Aquarium water turning yellow.

[Rene2199]

Hello, my name is René.

I am new to the fourm, my apologies if this is not the right thread.

I have a bottomless temporary 40 gallon bichir enclosure, and my water is turning yellow.

I checked my water parameters everything seems norma.I read online to do a 25% water changes daily and it should get better. I have done this along with cleaning out my filter and the walls of the tank and still no improvement. I asked my local pet store and they advised me to do the samething I have been doing!

Can anyone offer any advice? It would be greatly appreciated.

Edited August 15, 2023 by Rene2199

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/14/2023 at 10:47 PM, Rene2199 said:

I am new to the fourm, my apologies if this is not the right thread.

Welcome to the forums! Happy to have you here.  🙂

Very interesting issue.  I would think that it was wood / tannins, but I don't see any wood in the tank or botanicals.  The other thought is that when water has that sort of a tinge maybe it's ammonia or bacterial.  What is the ammonia and nitrate levels in this tank?

For starters my recommendation would be to add some carbon to the filtration if you can.  Also take a look at the mod thread I have in my signature regarding "phase 1" fixes which amounts to adding a piece of foam in the large cutout in the basket and will slightly help to encourage better filtration mechanically.

As a sidenote, you will have a slightly better experience if you can raise the water level just a little bit with the tidal.  It'll give you a little better circulation, run quieter, and give you more surface agitation (not splashing) which means higher oxygenation.

Edited August 15, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Rene2199]

Thank you Nabokovfan!

The ammonia and nitrate are at 0 ppm.

Good eye, ill raise the water a bit more. And tomorrow ill look for some carbon filtration to add.

Thanks again for your input 🙂

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/14/2023 at 11:39 PM, Rene2199 said:

The ammonia and nitrate are at 0 ppm.

so weird!  I would think it's maybe something in the food potentially.  Very strange.  Hopefully with water changes and/or the carbon it just takes care of itself.

[Lennie]

Whats your lighting period is like? 

My guess is it is potentially a green water. 

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/faqs/green-water

[Rene2199]

Hi Lennie,

Not sure why i didn't think of this, I leave it on for them when i go to work and turn it on the night light when i come back so atleast 8 hours.