Question for you pros

[Duddits]

I have a 55g mixed cichlid tank. Since the day I set it up I've have perfect water quality and still til this day, it's great quality.

My question to you pros is, how do you get your water so crystal clear and keep the algae away?

I have a wet/dry sump capable of filtering a 100g tank. I have aragonite sand, various rocks, artificial and live plants and 2 pieces of driftwood as deco. I have 1 power head on the opposite side of the return from the sump. Lights are on from 9/10 am to about 9pm. Fed once a day occasionally twice. I have algae on my glass, rocks and drift wood and still have that light tea stained water from the driftwood.

My overall goal is to have that crystal clear water and somewhat algae free tank. What do I need to do?

 

[tonedogz]

uv's help with water clarity and algae control

 

[George9]

Weekly water chages and scraping the algar keep my tank clan

All tanks are gonna get at least a little algar

 

[BlaseMrNiceguy]

Weekly water changes/cleanings help my tanks stay beautiful.

 

[Samzter]

I do two water changes a week, to keep my water perfect.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

Did you boil the DW to leach the tannins? You should do that and if you still get some teaing, try some activated carbon in the filter.. That should help with that.

As for algae, some you have to scrub off. The stubborn black beard algae I had to do a bleach dip (1:10 ratio to h2o concentration) to get rid of it, although I heard hydrogen peroxide works too. For the other algae, a combination of reduced light, partial water changes, more live plants to outcompete for the extra nutrients, and some hungry Nerite snails and/or otos would help.

 

[chuito69]

Question I found a nice driftwood,a long tree with the roots great for the tank. I found it by the Washington bridged in manhathan . After I cut the piece of the toots for my tank I realize it's cedar wood. Still smell like cedar, even it looks like its being in the water for long time. It's cedar safe for the fish tank , please help. Thank u

 

[Duddits]

Did you boil the DW to leach the tannins? You should do that and if you still get some teaing, try some activated carbon in the filter.. That should help with that.

As for algae, some you have to scrub off. The stubborn black beard algae I had to do a bleach dip (1:10 ratio to h2o concentration) to get rid of it, although I heard hydrogen peroxide works too. For the other algae, a combination of reduced light, partial water changes, more live plants to outcompete for the extra nutrients, and some hungry Nerite snails and/or otos would help.

I didn't boil the dw because it was too big to fit in any pot I have. I did however run both pieces through the dishwasher and also soaked both pieces for roughly 5-6 weeks and changed the water every day. I know I'll have a light teaing for a while but after 3-4 months?

I did add carbon in the sump and the water in the sump looks so clean you can drink it lol

Also I have done water changes not nearly as many as I should but I do them. How often do you all do yours and how much? I usually do a 20% water change every 2 weeks.

 

[Brian_Nano12g]

You can try boiling the DW in sections if you can stick it in a large pot vertically, then flip it after an hour.. Do you know what type of DW it is? I was going to use some mobani until the more knowledable folks here in AA warned me about the constant tannin leaching. So I decided on some malaysian dw.. I'm currently boiling it now.. I'll see how it turns out because it's still leaching tannins.

Anyway, I do 30 to 40% partial water changes weekly. But my tanks are all less than 15g's each. I had a large tank a long time ago and found frequent partial water changes such a hassle until I started using one of those python water changers (aqueon and lee's have similar products).

 

[aqua_chem]

Do you have planted tank lights? What kind of algae is it?

 

[Duddits]

My tank light is a coralife pc light. It's a 220W pc light with blue LED moonlights

 

[boadams87]

Question I found a nice driftwood,a long tree with the roots great for the tank. I found it by the Washington bridged in manhathan . After I cut the piece of the toots for my tank I realize it's cedar wood. Still smell like cedar, even it looks like its being in the water for long time. It's cedar safe for the fish tank , please help. Thank u

Cedar will kill fish.

 

[boadams87]

I have a 55g mixed cichlid tank. Since the day I set it up I've have perfect water quality and still til this day, it's great quality.

My question to you pros is, how do you get your water so crystal clear and keep the algae away?

I have a wet/dry sump capable of filtering a 100g tank. I have aragonite sand, various rocks, artificial and live plants and 2 pieces of driftwood as deco. I have 1 power head on the opposite side of the return from the sump. Lights are on from 9/10 am to about 9pm. Fed once a day occasionally twice. I have algae on my glass, rocks and drift wood and still have that light tea stained water from the driftwood.

My overall goal is to have that crystal clear water and somewhat algae free tank. What do I need to do?

I use filter floss in my filters to catch really small particles and you may need to cut down on the hrs with the lighting.

 

[aqua_chem]

My tank light is a coralife pc light. It's a 220W pc light with blue LED moonlights

That's a lot of light for a non-planted tank. That could be your algae issue right there.

 

[Duddits]

What's the standard lighting for a cichlid tank?

 

[boadams87]

I use the regular lighting with my cichlids.

 

[chuito69]

Thank you I was not sure I have boiled all day and the water was not that dark, but still smell like cedar. I guess I will use as a center piece. Thank you for your feed back.

 

[rotorhead22]

How often do you do water changes? What are your Nitrate levels before PWC? What is your pH? These factors also affect algal growth.

 

[rotorhead22]

As for lighting, it depends on what type of plants you have. Anubuias, for example, can thrive in low light.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have a 55g mixed cichlid tank. Since the day I set it up I've have perfect water quality and still til this day, it's great quality.

My question to you pros is, how do you get your water so crystal clear and keep the algae away?

I have a wet/dry sump capable of filtering a 100g tank. I have aragonite sand, various rocks, artificial and live plants and 2 pieces of driftwood as deco. I have 1 power head on the opposite side of the return from the sump. Lights are on from 9/10 am to about 9pm. Fed once a day occasionally twice. I have algae on my glass, rocks and drift wood and still have that light tea stained water from the driftwood.

My overall goal is to have that crystal clear water and somewhat algae free tank. What do I need to do?

Crystal clear tank water comes from the the balanced combination of nitrogen producing and nitrogen consuming organisms in your tank. The right balance will allow your plant life to flourish while keeping your sliming algaes at bay. Algae eating fish such as Plecostomus or Chinese Algae eaters will help consume and control existing sliming algaes but, it's very presence says that there is too much nitrogen producing organisms for the nitrogen consuming organisms in your tank.
As a Cichlid tank, you are most likely not going to be able to maintain a clean tank just by proper balance because cichlids by nature are a dirtier fish than , let's say, a tetra. What this means is that you should be doing PWCs on a more frequent basis and oversize (within reason) your filtering system to remove more of the waste material from the fish and this filter should be cleaned more frequently. (The size of the sump does not have as much impact as the water flow through the sump. ) A good carbon bag should also be in place in your filtering system which should help remove the tea coloring. As for stopping the leeching, you can either try soaking the wood for a long time with daily water changes until it stops, keep a bag of carbon in your filter that's enough to keep up with the leeching, or learn to enjoy a little tea with your fish until this all stops naturally

There are also products on the market that go into your filter that reduce nitrogen levels and may be of some help. As for your light hours, if you are producing green algaes, there is too much light. Reduce your light hours. If your algae is brown or dark in color, increase your light hours until you see the dark algae dying off. Remember, it's a balancing act.

Hope this helps...