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Home      Reply		Viewed: 404 -- Replies: 12
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Posted	GREEN PROBLEM
22-11-2006 20:52 by lisakendrick	I hope someone out there can help me...please! I am starting to pull my hair out as I cannot get to the cause of the problem... I have a Jewel 180 aquarium (holds approx 50 gallons). I have 4 small fancy gold fish and 2 ordinary goldfish in it. (I have had one of the goldfish for 9 yrs and the other for 4 yrs. The fancy ones were adopted!) I changed the water in the tank on Sunday (19th Nov) and 3 days later it is completely green - I can barely see the fish . The problem started a couple of months ago. I have tried everything. I have tried emptying the tank completely of all water and refilling it (which I did on sunday). It is crystal clear for the first day but then goes green. I have tried green away. No Joy. I have put new stones in ( not many, and thoroughly washed them). No joy. Sponges in filter are clean (washed in their own water). No joy. The tank is not in direct sunlight (It is away from all windows). The fish are fed twice a day on flake food. I have been keeping fish for years (also have a tropical tank) and have never had this problem before. I just don't know what else to try. I have also noticed tiny midgets (flies) appearing in the water in my tank and lots of dead midgets stuck to the lights inside the lid of my tank - I don't know what is going on...can anyone please help?...I would be so grateful...I'd even buy you a drink!!
22-11-2006 21:30 by hblssb	the tank does not have too be in direct sunlight for you to have this problem,if the room is naturaly bright anyway, that enough,or if you have bright lighting over or around the tank thank wont help.new water(tap water )is great for allowing green alge to form,people who install a pond also have the same problem when the pond is "new".uv steriliser light would solve the problem,the same as people use on ponds,you can by ones that are for aquarium use,from most good aquatic centres reducing the amount of light in the room, keeping the curtains closed and lights off over the tank when you are not there etc will help,but allow the water to "mature"other thing to remember is go;d fish are "dirty" and not sure how good/type a filter you have it might be worth while checking its man enough for the size tank.type and number,and size of fish.
22-11-2006 21:46 by keith t	uv sterilizer will be able to keep on top of this
22-11-2006 22:25 by dobby	i have had the same problem just treated it with green away did the job. ps take carbon out of filter.
22-11-2006 22:28 by Danny Boy	fish sleep so make sure you dont leave you tank lights on for too long i find 5 hrs aday is enough to combat algea (my suspicion is that you have an algea bloom) the 100% water change would have made things even worse. i would advise that you should never change more than 50% of the water in a tank unless its a serious problem like kids and bleach. (its happened before) can i ask how much water you normally change during a water change and how often you would carry a change out? it sounds like you are cleaning your filter correctly and i assume you treat tap water before you add it to the tank right? have you ever tested your tank water for nitrates? algea feed on the stuff so high nitrates can be a real issue
23-11-2006 06:58 by lisakendrick	Hello to all 4 of you! Thanks so much for the speedy response (was it the drink that did it. ) Sounds like I am off to buy myself a uv sterilizer light this weekend. I am puzzled as to why the problem has just started. I have had this tank for a few years. Anyway I am more than happy to try something new. Also, I don't have any carbon in the filter so I don't know why green away did not work for me Normally I would only do a 30% or sometimes 50% water change. That is until this problem started and I had a complete clear out. In answer to your question about treating the water, yes I do. I use stress coat which also removes chlorine. However, I add this at the same time as adding the water as I use a hose when filling the tank ( It would take me forever with buckets ) I may also try adding some nitrate remover as you have mentioned nitrates may be a problem. Anway thanks again for all of your suggestions - much appreciated. I shall be in touch again next week once I have tried a few of your ideas to let you know the outcome, and arrange drinks! Anyone know of an online pub?!
23-11-2006 07:07 by Danny Boy	also wanted to say that you are slightly overstocked so weekly water changes are more important now than ever. also test your tap water for nitrates you may find your putting in more than your taking out.
23-11-2006 09:25 by Alan	I suspect you may have a phosphate problem. As far as a UV sterilizer it would help but you would still be left with the cause rumbbling away in the tank a good cheap option on the UV sterilizer front would be the fish are fun one it is an internal uv sterilizer with a built in power head so you don't have to do any fiddly plumbing and adjusting of flow rates you just plug it in. Here is a link to rocket trading who sell them on line. http://www.rocketaquatics.co.uk/index.php?cPath=82_151&osCsid=219d540ebad201a4edd4c3282427ac0d
23-11-2006 10:30 by lisakendrick	Good point Danny Boy .. I will test tap water for nitrates. I have always wondered in the past, when I have tested my water shortly after doing a partial water change, why the levels of nitrate don't seem to have changed. I put it down to a rubbish test kit and gave up on them, feeling that if I do a partial water change once a week (which I do) and don't overfeed the fish there's not much point in continuing with these test kits. However, maybe the levels didn't change as the tap water has something in it. Will check that later. Alan, thanks alot for your suggestion (fish are fun uv sterilizer). I have just ordered one from rocket aquatics and eagerly await its arrival in the hope that it may go some way towards solving the problem! Will let you know in a week or so. Thanks again.
23-11-2006 20:11 by AndreaC	I thought keeping the tank lights on was meant to keep algae and green water away Thats why i try and keep my light on as long as possible, about 10-12 hours.
24-11-2006 08:34 by Alan	The lights on my tanks are on from 615am until about 10pm never had green water I don't think it is down to the amount of light there is another cause probably down to a nutrient in the water either nitrate or phosphate.
30-11-2006 14:37 by lisakendrick	Just to let you know, I purchased a uv steriliser from rocketaquatics and also put some nitrasafe in the water (after doing a partial water change) last weekend. There appears to be a huge improvement in the water quality already...i.e. I can see the fish again The green cloud seems to have disappeared. I'm just hoping I can keep it clear now! Thanks alot for all your help.
30-11-2006 14:41 by lisakendrick	Sorry meant to say NitrateMinus (Tetra) not nitrasafe!

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