Water problem

crazy8

crazy8

Member
My water is not clear at all. Tank has been set up since May/June and all of a sudden I have gotten real problems. My tank has been creating a ton of algae lately and now teh water is so cloudy you can hardly see to the other side. I just did a small water change and it didn't help much at all. I had a fish die last night and a couple others aren't looking too well.
Ammonia has gone up to .5, but I am not sure if that is from the dead fish. Trates test at 0. PH at 8.2 temp at 80. I have been adding calcium lately thinking I would be able to add some corals soon.
I really have no idea of why the water is so cloudy at all and am looking for any and all possibilities.
 
crazy8

crazy8

Member
As stated, nitrates are at 0. Water is tap and I understand that is a problem, but it has been fine up till now.
Lighting is 4 65W bulbs....2 10k 2 at. Running 10 hrs/day cut down to 6 now to help with algae.
 
aarone

aarone

Active Member
Can you test for phosphates? What are you feeding also?
I meant to say nitrites. sorry bout that.
Some food has an excess of phosphates. Over feeding can attribute to this also. Algae feeds on phosphates. Some food an also cause clouding. I would recommend running activated arbon in your system. And if you an test for phosphates, please do. To lower them if they are high use phosphate sponge. They are little whitegranules. Put them in an old panty hose. and just put it in the water. take it out after a few days.
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
Your water supply probably has phosphates and it took time to catch up...is the cloudiness green or white..probably green...
Algea in the tank is probably hair algea...a very opportunistic type of microalgea...it is wicked...once its cycle starts it will die off when nutrients are low, decompose thus creating new nutrients for new growth.
Switch to RO/DI water...larger water change, decrease lighting, (check bulbs for age as well), keep plenty of salt premixed as you will have to do a couple of water changes a week until it is gone...also a strong supporting cleanup crew as well.
If you cant get RO/DI...the water changes will not help too much.
Never rely on any one thing to keep your tank algea free...
 
crazy8

crazy8

Member
Yes, it is green and I figured it was related to my algae bloom. Now how bad are these phosphates for my fish. I don't test for them now, but they must be exploding. I have lost 2 fish the last couple of days. My other 3 fish are not exactly as active as before either. I have cut WAY back on feeding and I fear that I may have actually starved one of the fish. The other I lost was a mandarin which I hear are hard to keep in pods without a separate fuge also. So I am actually hoping that both starved and didn't die as a result of water condition. Otherwise my other fish are in trouble. My Calc levels are right at 400 as I have finally been supplementing them up. I have very little coraline algae however as my green algae is dominating.
I don't have a RO/DI unit however I guess I will have to invest. I have turned off lighting completely yesterday and will only turn on for an hour or so each evening for a while. My lights have those 1 watt "moon" lights so I can still see in the tank "barely".
Without RO/DI I can't expect things to improve with regular water changes? I am afraid to do too much too fast for fear of losing Nemo et all. Oddly enough, I am finally able to keep some invertebrates as before I don't think I had enough supplements and Iodine to allow them to be healthy. I have enough salt to change out my entire water. I also have a 20 gallon setup that has no filtration other than waterflow and live rock. Would it be safe to put my three small fish in there for a day while I change out the entire 55 gal of water in the large tank? Also would this cause a mini cycle as the LR would be exposed to air for a short period of time as well. I would really like to clean the tank before I buy the RO/DI. Mostly because there is no way I am paying local petstore prices for one and I hear that the membrane life varies on those greatly.
 
cope787

cope787

Member
i dont know if you are using it but are you using something that detoxifies the water to make ur tap water safe for fish?
 
crazy8

crazy8

Member
well, on water changes of course I am using a salt that does that. As far as refills go, I use Kent's to do that. Problem is just with the looks. I actually think the two dead fish may have starved as stated above. The firefish that died always hid at the bottom of the tank and as sad as this is, I don't think he would come up for food in the murky waters. As for the mandarin, it may have nothing to do with the dirty looking water. But I need to address the way the water looks for me to enjoy the tank. I actually think that the fish can probably handle all the algae in the tank. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
cope787

cope787

Member
the manderin most likely did starve. they are a tricky fish and will mostly likely only survive in a well established tank will live rock and live sand. salt doesnt detoxify the water. the water must be detoxified first, then the salt added. as far as i know the algae goes through stages. from what i noticed in my tank it started off green then went to another color. ur tank is recently new so you have to give it some time. invest in some snails to clean algae. they help alot
 
dreeves

dreeves

Active Member
First off...the onlly thing you could probably purchase economicallt at an LFS is the actual tank...that is due to high shipping cost through common carriers...
There are many places which sell RO/DI units for very reasonable...and when you look at getting one...dont look just for your tank..also look at the purity for your own drinking water...can't beat the taste of 99.99% pure water...
The algea, once deprived of the nutrients will die off, decompose thus creating a source for new algea to grow. Your goal is to keep the nutrient level low enough to prevent new algea growth. To do that...you need to do water changes often (I did mine after I got my RO/DI about 20% every two to three days) and invest in a cleanup crew...the snails and such will consume remaining algea prior to it being able to die off and decompose.
Battling microalgea is time consuming...it will give you no break what so ever..as long as you are using regular tap water...if it contains the nitrates and/or phosphates...you are pretty much defeating the purpose of the water change...
I do not think it to be wise to add any additional non-cleanup type animals until you have everything under control and sailing smoothly...
Patience is a very important element in this hobby...
 
jrittz

jrittz

Member
I dont see this question asked so i'll say it..
Is your tank regularly exposed to sun light? If your tank is exposed or is in direct sun light, your algae problem can get out of hand extremely fast and this is something you might want to verify.
Jrittz
 
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