Pea Green Water and Red/Orange NitrAte

[LongNY]

Algae is overtaking my tank. My water is Pea Green. The fish seem just great, since I just got over a "Tank of Ich". My water quality is fantastic except that my NitrAtes are around 80. ) I am making water changes to reduce the NitrAte levels and to slowly clear out the Green Water without resorting to treatments... I try never to use meds except de-chlorinator... any advice?.... Thanks John NYC

 

[clunkster]

is your tank planted? do you have lights on your tank? is your tank hit by natural sunlight? plants and shading will help to reduce the amount of nutrients & light available to the algae if you have to much light it will encourage some algae problems do you have any algae eating fish?

 

[Rivermud76]

You have the right idea. You are simply experiencing and Algea bloom due to high nitrates. The best way to deal with it is water changes, nothing drastic. Once the Nitrate levels return to a normal level you should see the water clear up. If you removed your filters due to the ICH episode you may be experiencing an issue similar to new tank syndrome. Your bacterial colony should come back fairly soon as you most likely have a minor colony in your sand or gravel.

 

[LongNY]

Thanks for the help...

I do have alot of light, I leave the tank light on for 14-16 hours a day.... I do have live plants that are thriving ..... and I have one Pleco...

My plan is to do water changes to reduce the NitrAtes and reduce the light, (hoping it won't have a negative effect on my live plants).

Any suggestions as to adding any other types of fish that might eat algae? Although the one Pleco did a fantastic job in record time.... the tank is clean of algae growing on plants and gravel...it's just that I have green water.....

I have 2 redtail sharks, 12 Tiger Barbs and 1 Pleco....

Thanks again, John NYC

 

[Steve Adams]

I did the blakout method on my tank to get rid of the bloom plus some uv light to help it along...Keep the waterchanges up and get some floss for your filter and keep changing that, worked great for mine.

 

[LongNY]

It's working just fine..... I think it's great to correct problems in a tank without going crazy over meds. Thanks to this forum.... John NYC

 

[@ombomb]

Your plants need 12 hours a day at the very most, I'd recommend 5.5 hours on, 2 hours off and 5.5 hours on. It'll be more than enough for the plants and will help keep the algae down.

Do you know the Nitrate level of your tapwater?
How often do you change the water?

80 is very high and getting to the level that could harm your fish.

Assuming that your tap water is a lot less that 80, increasing the frequency of your water changes will help to stop this happening agin.