Help with algae and murky tank.

[SpookyNoodles]

Hello, I've had this aquarium setup for almost a year now, I just got a two month outbreak of green hair algae under control and now I have this. I think its staghorn algae but I'm not sure. On top of the algae the tank is just dirty and murky looking, water changes don't help at all as I did an 80% water change just a couple days ago. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

[FLFishChik]

What are your current parameters? Those would help to better understand what’s happening.

I’m going to take a stab and say… with the outbreak of algae AND the cloudy water that isn’t getting better after a major water change… you have a a large amount of nutrients in the water and are looking at a bacterial bloom. In which case, large water changes will prolong the bacterial bloom. If left alone, it should clear up in a few days. Did you add any new fish recently? Change lighting? Add or change fertilizer?

[Jeff]

Off the top of my head:

- do you use poly fill in your filter? If so, do you take out the old and replace with new when you do water changes?

-how long are your lights on for each day?

-have you considered more plants - like floaters to help out compete this algae and other algae problems you've had?

[SpookyNoodles]

On 5/2/2024 at 7:15 PM, FLFishChik said:

What are your current parameters? Those would help to better understand what’s happening.

I’m going to take a stab and say… with the outbreak of algae AND the cloudy water that isn’t getting better after a major water change… you have a a large amount of nutrients in the water and are looking at a bacterial bloom. In which case, large water changes will prolong the bacterial bloom. If left alone, it should clear up in a few days. Did you add any new fish recently? Change lighting? Add or change fertilizer?

I do have about .25 ppm ammonia in the tank right now, but no nitrites and, my nitrates are at 5.0 ppm. No I haven't done any of that, I've actually taken fish out of the tank recently. Thanks.

 

Edited May 3 by SpookyNoodles

[CoryWithAKatana]

Have you been putting CO2 into the tank regularly? Ive seen that adding too much can cause this algae to thrive.

[SpookyNoodles]

On 5/2/2024 at 9:32 PM, Jeff said:

Off the top of my head:

- do you use poly fill in your filter? If so, do you take out the old and replace with new when you do water changes?

-how long are your lights on for each day?

-have you considered more plants - like floaters to help out compete this algae and other algae problems you've had?

My filter does have a sponge but no poly fill, I cleaned the filter about a week ago.

My lights are on quite a bit at 11 hours a day, so that could be it now that I think about it.

I actually did have more plants in it, I just removed a mother sword plant.

Thanks

On 5/3/2024 at 2:44 PM, CoryKeeper said:

Have you been putting CO2 into the tank regularly? Ive seen that adding too much can cause this algae to thrive.

No, I've never put any CO2 in it. Thanks.

 

[Tony s]

On 5/3/2024 at 3:44 PM, SpookyNoodles said:

My lights are on quite a bit at 11 hours a day,

Yeah, that's not helping you. doesn't look like you have any high light plants. the crypts are more medium light. so, if you can cut your time down to 6-8 hours and possibly cut intensity, that could help. when cutting down light period, choose a time that works for you. fish really don't care about your light. but if the tank is dark when you're around it. that defeats the purpose of having it. the light is for your enjoyment of your tank and plant growth. I have one tank that gets about 6 hours of "light starting at 5pm just so I can see it

[SpookyNoodles]

On 5/3/2024 at 2:58 PM, Tony s said:

Yeah, that's not helping you. doesn't look like you have any high light plants. the crypts are more medium light. so, if you can cut your time down to 6-8 hours and possibly cut intensity, that could help. when cutting down light period, choose a time that works for you. fish really don't care about your light. but if the tank is dark when you're around it. that defeats the purpose of having it. the light is for your enjoyment of your tank and plant growth. I have one tank that gets about 6 hours of "light starting at 5pm just so I can see it

Alright I'll cut it down. Thanks

[johnnyxxl]

Adding plants also always helps take up the nutrients which can starve the algae and bacteria blooms 

[Jeff]

On 5/3/2024 at 3:44 PM, SpookyNoodles said:

My filter does have a sponge but no poly fill, I cleaned the filter about a week ago.

 

 

Ok; poly fill can never hurt. It helps quite a bit, to help keep your water clear. 
 

Also - yeah...I would cut your light time down to anywhere from 6-8 hours. 

[Tanked]

Manual algae removal and whole tank Hydrogen Peroxide treatments should fix the Staghorn problem.  Staghorn can also be caused by too much fertilizer, especially iron.