Think I Got Myself An Alge Bloom

[cuprajake]

hey guy's wondering if you can help, my tank is in iths 3rd week, it is a secondry tank setup from mature filters.

its a 50gal, 199 litre planted tank. with co2 and ei dosing.

stats are:

ph-6.4
kh-50ppm
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-10ppm
phosphate-5ppm(can't seem to get down regardless of the ammount of kno3 i dose)

on friday morning im quite sure i dosed both trace(15ml) and kno3(30ml) which i have now read isn't the best. friday tea i arrive home to a slightly cloudy tank,

on saturday i did not dose, so when i came home at tea it was still cloudy, so i did a near 50% water change,using tetra-safe de chlorinator and then waited till sunday to does my kn03.

its still cloudy, may even be worse, im only feeding the fish once a day and they are only getting a pinc, fish seem to be fine, i just can't seem to get my head round the cloudyness.

would the use of a uv steriliser work or do i let it run its course???

i added some filter floss to try to clear it but that dint work either

im quite stummped


jake

 

[cheesy feet]

I think i'm right that with high co2 levels and low oxygenated water you get cloudy water.Try and lower your co2 output.

 

[cuprajake]

not sure the co2 has been alot higher than that and had no effect,

i just checked nitrates and there at 20ppm today and 5ppm phosphate.

so not sure

 

[Maximumbob]

some people have noticed that when they add trace with macro's it can cause a cloudy tank.... One thing to bear in mind when doing the Sherlock Holmes routine

Personally if you wanted a quick fix I'd run a carbon filter/purigen for 2 weeks to clear up the water then start again.

 

[Dave Spencer]

I wouldn`t recommend lowering CO2. You want it stable at 30ppm. Your phosphates are a little high, but should be no problem, and nitrates are good at 20ppm. Is it milky cloudy?

If so, I think I have heard of people dosing Iron along with other ferts and making the water go cloudy, so it could be the iron in the trace. It could also be a bacteria bloom, which may well run its course and clear. I`ve no experience of anything like this, so I am just guessing a bit.

Dave.

 

[cuprajake]

i just read that excess nutrients will benefit the bloom, i just did a small water change, would it be best to lay off the ei dosing for a small while till it clears.

it seems that on friday when i od the kno3/trace i may of induced the bloom, now its getting rid of the bloody thing.

like i say there is no green tinge yet

jake

 

[cuprajake]

well i've been reading and getting some conflicting advice really.

they say it can be because of high nitrate but your meant to does high for the ei-do i stop?

then they say it could be food and to try not to feed for a few days to starve the bacteria but im only feeding a tiny ammount once a day?

then they say you should turn off the lights for a few days? but dont fancy that


the other option is possibly a uv sterilaser.

 

[JamesC]

As your tank is new it could be a bacterial bloom. Given time it should clear up on it's own.

Out of curiousity who is 'they' you keep refering to? Some traces can also cause hazy water, especially if you have hard water. Tropica Plant Nutrition is very good and uses a very good chelator which doesn't cause water clouding. There's no problem mixing traces and NO3. It's mixing traces and PO4 that can sometimes cause problems. Depends which trace you use. I've never seen any problems mixing them and I use Tropica traces.

Don't stop EI. Try to keep things stable, as constant fiddling around will be to the detriment of the plants. Bacterial blooms are pretty common with new tanks so I wouldn't worry too much. A UV will help but if it were me I'd just give it time and see how it goes. Trying Tropica traces would also rule out if it is your traces causing problems.

Also don't trust what your NO3 test kit reads. A reading of 20ppm could be anywhere between 5ppm and 40ppm or even more out. PO4 kits are just as bad.

James

 

[cuprajake]

'they' are just the views of people on the board through topics i've read.

my water is very soft its about 2.8dkh the trace is from aqua essentials, and the mixing is good to know as i only dose the kno3 and trace at the due to the high phosphate levels.

time is the annoying thing,

shall have to wait and see lol

jake

 

[cuprajake]

just so you know, the filters i have are:

penn-plax 1000- For Aquariums up to 100 Gallons-Pumps 265 gph

and a fluval 2+ internal

is this enough filtration,

im thinking that i mite need to add more media for the bloom to attach to,

is this correct

jake

 

[RYO]

I went through a similar bloom when i first set up one of my tanks. After numerous checks, tests and copious amounts of net searches , I pinned my bloom down to my water conditioner. I was to heavy handed with my dosing (OK!!! read too idle to measure )
Lots of conditioners have plant extracts and can cause this. Hope this helps or at least gets something else struck off your list of could be's

 

[sophos9]

Algae bloom fed by the bumper zero day nutrient load, common - I experienced the same

Dont mess with CO2, as Dave Spencer said, stability is key here for both plant growth and fishies....