Cloudy Water

[deadfish]

Were do i begin?? All my community fish are ok and in good health. My problem is my water, it is cloudy(sort of a greeny colour) and i cant get it clear. Its been cloudy for about 3 months now. It all started when i changed my filter(fulval U2) and the tank is 120 litres. Since then ive treated the water with all sorts of chemicals and nothing worked. I then through away 90% of the water and slowly re-fill the tank again over a period of weeks. Water turned cloudy again. I was doing a weekly 15% water change to try to keep the water clear, again didint work! At the minute im doing a 10% water change twice a week and it isnt working! the water will only stay clear for a max of 24hours if im lucky.

Anyone every had this problem or no how to fix it. im completely out of ideas...HELP

 

[alex.wardle]

what you need to do is massive water changes daily. make sure it is up to temp and has had some form of declore added. a week of daily 50% water changes is a good start to make.
10& twice weekely will do nothing to the tank. drain it right down so the fish have got just enough water to cover them and then refill will (up to temp/ declored)water.
then daily 50%for the rest of the week.
You do not have to worie about adding water after a large change over a period of days like you said as long as here it comes again,(its up to temp and declored)
What i do in my 125litter tank for a water change is.
.Removed my water with a gravel vac
.Disconect the vac so i am just left with the hose
.Fill up 2 buckets with the water i am going to add
.Place the 1st bucket above the tank. (set of step ladders is good for this)
.Place the hole hose in the bucket so there are no air pockets in it
.Plug one end with my thumb
.Put this end in the tank then remove my thumb, gravity will do the rest for you(the bucket should then start to empty into the tank)
.Simply then keep topping the 1st bucket up with your 2nd bucket
If you are quick enough you can then run of refill your 2nd bucket with luke warm water ad you declore then top back up the 1st bucket.
(I have just about got it down to a tee now)
Hope this has helped
any furth questions dont hesitate to ask

 

[drobbyb]

Sounds like green water, and water changes are not going to fix it. Green water is caused by the presence of ammonia and light. There does not have to be much ammonia to trigger it though, less than what our test kits can measure.

I recommend the "black out method." What you do is perform an 80% or larger water change and cover the tank COMPLETELY so that no light gets in. Turn off the lights and let it sit for 3 days. Do not feed during this time, don't worry your fish will be fine. After 3 days perform another 80% water change to remove the now dead algae. This should clear any free floating algae (green water), but if the cause is not determined it can relapse.

Also, you can purchase a UV sterilizer and add it to your filtration system. This will clear the algae, but the problem of what is causing the excess ammonia will still be there.

There is also another way to clear it using daphnia. Sometimes you can find live cultures at your LFS, but not always.

 

[karin]

I second the black out method and the UV sterilizer has worked wonders for my green water issue.