cloudy water and green

[Justin_NY]

hi, gusy i need help
i have a pair cobarlt blue and 3 incehs blue dimaond in 20 gallon high. i know th tank its to small for them, bu ti have no choice right now until i buy a bigger tank. the tank i planted with 12 java fern and riccia fluitan. the lightning is 5500 k, an 10,000 k PC runggin for 10 hours 110 watts. my question is how come my water never clear, and sooner or later the water turn green. thetank filter wih 170 wet/dry filter from piguin, and 2213 eheim classic filter(new just got it today) . i hcnaget my water every once a week

how to make my water clear.

[Debbie]

How long has the tank been set up? Is it in direct sunlight? That is alot of light for that tank. The green in the water is algae. You have a large fish load, you say you change water once a week, how much?

[ronrca]

Algae blooms are usually caused by an imbalance in nutrients. Check your nitrate and phosphate levels.

In your case with young discus, you should be doing daily water changes around 50%. Keep the nitrates as low as possible and feed around 4-6x a day. This will allow your discus to grow nicely. ;)

[Justin_NY]

i change my water 50 % everyweek
the tank it in the basemetn, no direct sunlight to the tank.

[ChloroPhil]

Justin,

That green water is a unicellular alga or number of different algae that is the bane of many aquarists. :)

It's generally caused by a sudden increase in Ammonia and other nitrogenous wastes in the water column. I usually get it after tearing up a lot of plants and releasing all the junk in the gravel into the water.

I can promise you that your REALLY high amount of light is one of the culprits. The other is all the organic waste in the tank. You need to decrease the lighting by half and do 50% or more WC every day. You've got a pretty high bioload for that tank.

You're not going to get rid of the algae until you do one of three things.

1. Get a UV sterilizer
2. Get a Diatomaceous Earth filter
3. Completely blackout the tank for 4 days.

1 and 3 will kill the algae and 2 will physically remove it. From then on it's your job to keep the water cleaner and the light down. Try floating the riccia rather than keeping it tied down. It will appreciate the extra light and the Java Fern will appreciate the shade. Win-Win for you.

Best,
Phil