# Cloudy water



## BonesCJ (Jan 13, 2003)

I am not sure if this is green water but my tank tends to have slightly cloudy water that seems to get worse throughout the day. Amonia is 0, Nitrites are 0 and Nitrates are 10-20 ppm. I use Root tabs but do not add any liquid fertelize as it caused massive algae blooms not on the plants but again in the water. Anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing this? The top off water i use is straight from the tap, should i test that for nitrates or nitrites?


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

Oh man.. here we go again... 
I dont want to sound like a broken record so I will post these 2 things... 8) 

*This one has my opinion...* http://www.plantedtank.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1575&highlight=
*This one has my photos...*http://www.buckmanshome.com/Angelfishtank.html


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

However it has just occurred to me...If you are maintaining nitrates at that level in that tank without adding any additionally, then your plants are not very hungry...they should be wiping out your nitrates... do you have low lighting?


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## BonesCJ (Jan 13, 2003)

I belive so, its a 25 gallon tank with 30 watts of lighting.... so 1.2 watts per gallon, my plants grow pretty nicely and have not really had any problems in that department.


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

hmmm...
With Anacharis and Java Ferns in there you should definately be at 0 on the nitrates because they draw nutrients directly from the water column and the nitrates are the first thing they go after....that lighting is very low, Im surprised you have any growth at all...a 25 gallon tank is a tall tank too if Im not mistaken ? 
How long are you leaving the lights on for and also you do realize that leaving lights on longer does not benifit the plants , it will only benifit the algae right ? 

Just thinkin out loud... :roll:


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## BonesCJ (Jan 13, 2003)

I have the lights on for about 10 hours a day, i actually get decent growth from all my plants including my new Giant Hygrophila and an Amazon Sword. You are correct that it is a tall tank. I did find something last night though, out of curiosity i checked my tap water and it shows 10-20 ppm of nitrates right out of the tap, so in a way i am adding some nutrients to the tank with each change over. Another factor is until a week ago i did have 2 goldfish in the tank and i know they produce Massive amounts of waste, it could be just cycling the excess out of the tank. Did a 20% water change last night and added a water clarifier and this morning it was much better, but left the lights off and put on a blackout towel for the day.


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## BonesCJ (Jan 13, 2003)

Well after the water change, clarifier and blackout period the water is now crystal clear and has been so for the last 3 days so I am happy, did check the GH and KH though and the numbers are quite high, will be using DeIonized water from the grocery store for a while, KH is 7, GH is 12. Water out of the Tap is KH of 9 and GH of 16. Hoping to get both numbers down to 3-5 so plants will grow better.


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## RXTrev (Mar 28, 2003)

Just a shot in the dark, but it could be high phosphates...since you have low light levels the plants might not be absorbing all of them, its proven by ur high nitrates. Most green water is due to high phosphates in your water.


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## BonesCJ (Jan 13, 2003)

Well Phosphates did seem to be the problem, the Fertelize i was adding to the water was Leaf Zone which adds Iron and Phosphates directly to the water, after each adding i was getting massive GW blooms, switched to a different brand of Liqud ferts with just iron and other Micro's and have seen better growth and NO GW algea blooms


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## Steve Hampton (Jul 22, 2002)

BonesCJ said:


> Well Phosphates did seem to be the problem, the Fertelize i was adding to the water was Leaf Zone which adds Iron and Phosphates directly to the water, after each adding i was getting massive GW blooms, switched to a different brand of Liqud ferts with just iron and other Micro's and have seen better growth and NO GW algea blooms


No, Leaf Zone doesn't contain phosphates. Leaf Zone is a 0-0-3 liquid fertilizer that contains chelated iron and potassium...no phosphates. So, the switch and the end of the GW may have been coincidental.


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## newplantguy (Nov 6, 2002)

I just got over a serious green water problem myself (so far anyway). 

Make SURE you vacuum your gravel well. I wasn’t doing much gravel vacuuming (because I was concerned about hurting my plants roots) and the extra nutrients caught up with me. Even after water polishing with my D1 the green came back in full force within a week. After some thorough gravel vacuums and water changes, all seems well. 

I still use the D1 for crystal clear clarity but I am pretty sure it would look acceptable without it. Just my $.02

Ryan


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