# Annoying cloudy water....



## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

I notice sometimes in my 100 gallon tank that the water is slightly cloudy just enough to irritate the crap outta me. I look down the length of the tank and I see a green layer on my front glass that is very unnoticable. I have also noticed this same looking algae on one of my lotus leafs. I recently upgraded to 2wpg from 1.2 wpg and I am now dosing kno3(.5 tsp), k2so4(1tsp), and csm+b(1/8tsp). I dosed the kno3 and k2so4 on sunday(at wc) and tuesday and I dosed csm+b on monday and wednesday(today). Im not dosing phosphorus because my test kit shows that its 5ppm. I dont know why this level is so high but maybe that has something to do with it. All my levels are normal:
ph-6.6-6.7
kh-3
gh-4

Some one help me I just want my water crystal clear like its supposed to be!


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

BTW--when I said that i dosed on those days, I meant that I just got my lights set up on sunday so I have started to dose more frequently and that is how much ive dosed so far.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The green haze on the glass could be green spot algae, which doesn't necessarily just form small spots. For me it covers the glass very thinly in splotches, so thinly I rarely can see it, but wiping the glass with a paper towel gives me a green stain on the towel. Assuming that is what you have, more phosphate is the usual recommendation.

My water got slightly cloudy after the water change two changes ago, not green that I could tell, but just milky cloudy - hazy. I did a 60% water change two days ago and a 50% change today. Yesterday, the water was almost back to clear, so I'll see if the improvement continues. I haven't the slightest idea where the cloudiness comes from.


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

Hoppy said:


> My water got slightly cloudy after the water change two changes ago, not green that I could tell, but just milky cloudy - hazy. I did a 60% water change two days ago and a 50% change today. Yesterday, the water was almost back to clear, so I'll see if the improvement continues. I haven't the slightest idea where the cloudiness comes from.


The same thing has been happening to me and I've been doing 25% water changes twice a week. The cloudiness won't go away!


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

For awhile I thought the cloudiness was just the haze of CO2 mist in the water, but I'm quite sure it isn't. Perhaps bacteria of some kind?


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## cbennett (Oct 20, 2005)

fill a white cup or bucket with tank water, if it's green you have a low level green water outbreak, if it's clear or greyish then you have a bacterial bloom.

or are you saying it's only on the glass itself?


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## rrguymon (Jul 10, 2005)

Might be the start of green water. When I had GW it started out as a white hase or cloudy water. It progressively got worse and turned Pea green. An ammonia spike and a upgrade in lights can set it off.

Put some or your aquarium water in white bowl or cup and see if there is a green tint too it. If so you problaby have green water. 

Rick


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

I'm sorry for hijacking but what if it's yellowish?


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Cardinal Tetra said:


> I'm sorry for hijacking but what if it's yellowish?


Uh, you have yellow water? (Sorry, couldn't resist that one!)
It is just my water that is cloudy, not the glass. And, it is still clear now after a 50% water change about 6 hours ago. I also removed my two giant Kleiner Bar sword plants, which stirred up the substrate considerably, before doing the water change. If this and RachPreach's and Cardinal's cloudy water is due to bacteria, what does that say about the cause?


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok well when i look down the length of the tank it appears that the water is slightly greenish. What do i do if it is GW and how can I prevent it from getting worse?



> The green haze on the glass could be green spot algae, which doesn't necessarily just form small spots. For me it covers the glass very thinly in splotches, so thinly I rarely can see it, but wiping the glass with a paper towel gives me a green stain on the towel. Assuming that is what you have, more phosphate is the usual recommendation.


My phosphate levels are at 5ppm or above. I figured that was way too high. Your saying to add more to get rid of the algae on the glass?


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## rrguymon (Jul 10, 2005)

If it is green water, you can kill it with a black out or UV. Did you calibrate your test kits? If not your reading is suspect. 

Rick


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

I havent calibrated my phosphate test kit...not sure how. But your saying if that is the true reading then that is suspect? How can I get my phosphate reading down?

I really really really dont want to do a black out because its not evident enough to be gw. I dont have a uv either.

Am I dosing too much? too little? How often should I dose ferts.?? I intially thought that I should dose kno3 and potassium on sundays, tues., thurs. and csm+b on the other days.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I think the consensus is that green water gets started when there is a spike in ammonia, like from a disturbed subsoil that has ferts in it, or a dead fish rotting away, etc. 

If I were you I would assume the plants were using up the phosphate I was dosing at about the rate that I was dosing it. So, if you are dosing even 2 ppm in a week you can't be too far off, and a shortage of phosphate isn't likely to be causing a problem.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

but what im saying is that i dont have a shortage of phosphate...my number is 5ppm. I have too much. Could I just do more water changes more frequently for a while and see if that helps?

Am I dosing too much ferts? What should be my schedule?


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## rrguymon (Jul 10, 2005)

RachPreach said:


> but what im saying is that i dont have a shortage of phosphate...my number is 5ppm. I have too much. Could I just do more water changes more frequently for a while and see if that helps?
> 
> Am I dosing too much ferts? What should be my schedule?


I dont think you have too much phosphate. Phosphate will not cause green water any way. Test kits do not have the accuracy we want sometimes. 

If you are going to depend on test kits for phosphate and Nitrate you need to calibrate them. You do that by putting a know amount of phosphate or nitrate in water and then using the kit to see what the color is. 

I suggest you just dose EI to include phosphate and change half the water every week. Double check the way you are dosing and make sure you are not making an mistakes,

Rick


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok so dose the same as I listed and just add phosphate to the list also? I have phosphate fertilizer but I didnt add any because I thought my levels were too high. 

I noticed this morning that there is more of a haze of green algae on the front glass. Its not the noticable hard spots like usual. Its almost like someone spray painted a light mist of green on my front glass.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

Here is my tank from this angle:









here is it looking down the length of it:


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## 247Plants (May 10, 2006)

Looks exactly the same as mine......I think mine is mostly from the leaching of tannins from some malaysian driftwood i have in there plus a little bit of decaying matter.....usually clears up for a few days when i do my weekly 50% WC's is why i say decaying matter because as soon as i get most of it out the tank stays clear for about 4-5 days...


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

Ok this is odd... I didn't do anything to my tank yesterday and today when I woke up it was maybe 50% clearer.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

Cardinal Tetra said:


> Ok this is odd... I didn't do anything to my tank yesterday and today when I woke up it was maybe 50% clearer.


NO FAIR!! I wish mine would clear up....:frown:


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Mine seems to be cleared up now too. I still don't know what happened. It is scary to see that because it could always be the start of green water. I'm not going to jinx myself by saying that I haven't........well......you know.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok im going to try this one more time....Here is my dosing schedule:

KNO3(.5 to 1 teaspoon) & K2SO4(1 tsp)--dose sunday, tuesday, and thursday.
CSM+B(1/8 tsp)---dose monday, weds., and friday

Is this ok? Should I dose phosphate along with it at 1/5 tsp?


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

Ok now I see on some of my plant leaves this bright green algae that rubs off when I rub on the leaf. What is this? It doesnt look like the blue green algae.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok maybe it is BGA because it pretty slimey feeling. Its just weird becuase its on one of the plants that is right in the current of my powerhead. I guess i could just spot treat it with hydrogen peroxide. BUt i dont know why its here in the first place. I know that light is what causes it to grow but I cant just not have my lights on and its not bad enough to do a black out. Is it caused by over fertilizing? What can I do!? i just wish i could get everything balanced out.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

please someone help me!


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

The algae on the leaf sounds a lot like green dust algae, which may be on the glass, making it look like the water is cloudy. My GDA grew both on the glass and on all of the leaves, and it all went away at the same time.

I really do think you need to dose phosphates too, at about the amount you suggested. I suspect you will see your nitrates in the water drop rapidly if you do. When you add phosphates the plants consume nitrates much faster too. And, that can cause a shortage of nitrate and blue green algae. My experience with blue greeen algae is that it isn't at all hard to identify, being such a different color and appearance from any other algae.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok ill try that hoppy! I appreciate the help. THank you..Ill let you know!


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

BTW what is the optimal amount of phosphate that you want in your water?

Also what is a step by step guide on how to calibrate my test kit?


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

quick question though...today(thursday) I was supposed to dose my nitrate and potassium(and now phosphate) but I havent done it yet and i cant do it until 2am tonight. Will that be ok or will that screw up everything? I was just going to dose tonight when I got home and then just go with my regular schedule tomorrow with csm+b.


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## Joetee (Mar 28, 2006)

RachPreach,
I use the Nutri-Calc calculator and if I am not mistaken, you said that you have a 100 gal tank. According to this calc, you should add:
KNO3 - 1 1/4 tsp three times a week on even days
K2S04 - 1/2 tsp three times a week on even days
KH2P04 - 3/8 tsp three times a week on even days
CSM+B - 3/8 tsp three times a week on odd days

I like this calc very much. I have about 4 1/2 watts per gal over my 29 gal tank but I dose for a 35 gal tank because I have a very heavily planted tank with a lot of light. I still get algae at times and now I am experimenting with changing the gallons in the calc to measure my ferts to try and see what makes the algae stop or grow if this is the cause.
I hope this is understandable.

Joe


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

u do realize i only have 2wpg right Joetee?


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

Cardinal Tetra said:


> I'm sorry for hijacking but what if it's yellowish?


I would suspect the dog....DC


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## Cardinal Tetra (Feb 26, 2006)

DiabloCanine said:


> I would suspect the dog....DC


EWWW that's just nasty.I don't have dogs or anything like that, and it cleared up as mysteriously as it came.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok...Rachpreach needs advice....


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

I dosed the nitrate and potassium and phosphate in my tank last night when i got home. The cloudiness it worse today. Im not sure what to do.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

Im thinking that this has something to do with me increasing the lights so rapidly. I went from 1.3 wpg to 2 wpg overnight and started full blown ferts everyday.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

Here are some pics of the plants that have the green algae on them:

































and this algae rubs off pretty easy and feels slimey


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## DiabloCanine (Aug 26, 2005)

RachPreach said:


> ok...Rachpreach needs advice....


I think you are over analyzing. Re read the advice you have already been given in this post. First thing you need to do is understand the problem. Do not expect overnight results. Trying new things every couple of hours is only compounding your problem. If you do not want to do a blackout, then pick another solution and be patient. Part of the hobby is finding out what works for your tank under your conditions. Keep in mind there is only one tank setup like yours.....DC

I'll do a web search for you.

Read these:

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm

http://www.aquariaplants.com/alqaeproblems.htm

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/sears-conlin.html


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

To test your test kit mix one teaspoon of KH2PO4 in 250 ml of water. Then add 2 ml of this solution to 1 gallon of water. Test that one gallon. That dose will give you 6.7 ppm of phosphates.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok so can anyone identify what the algae is on my plants pictured above? What should my overall phosphate level be in my tank? I am going to calibrate though...

Im thinking what I have is green water though....


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## Rex Grigg (Dec 10, 2002)

To test for green water place the water in question into a white bucket or bowl. If there is any green tint at all then it's GW.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok rex i did the white bowl trick and the color wasnt green. It was more of a yellowish color or a cream color....not that noticable.


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## bigstick120 (May 23, 2005)

I didnt the same thing when I was sure if my tank was just cloudy, white cup looked yellow, but when I cleaned the diatom filter it was green- you have the start of GW


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

ok so what do i do????


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## seastar0328 (Apr 3, 2004)

The same cloudiness happened in my boyfriend's tank. He got jealous of my plants and wanted to grow some low-tech stuff. He changed his lighting a little to be a single fluorescent T-5 with a bit higher wattage than he was using. The water was cloudy for a long time but it looked almost like maybe it was due to the many O2 bubbles he had resulting from his powerhead pointing towards his biowheel. It just always looked cloudy. That was in April. By early July the water looked slightly green then got worse. I told him he had GW and he tried water changes which did nothing. He wouldn't listen so he went away for the week and I blacked out his tank and made sure NO natural light got in the room since his tank is across the room from our patio doors. In 4-5 days the water was clearer than it had ever been and his plants all survived just fine. He doesn't fertilize or add CO2. I hope this helps if it is GW.


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## rrguymon (Jul 10, 2005)

The triggering event for GW can be an ammonia spike. Once the spike is gone you can be dosing your tank perfectly but the GW can hang on. The ammonia triggers the GW but it can live just fine on the ferts you dose for your plants. 

GW will not harm your fish or plants it just looks bad. The cheapest way to kill it is with a black out. A UV works just as fast but cost some cash. A diatom filter might work at removing the GW but the Diatom will cost as much or more than a UV. 

Again I suggest you conitue dosing EI per the Sticky. The ferts are not the cause of GW and your plants need food. http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/water-parameters/21944-_dosing-regimes_.html 
It should also help to cut the light duration back to 8 or 9 hours a day. Hope that the GW clears as I hear it might somtimes. I suspect it will just continue to get worse. If which case you will need to decide how to handle it.

Black out (Read the fourm a couple set of direction on how to in this fourm)
UV
Diatom.

I would use a UV. It easy, Quick and effective. You can conitue dosing as normal.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

Well im going to see if I can get a uv sterilizer. I guess that is my best option. Im not going to dose any more ferts. until sunday when I do a water change. hopefully I can get this under control.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

im assuming thats my best option?


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## rbittman (Jan 3, 2006)

Rachpreach,
I agree that the UV sterilizer is your best option. I think with larger sized tanks, sometimes cloudiness is persistent and can either be low level bacterial bloom, or, more likely, GW. Both will be cleared up with a UV. Just try to get one that goes "in line" from your filter output, to avoid more "stuff" showing thru your tank. You may find you have to dose iron a little more once the uv is up and going. Just watch the plants and dose a little more if they whiten.


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## RachPreach (Jan 16, 2006)

well I have heard people only run the uv 24hrs after a water change...not all the time...right?

Can anyone give me some options on uv sterilizers that are good priced?


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## rbittman (Jan 3, 2006)

Some may not run them all the time, but you can do that. I don't believe there is any reason not to if cloudy water is a problem. Some have said that it breaks up chelated iron and makes it less available to the plants, but you can counter this by adding a bit more. I had one running for a couple of years continuously on a 40 gal tank with no problems. It was one of those Turbo Twist types. Usually Drs Foster and Smith or Big Al's have decent prices.


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