Major Issues with Tank - Algae Take over

close to giving up now.

Tanks still covered in green water despite all attempts to remove it.

Iv tried:

  • 30% water change daily,
  • Tetra Algumin (started as of 11/11/13)
  • Reducing the lighting to just 1 x 24w PL lamp over 48litres
  • Blackouts - 3 day one and a 2 day one with water changes before and after the blackout
  • increasing the Co2 so i have a yellow drop checker
  • reduced feeding on the fish
  • Cleaned all the parts i can physically remove from the tank

IT just wont shift. It doesnt even show signs of getting better it just appears to grow back just as fast as i remove it and also just stays at the same level.

The only thing i havnt tried is a U.V clarifier and im a little reluctant to go out and buy one to find it wont work.

Before i reduced the lighting i had 0ppm phosphates now after reducing it to 1 24w PL i have high phosphates (5ppm)

The plant growth has slowed right down and one of them is losing its leaves daily im forever picking them out the tank. This is probably due to the lack of light been able to penetrate the water.

So the last and final thing im going to try before i rip the whole tank apart is to have my pump on the aeration setting blowing air bubbles into the tank for the entire week that im off. This means i wont be dosing any ferts. The Co2 in this time will be low no doubt due to the surface agitation. I might even take a couple of fish out the tank just to try reduce the load on the filters even though im running two.

Im lost for things to try unless anyone else has any ideas.
 
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Hi Craig, Read this somewhere a long time ago. It maybe effective:unsure: You will need to take out your fish And go to LFS and get a few bags of water Daphnia the Daphnia eat the green water algae how long that takes:whistle: Then put the fish back and you have happy fish:) Ho one more thing if you do it cut a piece of stocking and place round the intake so the Daphnia don't get sucked in. Its worth a try as all else has failed (y)
 
daphnia will not clear it. You will crash the tank when the daphnia population crashes. UV filter is the best way I know of. Either that or start over. A UV sterilizer works 100% against green water. It isn't like these other methods, which are secondary to UV.
 
Its just strange as these secondary methods havnt even had a small effect on making it better apart from the blackout.

That was as close as i got to a clear water but obviously the plants were suffering badly at this point so i had to put the lights back on and within one day the green water was back to its full strength.

The smallest U.V sterilizer i can find on ebay is £20 and might be the only option. Im just hoping it will fit my external filter tubing as its only a small JAD EF-05 canister filter.

So im guessing you dont think a week of no EI dosing and some pump aeration will work?

Might be time to change my substrate to something better if it doesnt work out how i want.
 
No, I don't think that will work. It is not a lack of O2 or excess ferts that has caused the bloom. Once you have one they are pretty self sustaining. I've only ever used UV since I had one when I had a green water bloom. Happened to me twice, both times UV zapped it. I had a large UV sterilizer. I overbought for my tank at that time. You can find small tubing adapters to make it fit at most hardware stores in the plumbing section. Usually alongside the PVC pipe, barbed adapters would work fine. Get hose clamps if you are concerned about any leaks.
 
looks like im going to have to bite the bullet and buy my self one :(. Ill get one ordered for when i get back and get it installed.
 
Graig

My only comment is buy a quality UV and it will work a cheap unit might not work as efficiently and might not be very reliable, that means off to another one.

Keith:):)
 
Just a quick one to add to this dilemma.

What will my tank now be classed as regarding to the light intensity? Low, Medium or High? (24watt PL over 11g)

Its just for when im EI dosing my tank just to make sure im now not over dosing.

With my current EI dosing im adding 10ml which with every 10ml dose in my 48 litre tank equates to:

Nitrate - 6.1ppm
Phosphate - 1.9ppm
Potassium - 4.7ppm
Magnesium - 1.3ppm

like i mentioned above my phosphate and nitrate is now Nitrate 20ppm and phosphate 5ppm so iv stopped adding the Macro nutrients and just adding Micro does this mean that the tank could be lacking on Magnesium and Potassium by doing this?

cheers
 
well iv just setup the U.V sterilizer iv gone for a 7 watt bulb so its nice and small and compact but also it was only stated that i would need around 5 watt bulb to do the job for my size tank so i thought a 7 watt with a little more power might speed it up a bit as the containers were both the same size for these two bulbs.

Hopefully see some changes within a week maybe?
 
Hello I got this uv for my tank and it work great. The UV should clear your tank.
peme9eha.jpg


I actually fix the pipes and it looks like this now.
4ydarery.jpg


Now my tank is very clear. This is the side of the tank. I had ick problem that killed all my fish too with bacterial bloom and green water.
jyzubuqy.jpg
 
Looks amazing. Thanks for the reply. Your setup looks a bit more industrial then mine haha.

Where did you get all your pipe fixings from? I want to make a canister filter with a bit more power but small pipe work. Mine will only so 200l/h which is only roughly 3.2x my tank.
 
Craig

Those white fittings are standard irrigation water pipe fittings either try an Irrigation store or a good mixed hardware store.
Just remember to get the correct glue and follow all the instructions otherwise you will have water all over the place when you turn it on for the first time or very soon after.

Keith:):)
 
craig20102010 said:
Looks amazing. Thanks for the reply. Your setup looks a bit more industrial then mine haha.

Where did you get all your pipe fixings from? I want to make a canister filter with a bit more power but small pipe work. Mine will only so 200l/h which is only roughly 3.2x my tank.
Click to expand...

Home Depot or any pluming store.. I just use an ordinary pluming glue the purple and clear, if those are safe for our drinking water it should be safe for fish lol.
 
well im happy to report finally that the tank appears to be clearing up!!!

its day 3 now of using the UV sterilizer and its certainly working. The green water is barely green any more and it just looks cloudy in the tank now when the lights on.

I noticed the fish were struggling a bit, probably due to the algae dying and lack of oxygen so iv turned off the Co2 for today and give it a quick water change just to freshen up the oxygen supply. It seems to of helped.

Hopefully this is the start of things to come. Ill be leaving it on till the end of the weekend now to hopefully come back to a clear tank!

Thanks for all your help also.
 
latest update:

Tank is CLEAN!

the U.V filter worked a treat so im very greatful for all your advise on the matter. Shame i didnt buy one before ripping the two lights out.

Iv had a lot to compete with in the last 2 weeks. There was a power cut for a whole week so i was worried i was going to loose all my fish. Iv managed to save majority but as the powers came back on i lost two :(. Could of been worse though.. I tried everything to keep them alive.

so the U.V filter had only been running 6 days and the tank was pretty much completely clean after it then i had the power cut.

Now im trying to revive my plants back to life as they have suffered a bit due to no light! Hopefully they will start to grow again and regain their leaves..

Thanks once again though! Pictures to follow!
 
Craig

That is along while to be without power especially in the UK winter.

If you have and badly damaged or dead plant material I would remove it completely.

It will possibly stimulate new growth.

Keith:):)
 
Already done that :). Removed all the plants that looked dead and also cut back all the planting so I can get back on track.

Just hope I can see new growth in my red plant!
 
Thank god that green water is gone!

Sorry to butt in late in the game. I've found this to be a great read.

Craig20102010 you've engaged really well with the learning process and presented great info for consideration. You've listened well to the advice given and it is paying off. You will get to where you want to be faster than you think if you keep approaching problems this way. Well done for keeping your cool.

As Shawn said, nobody has an easy ride when they're starting out and that's all part of the fun. It's not the destination that makes it worthwhile, it's the journey to get there..

10 neon tetra 1x female guppy, 3 flying fox, 1 ram
Click to expand...

Definitely at the higher-end of stocking levels for a 45L tank. This means that your filter will get dirty more quickly, which also means more maintenance is required. This is definitely not the cause of your algae, but it's worth ticking it off the list. The other issue here is that your flow might be reduced, which makes it easier for algae to take over.

I have the following setup in my canister (from bottom to top):

Coarse sponge
Biomedia
Fine filter wool

Here's my maintenance regime:

I change the fine filter wool every 6-8 weeks to ensure good flow.

I rinse the coarse sponge in aquarium water to get rid of the built-up mulm every 3-4 months. Only gently.

I rinse the biomedia in aquarium water every 5-6 months to get rid of the built-up mulm. Very gently.

What's your filter setup/regime? Do you notice that your filter gets dirty pretty quickly?


Quote from James Planted Tank: Algae Guide..

"Seachem Flourish Excel, ..Easylife EasyCarbo and TNC Carbon.. can be used to fight algae issues and they do seem to work very well against certain types. You can either dose as instructions or two to three times overdose for about two weeks to hit the algae hard. They mainly kill BBA, but also can have an effect on cladophora, staghorn and hair algae."

I would start incorporating one of these into your dosing regime to increase the odds in your favour. You can use it on-going until you get the balance right in your tank, and then phase it back out when you've mastered things. Your tank is pretty small so a 500ml bottle would last you a long time, which keeps the expense down. You could double-dose it safely for a couple of weeks, then reduce to the recommended dose for on-going use. Plenty of people use it in conjunction with pressurised CO2.
 
GR1KTR said:
Thank god that green water is gone!

Sorry to butt in late in the game. I've found this to be a great read.

Craig20102010 you've engaged really well with the learning process and presented great info for consideration. You've listened well to the advice given and it is paying off. You will get to where you want to be faster than you think if you keep approaching problems this way. Well done for keeping your cool.

As Shawn said, nobody has an easy ride when they're starting out and that's all part of the fun. It's not the destination that makes it worthwhile, it's the journey to get there..



Definitely at the higher-end of stocking levels for a 45L tank. This means that your filter will get dirty more quickly, which also means more maintenance is required. This is definitely not the cause of your algae, but it's worth ticking it off the list. The other issue here is that your flow might be reduced, which makes it easier for algae to take over.

I have the following setup in my canister (from bottom to top):

Coarse sponge
Biomedia
Fine filter wool

Here's my maintenance regime:

I change the fine filter wool every 6-8 weeks to ensure good flow.

I rinse the coarse sponge in aquarium water to get rid of the built-up mulm every 3-4 months. Only gently.

I rinse the biomedia in aquarium water every 5-6 months to get rid of the built-up mulm. Very gently.

What's your filter setup/regime? Do you notice that your filter gets dirty pretty quickly?


Quote from James Planted Tank: Algae Guide..

"Seachem Flourish Excel, ..Easylife EasyCarbo and TNC Carbon.. can be used to fight algae issues and they do seem to work very well against certain types. You can either dose as instructions or two to three times overdose for about two weeks to hit the algae hard. They mainly kill BBA, but also can have an effect on cladophora, staghorn and hair algae."

I would start incorporating one of these into your dosing regime to increase the odds in your favour. You can use it on-going until you get the balance right in your tank, and then phase it back out when you've mastered things. Your tank is pretty small so a 500ml bottle would last you a long time, which keeps the expense down. You could double-dose it safely for a couple of weeks, then reduce to the recommended dose for on-going use. Plenty of people use it in conjunction with pressurised CO2.
Click to expand...
Hi thanks alot for the info,

Filter cleaning has been a bit hit and miss. On average iv been cleaning the filter every month. The filter wasn't ever that dirty really but I am running two to give me the 550l/h

I'm currently trying to make an external filter that will be larger then both the filters I have currently. It will have a power head in it with 800l/h so I have a bit of head room and so i can control the flow ill be using some taps in the pipe work.

This will allow me to get rid of my little external and my internal, freeing up some plugs and making it alot more tidy. Also offering the benefit of better filtration.

I used to use the easy carbo so I still have some of that in the cupboard. Ill start double dosing that until I get the plants back on track. That will probably take two weeks on its own.

Fish have been reduced to 10 neons and 3 flying fox. Ram has been lost :( and the guppy has been moved into another tank. I'm currently treating one of the tetra as he has lost his colour in his body and not eating and hiding. He is now in a separate tank been treated. I'm using internal worn and flukes treatment from water life as iv seen him flicking as well but no salt like granes on his body. I think he may die though :(.

Thanks again.
 
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