Yellow tinged water

[Neil189]

Hi all

I am looking for some advice please i have yellow tinged water and I'm finding this a little frustrating, I set up my new tank 12 weeks ago (fluval flex56l) i have it planted with jave fern and s.repens the are 6 pristella tetra 2 dwarf gourami and 10 blue carbon shrimp, I also have a small peice of driftwood..from day one my tank has never gone through the nitrogen cycle and after research I figured that this was because I have planted it heavily i test vigorously and have never seen any nitrite or nitrate then suddenly 2wks ago my water turned a yellowy colour...first thoughts tannin...I took out my driftwood boiled the life out of it for around 8 hours did a 50% water change and left it it for a few days....no change....so... after some research i decide to try purigen that has been in my tank a week now and I'm not seeing any results the water still has this yellow tinge to it, I also have some carbon in with my media, any ideas/advice would be greatly appreciated i have attached a photo of my aquarium many thanks

 

[Neil189]

Anyone?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Planting heavily does not "prevent" a cycle from happening, first of all...have you tested for ammonia?
My first guess for the yellow tinge would be the DW...what kind is it?...some types, like mopani for instance, will put out tannins for a VERY long time, even after boiling...

 

[Neil189]

I have..just.. the ammonia is at 0..I'm not sure what type dw it is...what is throwing me is that this only started 2 weeks ago the tank was clear up until then(10wks) with the driftwood in there the whole time

 

[Slaphppy7]

Hmmm, strange....dumb question, but lighting hasn't changed, either?

 

[Neil189]

Hmmm, strange....dumb question, but lighting hasn't changed, either?

No..if anything I have reduced the hours as too much lighting did cross my mind

 

[Slaphppy7]

Have you rinsed the Purigen since you began using it?
I have no experience with it, though, never used it...

 

[Neil189]

Have you rinsed the Purigen since you began using it?
I have no experience with it, though, never used it...

When I've looked into it it should be ok yet as its only been in a week ill get some bleach tomorrow and recharge it but in all honesty it hasn't made any difference....I'm currently scratching a bald spot into my head??

 

[Neil189]

You can see the light cutting through the off

colour

 

[mrsjoannh13]

The tannins from driftwood would make the water brown kind of like tea.

It kind of looks like maybe an algae bloom of some sort? How long are your lights on each day?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Maybe it's coming from that hollowed rock deco, that took a while to start tinting the water (?)
I'm stumped, too...can you get a pic of just the DW?

 

[Neil189]

Just took one fish seem happy enough

 

[Neil189]

I try to keep the lights on between 8 &10hrs

 

[Slaphppy7]

That looks like mopani, to me...when you boiled it, did alot of tannins come out?

 

[mcordelia]

Beautiful fish by the way. I would put my money on the driftwood as well, next thing I would do is soak it in a bucket and change out the water daily until the water stays clear for a couple of days.

What substrate are you using?