cloudy, green water

Q&A about aquarium maintenance

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mickeysnead
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:26 pm

cloudy, green water

Post by mickeysnead »

hi,
I have a 80 gal. tank. it has been up and running for 5 months. i have 8 cichlids in the tank two filters. the water chem. is perfect. just checked it. but, for some reason i have a very cloudy and green water. i have done many water changes to try and fix the problem but i still have green cloudy water. i have had cichlid tanks for many years and this is the first time i have had this water trouble. it is driving me crazy. i have no idea what is wrong. the bacteria is fruitul and doing well. HELP!!!!!!!!!!!
Lisachromis
Posts: 24
Joined: Tue Dec 02, 2003 8:52 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Re: cloudy, green water

Post by Lisachromis »

Could you tell me the water parameters you tested and what the results are? Also, if possible can you tell me the best by date of the tests? How long do you keep any tank lights on for? Is the tank close to a window?

The cause of most algae blooms is too much nutrients in the water or too much light. The most common cause of excess nutrients in aquariums is when aquarists overfeed their fish. Another cause could be too much phosphate in your local water supply. This "algae bloom" or "green water" is a free floating unicellular algae. There are chemicals on the market that take care of this, but personally I don't think this is the best way to deal with it. It will happen again and again until the problem is discovered and fixed. Some people recommend turning off all the lights (and some go as far as covering the tank) until the bloom goes away. I would suggest keep doing the water changes in the meantime. If the cause is excess nutrients then this will remove them (unless it's a high phosphate in your water) and the problem will eventually clear up. Water changes will also benefit your fish anyways.

Good luck!
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