Water turns green after 5-7 days

[alvaro1983]

Hi! I recently set-up a tank with plants and discus but after 5-7 days my water gets really green and cloudy to the point I can't see the other end (the back) of the tank. Is this algae or something else? Anyways, I would really, really appreciate any help.

I normally do water changes weekly on Sundays and I initially planned on doing ~50% but with the water problem I'm having to do ~90% water changes just to get it kind of clear. For the water I use regular tap water and then add dechlorinators. I live in NYC and I've heard phosphater tap water levels are very high. Could this be the possible problem and would an RO/DI system work?

I don't have a CO2 diffuser since it seemed to be expensive but instead I bought an organic carbon solution which dissolves into the water and serves as a carbon base for the plants. It's called Seachem Flourish Excel if anyone else has any experience with it. Would adding more of this help control algae as the plants would be in competition for phosphates? Or would setting up a CO2 system be even any better.

And if you recommend me to get an RO/DI unit, could you give me some help on how to do it. I've been trying to read into them a little but I'm still confused about it. AND, since I live in NYC I only have to water taps in my house (a kitchen and bathroom sink) so I really don't think I can have an RO/DI system permanently hooked on.


Anyways, thanks for any help. It would be really, really helpful! And as much as I don't mind the water changes it gets really annoyed that I can't have the water clear throughout the week but by Thursday/Friday it already looks green.

[poconogal]

Hi. Where do you have your tank set up? Is it receiving lots of light, is it in direct sunlight? Sounds like you have way too much light and/or high organic load, causing algae to develop very fast. How long do you keep your lights on?

[alvaro1983]

Thanks for the reply, poconogal!

I have the tank next to a window but I keep the blinds down to avoid sunlight reaching it. FOr the lighting I use a Nova Extreme T-5 Fixture with 108 watt total in 2 bulbs: 1-54 W 10,000°K and 1-54 W Freshwater. My tank is 55 gallon so it's about 2 watts/gallon, I read somewhere this was the minimum for planted tanks. I keep it on for about 10-12 hours a day (from about 9 to 9). Is this too much?

[GrillMaster]

Hi ya alvaro...

What you are experiencing is the typical green water alot of people face after setting up a new tank. Including myself.

Your lights are on way to long for a new tank! 2wpg is a great lighting for your tank, but the plants haven't had time to establish themselves yet. I would cut that time down to about 7 hours for a few weeks. Flourish excel works great as far as a low tech c02 supplement, but I would cut the dosage in half for the time being. It wont help your green water at all at the moment.

If you leave it, an just keep doing your weekly 50% wc's the green water will go away once the plants start to establish.

Most people get tired of looking at it an get a UV sterilizer. That will clear it up in a day. After it has cleared up you can remove it if you like, the green water wont come back.

tc
Mark