# cloudy/greenish water



## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

i was away from my house for 4 days, last friday till monday... i had my dad feed my fish on friday night and sunday afternoon... the same way that i do everyday... when i got home, my tank was cloudy/or had a greenish tint to it... before we left on friday, i did my usual water change, and i cleaned my filters like i do every other week. the only thing i did differently was i scraped glass to remove algea under the sand, and i did a good stirring of the sand because i hadn't done that in a while... what would make my water turn??? i am gonna test my parameters and do another waterchange tonight and maybe thurs depending on what is going on... i am just sitting here at work trying to figure what went wrong... if anyone might have any thoughts, please share... my tank is a 90 gallon that houses a mix of malwai cichlids...


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## Cich of it all (Mar 29, 2007)

Sounds like an algae bloom to me. No big deal. Keep up the water changes and try leaving the lights off for at least a day. 
You might try a chemical remedy - I've used Tetra algae control and it works great, although don't make a habit of using it; I've heard overuse of it can actually cause a dependency.
To ensure it never ever ever ever happens again, look into a UV sterilizer. I'm sure someone will tell you they are unnecessary, but I'm totally sold on them. They make your water look invisible.


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

quick update for anyone who cares 

i went home after work on tues, and did a 25% water change, and on wednesday, came home and my tank looked a little worse... so i did another water change last night, and i might do another one tonight depending on what the tank looks like... i turned off my light last night, so it won't come on at all today. so we'll see what happens... i am hoping it goes away soon... although as long as it is just an algea bloom, i'll be ok, but i just restocked the tank not so long ago, so all my fish except for pleco is about 2 inches maybe in length... i just hope nothing happens to them... anyway, that is what is going on with me right now...


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

oh, and i did check my parameters, the onlything off, and only off by a little was my ammonia...


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## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

It sounds like there was some overfeeding. that caused a small ammonia spike, which then fuelled the algae growth

use something like Prime to bind the ammonia into a non toxic form. then allow things to settle. consider leaving the lights off for several days. you may wish to treat with a flocculant to catch the dead algae cells and bind them in a form the filter can then catch.

a UV steriliser will kill unicellular free floating algae. however to teat a one of case like this its not really worth it.


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

well, for anyone that is following this... my water is still all crazy green and ****... i went out and bought new bulbs for the light, thinking that maybe that had something to do with it... i fixed my timer, now my tank will only be on for 5-6 hours a day, and i bought a new test kit...
so, here are my current parameters as of yesterday.

PH









Ammonia









Nitrite









Nitrate









now, everything seems to be fine with the parameters... does an algea bloom just affect the water color, or would it affect the parameters as well... i am still trying to figure out what is going on with my tank... if anyone thinks of anything, or wants more info, just let me know... i'll see what i can do.

oh, this is what my tank looked like, and what it looks like now.

before










after









thanks


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## kornphlake (Feb 12, 2004)

An algae bloom usually ends up being a lot more green, like pea soup. The best way to get rid of green water is to just leave it alone, don't do water changes don't add chemicals just let it run it's course. Whatever it is in the water that triggered the bloom will eventually be consumed and the algae or bacteria will die off.


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## Barbie (Feb 13, 2003)

Algae is a plant. Give it enough nutrient (probably coming in from your tap water at this point) and enough light and it will flourish. Stop feeding the tank, turn the lights off and tape black plastic on the glass to remove the outside light sources. Continue with filtration and peek at the fish a couple times a day to make sure noone is gasping or distressed. If it's gone, or quite a bit more clear after 3 days, odds are good it was definitely algae. As mentioned, UV sterilization is the easiest way to combat the issue, but even a micron filter in a HOT Magnum style canister will do the job of polishing it out of the water, for quite a bit less money. Be careful with flocculants they can cause more problems than they fix at times. IMO, that is definitely an algae bloom and the steps recommended to combat them will clear you up in no time. Good luck!

Barbie


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

agin, for those of you watching this post, i am happy to inform you all that my water has returned to normal... i must give my thanks to kornphlake... this whole time i have pretty much been leaving my lights off, but i was doing water changes almost every other day... so, i stopped doing the waterchanges, and now it is clear, so thanks kornphlake... the reason i kept doing water changes though was because i didn't have a test kit that tested nitrate, and i wanted to make sure that that wasn't the issue... once i got the new test kit, and realized all my parameters were good, i then figured that it was the algea bloom, which all of you thought that it was... so, i left it alone for 3 days, and now i am back in business... thanks again EVERYONE, for all your help... 
brent


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