Murky water

[Star]

Just looking for a bit of advice, my tank water has a semi cloudy, green tinge to it and just looks dirty. I've done several water changes today and my readings have gone from:

Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 80ppm

to

Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 40 ppm

but the tank still looks manky, I've scrubbed the glass sides and bottom and there is no algae on it. I have a bare bottomed tank so it isn't the substrate. I've been feeding them on earthworm pellets the last few weeks so I think that is where the miscolouration has come from but I can't seem to shift it now and I don't fancy a 100% change if it can helped. Any ideas? I think so far I've done around a 40% change and usually that clears the water right up

 

[Jenste]

Do you have any driftwood in the tank? Maybe a new piece added? That could discolor your water as it leeches tannins *(not at all harmful - just makes it look tea colored)

 

[carsona246]

it might be green water if it has a greenish tinge. I'd lower how long you keep your lights on

 

[Star]

Nope no driftwood and I don't have any tank lights, just lights in the living room but none of my other tanks have been affected. Any way to sort green water without large changes?

 

[carsona246]

it would, but if there are no lights on in the tank I'd be pretty surprised if it was actually green water. It might just clear up on its own after a while

 

[Star]

I hope so, been like this for a few weeks now though :/ figured it was an algal bloom tbh

 

[frasertheking]

Did you change anything ? Sounds like a mini cycle. The green water could be a good thing trapping the rubbish in the water inside the algea.
You need to up your water changes and make sure nothing is going bad in your water / filter

Once thats all taken care of you could add daphnia which would clear the green water or try a black out for a few days
Fraser

Sent from my Dell Streak using Tapatalk

 

[Star]

Only thing I changed was the axies, they swapped tanks. Checked the filter and there was nothing bad in there, just the usual stuff. I'll try the daphnia though along with daily water changes. Thanks

 

[carsona246]

Arg Star, I think your cloudy water is contagious, and now I have it!

 

[Star]

Haha sorry! If it's any consolation mine all seem happy apart from the odd strange spasm