Aquarium Fish Tank Green Algae, Cloudy water fix!
In all my years of raising fish (20 years?) this is the first time running into an uncontrollable algae problem like this. It may be the water at our new house? The community of particular fish I have in my tank right now? I'm not sure, however this has never happened to me before. But then again, I always had exotic fish, salt water fish, or even tried breeding fish. Never really had a community tank like this one here.
Honestly at first, I was pretty happy about seeing some algae grow. It showed that my water was healthy and I had good life in my tank. However once the algae problem starting turning into water that is super cloudy and I couldn't even see my fish that aren't close to the glass anymore, I knew something had to be done.
Even with our powerful LED light on, I was barely able to see the back of my tank anymore. So how did I fix this issue? I really cannot say it was 1 thing we did that fixed the issue. First things first, I started with the basics. I added a K1 media filter. Secondly, I took out all the media that was in my canister. Added upgraded sponges and filters (3 stage) and upgraded bio balls. Lastly I did a 50% water change. Once I did all this, it cleared up the water a little, however it did not clear the water all the way. Also it seemed like the problem was about to come back, so I jumped on a UV sterilizer.
I am not in any way affiliated with OASE, nor am I pushing this product. I just chose this one over others because most of the other ones were 5w. This one happened to be 7w. Secondly, after research I read that people use this brand of UV sterilizers for ponds.
Once I received the product, I liked the build however was a little disappointed that the manual was garbage. After figuring out through research and playing with the product, I got the product up and running. This is basically a housing that encases the UV bulb ( So that it doesn't harm you or your fish). So it does not make any noise, or really require any hard maintenance. People had different opinions on placement, however I chose to install the UV sterilizer BEFORE my canister. I did not want the UV sterilizer breaking down any of the good bacteria that comes out of my canister filter.
Again, I'm sure the UV sterilizer is not the only thing that fixed my water, however it did have a major impact. How major? The picture below is less than 1 full day after installing the UV Sterilizer!
Much better, however not 100% clear right? Watch the video below. This video is about 1 week after installing the UV Sterilizer!
As someone who loves fish, and always has 1 or more aquariums in the house, I had to share this find. I'm sure a lot people already know how effective a UV sterilizer is. For me, it saved my tank and my fish. At the moment, my community tank consists of
-4 Gold Barbs-
-2 Black Tetras-
-2 Black Mollys-
-2 Danios-
-1 Pictus Catfish-
-1 Cory Catfish-
-1 Pleco-
-4 Snails- (Mixed)
And some newly added Jungle Val live Plants!
Please feel free to share any tips or info you may have. I will also answer any questions that I have answers to!
-DI-