Tank turns green overnight!

TheminxIRL

Hi folks I hope someone can advise me cause im at my wits end.

I have a 90 litre tank, only two weeks old as the last one cracked on the bottom and sprayed 90 litres all over my kitchen, Luckily it was a slow leak and I managed to save almost all the fish, just three causalities.

Anyway now I have new tank I thought I would have gotten rid of the problem I had with the old one, the water turns green and murky within a few days of putting the fish in.

I mean its so dark even with the light on its hard to see the fish.

Its not in direct sunlight, the filter is cleaned every few days and I have a UV filter also which is supposed to prevent algae forming, I have a few plecs which are supposed to clean the sides bottom but I reckon they are on strike.

I have tried a product called "Green away" again no good.

Anyone any idea what I can do to stop this cause im at the point where I no longer want my fish/tank as its an eyesore

fred funk }{

Algae is caused by too much light, nutrients or both.

Have you tested your water for nitrates? If so, what is your reading. Also, what is your feeding routine?

Silverfish

When you say the filter is cleaned every few days, what do you mean?
The only cleaning the filter needs is give the sponges a quick rinse in the old tank water when you're doing a water change.

You either need to reduce lighting, or reduce feeding, do you have readings for ammonia / nitrite / nitrates? This will help figure out which you need to do.

TheminxIRL

Thanks for the reply, no I dont have any readings for those at all, Im assuming I can get them in the pet shop?

Ill try anything now, although I am a bit prone to heaping in the food I must admit so thats my first port of call.

Yeah I clean the filter that way and change only one fifth of the water at a time

fred funk }{

In my opinion, over feeding is the biggest cause of problems in fish keeping. Even in a healthy, cycled aquarium, when over feeding takes place, nitrates levels rise dramatically.

Nitrates are a fertiliser and will feed the plants/algae and throw in some lights and the algae will boom.

Dramatically cut back on the lights and food and you will see a difference.

kylith

TheminxIRL wrote: »

Thanks for the reply, no I dont have any readings for those at all, Im assuming I can get them in the pet shop?

Ill try anything now, although I am a bit prone to heaping in the food I must admit so thats my first port of call.

Yeah I clean the filter that way and change only one fifth of the water at a time

Good pet shops will often test your water for you, or you can buy test kits (go for the ones with test tubes, not strips) on eBay quite cheaply.

You're probably over feeding. From my experience if any food reaches the bottom of the tank you're over feeding (unless you're feeding bottom-feeders, of course).

Are there plants in the tank? If not it might be an idea to completely cut out light by draping sheets or something over the tank for a few days to kill the algae. Your fish won't mind.

fred funk }{

kylith wrote: »

Good pet shops will often test your water for you, or you can buy test kits (go for the ones with test tubes, not strips) on eBay quite cheaply.

You're probably over feeding. From my experience if any food reaches the bottom of the tank you're over feeding (unless you're feeding bottom-feeders, of course).

Are there plants in the tank? If not it might be an idea to completely cut out light by draping sheets or something over the tank for a few days to kill the algae. Your fish won't mind.

Spot on.

Rangi

The others have answered this well,but one thing I would suggest,is that plecs are not "supposed to clean the sides and bottom". Some do eat algae,and they will clean up most left over food on the bottom. However,they do need to be fed themselves. Too many are put in tanks to act as 'cleaners',and suffer for it(I'm not at all suggesting this is what you've done).
I only clean filters when they need it,and have noticed that my friends who do clean theirs routinely every week,can often have problems with their fish. I stress 'can' in that statement.
If it's only plecs in the tank,I would probably not even bother with the lights,at least until the algae issue is solved,then use them sparingly.

Degsy

I had to get rid of my plec..the thing crapped like a great dane and grew like a monster.

fred funk }{

A bristlenose Pleco will munch on algae all day long and they dont get too big either.

buzz

Degsy wrote: »

I had to get rid of my plec..the thing crapped like a great dane and grew like a monster.

I had 6 large in my 450L tank.. Was fine using a gravel siphon until I changed substrate to silica sand:eek: Now I have 1 albino dwarf:D

Silverfish

Better off getting nerite snails rather than a plec, plecs contribute to the bioload and can end up causing as much algae as they eat.

Nerites munch on algae all day, don't contribute much to the bioload, and don't breed either. Great little things.

muckyhands

As this isnt a 'new' problem as such (because the old tank suffered from it too op) I would try testing your tapwater for Phosphates.

Test the tap/ tank water too as previously advised. You could have already high levels in the tapwater that increase again in the tank.

Some aquarium products/ food can be high in nitrates/ phosphates... Look for/ ask for one that has reduced levels of same. Dont overfeed as previously advised.

Also what type of lighting is in the tank and is it designed for planted aquaria?

Bristlenose plecs are great I think, got 3 for our tank (and yes they cleared up brown algae issues when the tank was new). But they keep the wood and glass algae free, to an extent only, and no 'algae eater', as they are sold, will solve every algae problem- they themselves need to be looked after like everything else. They are breeding too in the tank now which is a bonus.

Nerite snails I had in the past- laid eggs everywhere in the tank, and I read that they arent viable in freshwater? None hatched in my tanks at least... to be honest it was a pain having these white eggs all over the tank.

Cork24

Lack of Oxygen in the water can be one are all the fish at the top more often then they should be ?

i had Oxygen Stones in my tank before and had no problem with the water turning Green,

kylith

muckyhands wrote: »

Nerite snails I had in the past- laid eggs everywhere in the tank, and I read that they arent viable in freshwater? None hatched in my tanks at least... to be honest it was a pain having these white eggs all over the tank.

That's correct. My female nerite is an egg machine, and it's rather annoying as the eggs are impossible to remove. But since they're not viable, and she does a great job of keeping the algae down I've learned to live with it.