. The water is turning a blue green color, no floating algae. I am beginning to think I have martians drinking my water and spitting in it.

 

[lyquidphyre]

I never had floating algae.. my water was just green. It worked for me

 

[JHawk]

Can you post some pics of the water?

 

[fish_4_all]

The clear one has been set the same amount of time and never had the problems the green one has.

The clear ones has 6 pygmy frogs, 2 sword/platy, 1 betta and 3 botia loaches

The cloudy one has 6 cory cats, 2 swords, 2 neon tetras, 1 betta and 2 clown loaches. Way down from before with no improvement on the water color.

 

[greenmaji]

the cloudy one doesnt look all that cloudy to me :?

 

[Devilishturtles]

The cloudy one has 6 cory cats, 2 swords, 2 neon tetras, 1 betta and 2 clown loaches. Way down from before with no improvement on the water color.

That's a little overloaded with a 10 gallon tank and I'm wondering if it could be attributing to your problem. Algae thrives in a high nutrient medium, like an overstocked/underfiltered tank. Even the food you add in immediatley contributes to a higher nutrient level. Also, the good bacteria in your tank live on surfaces (filter pad, plants, gravel, etc.). If you are cleaning this too much, you are getting rid of alot of the good stuff, and that could be attributing to high nutrient levels as well.

How big of water changes are you doing now? Try doing small ones. Maybe around 20% instead of 50% like was mentioned earlier. In a tank as small as yours, things can go downhill quickly. Just as a test, try moving your clown loaches out of the tank and into the other tank, if possible, and see if the water clears up.

Sorry if you already mentioned, but how long a day do you leave you lights on? Is it sitting by a window or getting any direct or indirect sunlight? All these things could cause you trouble. This is just a thought, I could be wrong.

Good luck, however.

 

[fish_4_all]

The loaches were just added 4 days ago. The tank has been that way for a while. The lighter color of the tank is because I had just changed the water and have had the light off most of the time. I will leave it on and take another picture when it gets so blue/green you can't see through it anymore. Maybe that will give a better idea of what is wrong.

As for the lighting, 15 watts on 8-12 hours a day, no sunlight at all.

The off thing is the second tank has always had more fish in it and never produced the blue/green water. I don't know what caused it. Maybe now that the fish population is much smaller the blackout trick will work.

Why is it still overpopulated? The 2 loaches 1.5 inches, the 6 cory cats .75 inches, 2 swords 1 inch, the betta 2 inches, and the 2 neons 1/2 inch each. 12.5 inches of fish isn't that bad is it?

As for the cure, I don't have the money for a diatom filter or canister filter let alone UV sterilizer. Have never used them anyway. Maybe I should put my undergravel filter back in and see if it cures the problem. At least nothing was out of balance then.

 

[mr86mister]

the only reason why they say overpopulated is cuz we use the adult size...the 6 cory cats(adult is 2"), 2 swords(adult 3"), betta(2"), 2 neons(2"),*and this is the eeek part* 2 clown loaches(both can reach up to 12") so you possibly could have a total of 48" of adult fish, but i'm not going to freak out on you or anything because i like to overstock when they are young i just give them to my uncle when they get too big who has a 125

but i know you know what your doing so i'm not going to hate on you cuz you're too cool, but definetly let it get bad again and show us a pic

are there any new decor that you put in the cloudy tank?

 

[fish_4_all]

12 inches?!?!? My LFS said 4-5 inches max. If they get that big I will sell them back for smaller ones. Wow, I am glad I am setting up a 30 gallon tank, they will need the room soon. No new decorations but I did remove the undergravel filter about 2 weeks after the blue/green water started. I now have a auquaview and a sponge filter running. Everything but nitrates are where the should be. I take it back, I just put in a stump 3 days ago for the clown loaches to hide but the betta uses it more than the loaches.

I just don't know, is such a lot of stuff to try and figure out. Have never had any kind of problems like this. When I was a kid, I had a 10 gallon with 3 cory cats, 3 neon tertas, 5 platies, and a couple other fish and never changed the water, never siphoned the gravel, and used an undergravel for 2.5 years before a fish died. Maybe the more you know the more problems come up that you have to fix! 8O

Come to think of it, could the snails be causing the problem? There are between 12 and 50 of the little buggers on any given day. I crush them daily to control them. Is why I got the clown loaches hoping they would eat them all.

 

[fastfly48]

Do big frequent water changes.. this should get your PO4 down..

Not true if the tap water has high phosphate levels like mine!

Since I have high phosphate levels in my tap water I use Phosguard from Seachem. I just put a bunch of the resin beads in a filter bag and that does the trick. I need to keep tabs on it with my phosphate test kit.

Once my nitratehophate ratio was back around 10:1 my green water vanished.

Ah ha! So your tap water has high phosphate too hey!?
I also use Phosgaurd from Seachem...but it isn't doing anything at all. It's been in for about 2 weeks now and my water is still green. I can't even see the back of the tank anymore!
Do you have problems wih algae/bacterial blooms? If so, how do you control it?
Please help!
Ry.