Tropical Fish Forum

Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => Fishtank Filtration and Cycling => Topic started by: Redbelly on September 12, 2017, 07:28:21 PM

Title: Advice required
Post by: Redbelly on September 12, 2017, 07:28:21 PM
Evening All,

I Love my fish and one of the reasons I have started keeping fish again is because I find them so relaxing to watch but the last couple of months have been far from relaxing. I have had real issues with algae blooms and trying to get it under control to the extent that in the end i did the hole leaving them in darkness for 3/4 days and then doing a 3/4 water change, after doing this the water was crystal clear and I thought I was on to a winner, I carried on doing small water changes every 5 days to try and maintain this transparency however now a few weeks after the black out the water has started to go milky again. All my levels are fine ! I'm at my whits end with it at the moment and just want to get back to enjoy my tank instead of constantly worrying about it..... and advice would be very much appreciated.

Some other info is that I now only have the lights on for a maximum of 7 hours a day and my tempature is a steady 80. The Tank is in my kitchen and does receive some natural day light but it hasn't been particularly bright recently.  Have a brand new bulb in the aquarium along with one older one.   
Title: Re: Advice required
Post by: Matt on September 12, 2017, 07:45:39 PM
Does the tank receive direct sunlight i.e. the Sun coming through the window directly hits the tanks vs the room is bright.. does that make sense??
Title: Re: Advice required
Post by: Redbelly on September 12, 2017, 08:27:42 PM
Hi Matt,

Yes the tank does recieve direct sunlight not sure what you mean vs bright room ?
Title: Re: Advice required
Post by: Matt on September 12, 2017, 08:32:55 PM
Direct sunlight should really be avoided if at all possible.  One corner of my tank recieves direct sunlight and that section is always the worst high with green spot algae.  Is there anything you can do to limit this by moving the tank of leaving curtains strategically shut during the day for exampe?  Another option would be to install a backround on one side of the tank??
Title: Re: Advice required
Post by: Redbelly on September 12, 2017, 08:55:00 PM
Hi Matt,

Thank you for the advice. It sounds like I'm going to have to move my tank as it is the front of the tank which catches the sun light.
Title: Re: Advice required
Post by: MarquisMirage on September 12, 2017, 09:30:04 PM
I don't think this is an algae thing.  I think it's a bacterial bloom so most algae solutions won't work here.  The good news is that it isn't a sign of an unhealthy tank even though it can be a bit of an eye sore.  I had this in my quarantine tank at one point.  The general advice I found was to just leave it be and it will eventually go away.  I considered using an anti-bacteria treatment but didn't want to risk the good bacteria.  Anyhoo, I went with either API Stresscoat+ or AquaCare Tap Water Conditioner (not sure which one now but these are the ones in my fish treatment box) which cleared the water.