Breeding Percula Clowns - Green Water

[Livens]

Can any one tell me why the water in our baby clown tank keeps going green. The clowns are about six weeks old and the tank is a 75 lt Aqua One with an inbuilt filter and light. The water temp is approx 25 to 26 degrees. We feed a variety of feeds, brine shrimp, crumbed feed, and finely grated frozen shrimp. The clowns are fed 3 times a day and there are sixteen in the tank. We have the filter operating with a stocking of the inlet and ther are three mediums in the filter, black foam, ceramic noodles and a carbon filter insert with a cotton wool type material over the top of them. We also have a rubber tube type airator and no substrata material. The tank only stays clear for about a week and then rapidly turns green to the extent that you can hardly see the clowns. Please advise.

Gail (Newby Fish Keeper/Breeder)

 

[clownfish75]

Hi Gail

is the water going grenn or the glass of the tank.

It is probably due to filter size, stocking (high), food imput (high).

all leading to high nutrients a need for lots of water changes and a perfect environemtn for algae to grow.

as long as the fish are all good thats the bit that matters.

Christian

 

[jacob30]

Poor filtration and probrably too much food. Add heavy skimming and UV. Replace filter setup with a bioball filter (volume about 5 gallons worth). Put carbon in a bag if you like. End of green water.

 

[Livens]

Thanks Christian n Jacob

It's the water that's green, the glass may be slightly green. It sounds as though the stocking rate is high but the fish are little more than 10mm long. The tank didn't start to go green until after the Fry stage, at least 10 days. The fish appear to be alert and healthy and the water parameters are all fine, it just looks bad. I thought it was probably a combination of excess food deposits and inadequate filtering but as a newby I'm not really sure.

Jacob, what do you mean by add heavy skimming and UV? Are you referring to a protein skimmer? What do you mean by UV?Also what is a bioball filter?

Gail (Newby Fish Keeper/Breeder)

 

[jacob30]

As examples

Add this for skimmer:
http://www.deltecusa.us/proteinskimmers/mce600.php

UV add something like this:
http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=AV1113

And this for bioball filter (You can make this for a lot less $):
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_filters_precision_marine_wet_dry_trickle.asp?CartId=

 

[jacob30]

Oh yeah and welcome Livens!!
You will learn a lot here.

Someone give her the welcome sign.

 

[MarinaP]

[welcome]

Change your light bulbs.

 

[clownfish75]

Gail a UV steraliser is what they commonly use on ponds to kill off green water. it would also work in your situation, but would do nothign to cure your water quality issues.

the protien skimming will help maintain the water quilty much better but hard to add to some of those fancy tanks.

Christian