Cloudy water....i'm puzzled

[taz_boy]

hi taz,

did u have a CO2 system in ur 3ft planted tank?

yepz... i do have, but it's DIY...
cos the co2 ppm do change over the week....
i guess that contribute to my green water to some extent rite

[hirowen]

yepz... i do have, but it's DIY...
cos the co2 ppm do change over the week....
i guess that contribute to my green water to some extent rite

yep definitely..DIY co2 has it limitation..u will have trouble to acheive the right amount of co2 in ur 3ft tank..

btw i realised that u nvr state what light u are using(PL/ FL/ MH), the total wattage and the duration of lighting...

if u r using high intensive lighting, u may have to shorten ur duration of photoperiod..or else all the algae problem will boomba u..

for my case, i was using 2 x 55 watts PL light for my 2ft tank(6 wpg)..at first i has lot of spot algae and hair algae when the duration of my lighting is 12hr/day.
after that i introduced yamatos and malayan shrimp into the tank and did a 2 days blackout...most algae had permished since then...n now i reduced my duration to 7hrs/day.. algae is finally controlled!

[taz_boy]

oic...
i also realised that the imbalance of light and co2 really become problematic...
i'm using 2x36W PL lighting, switch on for 8hrs daily...
think that;s a bit too much, cos mine are low-light plants like moss and java ferns....

now, i'm reducing to 5 hours, hopefully that will aid in clearing my "green water"

[hirowen]

oic...
i also realised that the imbalance of light and co2 really become problematic...
i'm using 2x36W PL lighting, switch on for 8hrs daily...
think that;s a bit too much, cos mine are low-light plants like moss and java ferns....

now, i'm reducing to 5 hours, hopefully that will aid in clearing my "green water"

if still cannot then u shall try removing 1 x 36w and see how...

[taz_boy]

haiz......
2 months liao......still no cure leh....
i now reduced the lighting hours to 4 hours......
but still, the water is getting more cloudy....though not that "green"...

added bacterial etc.......not so sure wat else can be done...tried blackout method...but it came back again......

wat else to do??

[|squee|]

Give up and restart the tank. That's what I did. =/

[taz_boy]

Give up and restart the tank. That's what I did. =/

hmmm.wat u mean restart the tank.....
i've tear down once, i.e change 100% water etc....but seems like it come back again

[|squee|]

Ok, you can try the following:

1) Make sure CO2 is as good as you can make it to be.
2) Turn on lights 72W for 10 hours daily.
3) Do a complete water change, then leave the tank alone for a month. No fertilisation, no water change, nothing.

If it's really green water, it'll go away after whatever in the water that is causing it to bloom gets used up. Once it goes away, do a good water change, and cautiously add fertilisers to see how the tank responds.

If it's a bacterial bloom, I'll frankly be very puzzled. I'd try changing the filter and the media to see if things get better. 5 hours of lighting is... a kind of waste of time? *shrug*

Also, maybe you can list out the stuff you have in your tank. I used to get this cloudy crap too, won't go away. I told you in msn, I ended up tearing down the tank.

1) Substrate
2) Filter type
3) Filter media
4) Additives you add to the water
5) Any other equipment
6) Type of fertilisers used

The above is just a few random wild thoughts. This stuff can be caused by anything since you've not gotten rid of it for so long.

[Bug}{]

Experienced the same thing before after wasing the filter with tap water.Big mistake.Applied a 11w Uv light and water became extremely clear in a 3 days!Constant water change was useless.

[StanChung]

that is very interesting, you mean you place the uv lamp over the tank? with the other lights on? care to elaborate?

[neon]

that is very interesting, you mean you place the uv lamp over the tank? with the other lights on? care to elaborate?

I think he meant with UV light for aquarium with tank water runs thru it. Shape like a 'Z' .

This will kill good bacterial and algae in the water.