Algae indentification and help please.

[tpk212]

hey guys,

i have a 6ft by 2 ft malawi aquarium at work and the other day my water went green! so i cleaned out the fliters wiped everything down did a 30% water change and still it stayed green! does anyone no what this is? is it some kind of air borne algae? if anyone can help with the answer to what it is and how to get rid of it! i would appreciate it!

thanx a bunch in advance!

tpk212

 

[l3fty999]

hey guys,

i have a 6ft by 2 ft malawi aquarium at work and the other day my water went green! so i cleaned out the fliters wiped everything down did a 30% water change and still it stayed green! does anyone no what this is? is it some kind of air borne algae? if anyone can help with the answer to what it is and how to get rid of it! i would appreciate it!

thanx a bunch in advance!

tpk212

Well, as others here will say, we need pics, water parameters, etc, and then you will get an answer a lot quicker. It's kinda like solving a crime, we need clues before you get a useful answer.

Aaron

 

[MyCoralFarm]

Is the aquarium sitting next to direct sunlight ? the quickest solution to get clear water again is to put a UV Sterilizer. I had a similar issue after placing a frag tank under a huge sky light hope it helps.

 

[squiers007]

What type of filtration are you using and what is your water change schedule? Also I just want to make sure everyone who posts on here realizes that this is for a freshwater tank not saltwater.

 

[PEMfish]

So you have had this tank set up awile? If so...
Algae suddenly started to appear. Something changed to cause this, we need to work to find what changed.

 

[SubRosa]

The main factor in green water outbreaks is usually too long of a photoperiod. It doesn't take alot of ambient light do this. Lets say you keep your lights on from 3 pm to 10 pm. That's 7 hrs. But the sun is up from 7am. Your actual photoperiod is 15 hrs in this example. If you don't have live plants there's no reason to run a light if you're not watching the tank. If you do have plants keep the total photoperiod under 12 hrs, maybe as short as 7 or 8 until the water clears.

 

[PEMfish]

Algae fuel could also be the culprit. Nitrate and phosphate are the two big ones. Replace your carbon and do a W/C being sure to suck up any debris.

 

[elmafioso52988]

Have you tried carbon?

 

[lowfi]

you can try both a UV sterilizer (like mentioned above) or a diatom filter. You just had a microalgae bloom. AKA phytoplankton bloom...green water. Lower your nutrients like as in a reef tank, decrease photoperiod, or even try blacking out your tank for a couple days. should clear it up!