I am having a lot of trouble with the water in my 29 gal tank. The water is always greenish and cloudy. With algae control chemicals and some to clear the water. It will get better after a few days of treatment and stay ok for a few days. I have a 29gal tank with a whisper 20-40 filter and an aqua clear 20-50. I have no live plants, the tank is not overstocked, the light is on for 8 hours a day, and we do regular water changes. I am getting very unhappy with this tank. Nothing but problems. Please help

Do you have direct sunlight on the tank? What are your nitrite and nitrate levels? What is the total wattage on your lights?

SF had a similar problem with one of his tanks. I wonder if he might have been able to fix his problem.

There is no direct sun light, It is in a well lit room but over in the corner away from direct sun light. we bought a new light for the tank about 3 months ago, its a dual with one regular and one blue light. the watts are 10,000k. The girl at our local fish store told us that would be perfectly fine for what we have. Ive also noticed some stress problems with two fish. They tend to freak out and then float around the tank for several minutes until the regain themselves and can swim again. I dont know what to do.

I test the water for the big four and post the number here
Answer as many of these as you can it will help us figure it out

Ammonia:

Ammonia tester used (salicylate or Nessler-reagent based?):

Nitrite:

Nitrate:

Are you testing with dipsticks?:

pH:

KH:

Temperature:

Water change amount/frequency:

Tank size/how long in operation:

Filtration:

Water additives/conditioners/pH adjusters:

What, how much and how often are the fish/frogs fed:

Tank inhabitants (number, size and type of fish/frogs):

New additions/changes to the tank:

Rick

Did the problem start before or after you got the new lights? Green water would indicate an algae bloom. I would keep the lights off and get some Phosphate Remover, not sure of the type for aqua clear. Also you need to check nitrite and nitrate levels as dirtydawg10 mentioned. Make sure there is no light getting to the tank.

I test the water for the big four and post the number here
Answer as many of these as you can it will help us figure it out

Ammonia: .75

Ammonia tester used (salicylate or Nessler-reagent based?): ?

Nitrite:0

Nitrate:?

Are you testing with dipsticks?: no we are using API liquid testers

pH: 7.0

KH:

Temperature: 76

Water change amount/frequency: 15% every week

Tank size/how long in operation: 29 gal / 4 mo

Filtration: Tetra whisper 40 gal and an aqua clear 20-50

Water additives/conditioners/pH adjusters: API 7.0 powder, API Algae fix

What, how much and how often are the fish/frogs fed: flake food once a day

Tank inhabitants (number, size and type of fish/frogs):

New additions/changes to the tank: None

I would get away for the API proper pH. It is a phosphate buffer and does a good job at stabilizing the pH but adds phosphate to the tank that can contribute to algae blooms

Rick

The blue light is actinic light which promotes algae growth. That is good for SW tanks with coral but not so good for freshwater. Try removing the blue bulb and see if that clears it up.

Also you should have ammonia levels at zero in a cycled tank. Has your tank been cycled?

The 10,000K is the temperature/color of the bulbs you are using. The watts per bulb should have a W after it not a K.

Good advise, the fish are likely being stressed from the ammonia. I would test the tap water and see if you have any ammonia readings. I would also do 25-35% water changes a week. It sounds like you have a waste (nitrate) build up and along with the blue light you are creating algae. The cloudiness is likely from the ammonia too..the beneficial bacteria is trying to multiply causing it to be cloudy.

When you do filter cleanings you want to make sure you are not rinsing the media in tap water. I agree with cooltow, stop using the proper ph and I would also stop dosing the algae fix. Hope this helps you out.

The tank has been cycled, we have had it for about 4 months now. also the light is 18w each. since its a dual light, both the natural light and the blue light are both 18w.
Stop the algae fix?? Wont that help take it out?

What the pH of your water out of the tap?
I'm not a big fan of adding a lot of chemicals to the water.
A declor if needed but adding pH adjusters, algae fix, etc. just makes it more difficult to maintain a stable environment. IMHO

Quote:

ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION No data for AlgaeFix. Refer to data for ingredients, which follows: DIMETHYLIMINOETHYLENE DICHLORIDE, ETHOXYLATE: The material is classified as an ecotoxin* because the Fish LC50 (96 hours) is less than or equal to 0.1 mg/l * Classification of Substances as Ecotoxic (Dangerous to the Environment) Appendix 8, Table 1 Compiler's Guide for the Preparation of International Chemical Safety Cards: Cationic substances, and their polymers and those polymers that are reasonably anticipated to become cationic in the natural aquatic environment (pH range 4-9) may be environmental hazards. Exempt from this concern are those polymers to be used only in solid phase, such as ion-exchange resins, and where the FGEW (Functional Group Equivalent Weight) of cationic groups is not 5000 and above. Cationic groups such as alkylsulfoniums, alkylphosphoniums and quaternary ammonium polymers are highly toxic to fish an other aquatic organisms. Similarly potentially cationic groups such as amines and isocyanates are of concern. Some cationics, however, may fall into the category of PLCs (polymers of low concern) provided they possess low charge density, and/or are not water-soluble or are not self-dispersing polycarboxylates or poly- (aromatic or aliphatic) sulfonate polymers.

Because I work for The Department of Environmental Protection I look up everything.
You can skip a lot of it but the part I underlined is the important part

Rick

The tank that I had trouble with was one a friend of mine picked up at an estate sale, so I didn't have to worry about things living in it. After I set it up, it had a major algae problem like yours.

I'm not sure if it was a combination of things or if one in particular took care of it all, but on day one, I covered the tank with a towel to completely block all light coming in. On day two I had started putting Flourish Excel in the tank. After that I let it sit for a few days, and then grabbed some plants (two marimo balls and a small bit of java fern) unwrapped the tank and put them in. I think I put in a few feeder guppies too, but I'm not positive about that.

The day after the plants went in I started using a timer on the light and it's been a few weeks now, but that algae hasn't come back yet.

we had live plants in the tank for a long time but they kept on denigrating and adding waste to the tank. I was using fertilizer too. The light has been off all day, looks the same though. I'm thinking that we just has too much light, we decided to take the dual light off and stick with a regular 17 watt bulb. Maybe the light was too strong for the plants too. we also had a blue light that would turn on for a couple hours at night to make it seem like dusk. we are just gonna eliminate all blue light.

Let us know how it goes.