Guys....I am at such a loss here and my tank issue has started to ruin the hobby.....

[BmoreBraap]

Sorry if I just come off as a child complaining, but I genuinely just dont know what to do anymore.

About 6 months ago I had a massive change in my water for no apparent reason. Like the worst algae bloom Ive ever seen. See this post for a pic

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...t=#post1276792

Now fast forward to today. The water is about 10x worse. You literally cannot see 3 inches into the tank, 0 decorations and can only see the fish if they are smack against the glass.

I have checked water parameters 100x. I use full RO/DI water so its as clean as it gets. I have cleaned all my filters, every piece of decorations, heaters, sponge filters. I stepped up my 40g EOD WCs to 80 gallons(this method has always worked perfectly for me so please dont go into how I must do daily. The fish were fantastic without daily and I'm on a well, with RO thats tough). No ammonia, no nitrates or Nitrites, NOTHING on my water tests.

The tank gets no sunlight at all and I have tried leaving the lights off for 2 full weeks and nothing. There is literally NO algae stuck to the tank anywhere or the decorations like it used to. It is like its all in the water and doesnt stick to anything, just breeds and stays floating. I used to get algae all the time, but on my rocks and tank.

WHAT the hell is happening and why cant I fix it? The only option I have left is to literally throw out all of my EQ in the tank, sterilize it and start over. Well unfortunately I can't afford to do that right now and would need to just give away or sell the tank instead, which at this point I almost dont care about but know deep down it would hurt bad.

I worked hard with these fish. I spent lots of money on them, their tanks, food and care. Dedicated a lot of free time to it and loved all of it. Now, for 6 months I have felt my passion for these fish diminish. I have a nice lounge chair that is plopped in front of my tank that I used to just sit and watch, I havent done that since. Its kind of heart breaking to look at my pics from a year ago and see my beautiful crystal clear tank and fish, then to go down and just look at this green pond of crap.

Anyway, not sure what anyone can do to help, maybe I'm just sad and venting. But I see not other options here as I have never heard of an algae bloom taking over a tank for 6 months and progressively getting worse and worse the more WC you do and more cleaning you do.

[brewmaster15]

Bummer Matt!

You have no decorations or substrate in that tank? If have any what do you have ther? . if you are using ro I am wondering if something is leaching into the water as the root cause. what do you feed now?

Al

[brewmaster15]

Have you tried Acurel?
https://www.chewy.com/acurel-f-aquar...r-50/dp/168333

I've used it many times over the years and its really good at aggregate small particles and making it so the filter can pull it out.

Is the tank in a bright room?

al

[BmoreBraap]

Hey Al! Thanks for the reply.

I do still have decorations, the same that have been in the tank since day one. A few pieces of real dried driftwood, a few real rocks, and about 8 fake plastic plants. Also pool filter sand as substrate. Nothing new has been added for 1.5 years.

I still feed my guys a mix of your worms, some Chichlid flakes and Hans meat mix. Always have.

The fish are in my basement so no direct sunlight and the lights in the basement are off most of the day. When they are on it is not overly bright.

The only thing that I did that I can even assume had anything to do with it, which I dont really, is that I fully cleaned out my Fx6 filter a few days before it really started. I took all the sponges and media out, cleaned it off in my old tank water, and put it back in. The same way I have done many times before for my monthly filter clean. This time I may have gone 2 months without cleaning the sponges so they were pretty dirty but nothing out of the ordinary.

I even went ahead and changed every filter in my RO/DI unit and it had no positive effect.

[BmoreBraap]

If you suggest the Acurel I will purchase it. Since I joined this site, any advice you have given me has always worked out for the best. Which I greatly appreciate. I miss coming to this site just to read stories and see other peoples tanks, but instead I just have this looming issue at all times and no idea what to do with it.

[brewmaster15]

Matt,
That acurel works great but it will not cure the underlying issue. Try it and see if it clears it up temporarily.

If it does , remove the rocks and try it again..

then repeat by removing the sand...

last try removing the driftwood.

If I was looking for a smoking gun its the sand or rocks. It really cant be anything else if you are using 100 % ro


You could also just go bare bottom and add things back incrementally and see what happens.

hth,
Al

Test kits for phosphates are cheap.. pick one up and see if you have them...they can cause blooms..

[geo57]

I would think it had to do with the pump being cleaned out, just because it occurred right after and pump cleaning can stop cycle if it went wrong. Sounds like you did it correctly by using fish tank water, my only point will be that by rule you don't ever want to do the entire pump at one time, do 1/2 of the pump at a time. I don't do my pumps monthly or bi monthly, i usually check them every 6 months, sometimes i go about a year before i service my pumps and i do half a pump at a time. My FX5 could go a year and never even burp a problem. They are great pumps with lots of sponge to collect bacteria, just don't clean all that sponge at the same time.
george

[Jandiscus]

Since algae thrive on phosphate and nitrate, I would again look into your r/o system and test the incoming water pre and post r/o for both phosphate and nitrate. Being on well water might expose you to changing water conditions, especially if you live in rural/farming areas.

Good luck!

[gators111]

One other thing to check just for good measure is your RO membrane. Mine ruptured a few years ago and quickly expended my DI resin, which then threw off my water parameters. My phosphates went through the roof.

[Adam S]

DI resin can leach ions (phosphates, nitrates, etc.) back into the water if it's too old. A lot of freshwater folks don't bother using the stuff.

Worst case scenario, I'm sure a UV sterilizer would clear up the issue.

[Dhavalsp]

DI resin can leach ions (phosphates, nitrates, etc.) back into the water if it's too old. A lot of freshwater folks don't bother using the stuff.

Worst case scenario, I'm sure a UV sterilizer would clear up the issue.

A UV sterilizer would work the best ....As Al said, you will have to find the underlying cause sooner or later...in case you have it available, just try some other light...move that light 2-3 feet above (you may have already tried this).

[BmoreBraap]

Thank you for all the replies. I am going to grab a less expensive UV sterilizer that's available at my local shop. I believe its a 24w rated up to 265 gallons and is only about $70. Im on a bit of a tight budget currently so I cant go all out for a top of the line like I'd like but hopefully this will help.

I will go by process of elimination with my WCs from this point on removing one set of a certain decoration(all rocks, wood, etc.) at a time and hopefully see what's the root cause of this.

Hey Al, since you specifically mentioned the sand being a possible culprit, would it make sense to test the sand by maybe scooping some into a bucket or clear glass then filling it with my RO water and seeing if there is any algae growth? Or is that silly? Obviously would love to leave my sand in there but I'd rather be able to see my damn fish then have sand, ha!

So plan for tomorrow is grab that UV sterilizer, the Acurel chem if they have it, do a large WC, take out the rocks and kill the lights. Off to a good start?

[fishbubbles]

Hey Al, since you specifically mentioned the sand being a possible culprit, would it make sense to test the sand by maybe scooping some into a bucket or clear glass then filling it with my RO water and seeing if there is any algae growth? Or is that silly? Obviously would love to leave my sand in there but I'd rather be able to see my damn fish then have sand, ha!

So plan for tomorrow is grab that UV sterilizer, the Acurel chem if they have it, do a large WC, take out the rocks and kill the lights. Off to a good start?

That sounds like a good ideal to me, I hope that you get this solved. I can't imagine how frustrating this may be. I would also do as others have suggested and buy a phosphate test kit, algaes love phosphate.

[Neptune]

I'm having good luck with this one.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-UV...item3d477ba797

[LoGeek]

My guess is that the free floating algae have unlimited supply of nutrients by something in the water. +1 to checking RO water.

However a strong UV-light will probably kill off all the algae spores.