HELP! What is happening to my water??

[BmoreBraap]

113064
Not sure if the picture is going to work since I am trying to tom mobile. But for 2 full weeks now I have what seems to be an insane algae bloom that gets worse everyday and with every WC. I use RO/DI water and this tank/filter entire setup has been established and running for a year. I have never had this issue and frankly don't even know what it is. I have picked my WCs back up to daily and it is just as bad an hour later. Source water is crystal clear. Did a full filter clean 2 weeks ago which I guess is about when this started to happen.

Is there a way to kill this off or do I need to drain the entire tank and start over??

[White Worm]

How long are your lights on for during the day? Any direct sunlight on the tank? You could cover the tank and do a dark out for a couple days or get a UV.

[Phillydubs]

How long are your lights on for during the day? Any direct sunlight on the tank? You could cover the tank and do a dark out for a couple days or get a UV.

+1

[RogueDiscus]

I'm no expert, but I'm thinking the algae needs nutrients to grow. Could there be a change there somehow? Phosphates in the water? Just trying to think of things.

[BmoreBraap]

Hey guys, sorry just saw these replies. My lights are usually on about 11 hrs a day and always have been. Tank has also been in the same spot from the start with no direct sunlight. I have been turning my daylights off, but my leds also have a blue moon light that comes on that I have not been turning off. Even with only a few hours of light a day I have seen no improvements. Parameters are in check although I do not have a phos test.
Should I continue to black out the tank for another few days while doing WCs? I will actually see if I can use my fathers UV sterilizer for a few days, unfortunately can't afford one right now. Thanks for the help

[Willie]

Your best shot is to just turn off the lights. I only turn on my lights in the mornings and evenings when I'm home. They're for you, but for the fish.

Willie

[bluelagoon]

Then your filter clean caused a slight increase in ammonia (nutrients).Stop feeding for a day or so or cut back,til the water clears.Still do your WC's.

[BmoreBraap]

Seems to be improving a bit with continuing the blackout & very minimal feed. No ammonia spikes. It's strange, it's almost like all the algae growth I used to have has gone "airborne" for lack of a better term(liquidborne? Lol) and just floats around as opposed to settling or sticking in anything. All sides of the aquarium, rocks, driftwood, everything would get covered but the water was never green or cloudy. Now it is the exact opposite. I'll keep doing what I'm doing for now, then I'm going to drain the tank if there's no improvement in a few days.

[HarryDk]

wow, algae party! Time for big water change ^^, some pp would help

[Phillydubs]

Not to be in your pocket but they do have some rather cheap UV offerings, under 40 bucks. I bet in an instance like this that would clear you up but good... it is still helpful to find the root of the issue.

[BmoreBraap]

I agree and would love to know the cause. It was almost like new tank syndrome after I cleaned out the filter & media, then I was sick and out of commission for over a week and was unable to do any ware changes during this time, so I just assumed poor WC schedule as well as cleaning maybe TOO much of the BB out of the filter and it just could keep up.
The continued blackout, minimal feeding and daily sate changes have showed big improvement over the last 3 days.

[Neptune]

I'm installing one of these 36W units tomorrow on a tank. If it doesn't leak tough to beat the price.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-UV-Sterilizer-9W-18W-36W-55W-Light-Clarifier-Pond-Tank-Reef-Pump-Filter/282316655330?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=581413490220&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

[navarro1950]

What you are having is an algae bloom. Like HarryDK said do a large water change . That will help to reduce the phosphates but the more water changes you do the better. Get yourself an api phosphate test kit. They are not expansive at the larger pet stores. And the next thing you must do is raise up your lights. If you don’t do that even the UVs won’t help , because the algae settle down and more algaes will grow. The more water changes the better. Petco sells a product that will kill the algae spores and it will also kill some plants like mosses. I know about this because I went through this myself and I have plants. Stay on the WCs , get the phosphate test kit and be sure to raise your lights . I suspended my lights 6” above my tank and so far that has helped and also reduce the photo period down to 6 hrs. , not 11 hrs.

[navarro1950]

I forgot to suggest that you should take any decorations out and soak them in a mild solution of bleach and water. It looks like you have large rocks so this will be easy. If those plants are plastic them to. I even took my drift wood out of my tank and sprayed it a solution of muratic acid and pressure washed it ( the pressure washing got rid of the acid).

[Jack L]

pea soup
look up diatom filter

[geo57]

I agree and would love to know the cause. It was almost like new tank syndrome after I cleaned out the filter & media, then I was sick and out of commission for over a week and was unable to do any ware changes during this time, so I just assumed poor WC schedule as well as cleaning maybe TOO much of the BB out of the filter and it just could keep up.
The continued blackout, minimal feeding and daily sate changes have showed big improvement over the last 3 days.

You don't ever want to clean your entire pump at once, i usually just use sponge filter media. when i service a pump I do half the pump at a time and just basically wash off the excess residue off in old fishtank water, never do the whole pump at a time and never use tap water always use old fishtank water that you have removed from your tanks. You can wipe out all your beneficial bacteria and kill the cycle in your tank if your not careful and that can cause cloudiness in your water.

[Sabrina]

Wow, i have seen some algae water blooms but nothing like this lol Id be worried my fish were going to turn green too!
I hope things are better now, sorry i laughed but ive never seen anything like it :)