Hello All,

Only my second post but I'm getting there slowly!

My question [or questions] today relate to both green/cloudy water and water changes.

Firstly, if you dont alrady know I aquired a 150 gallon tank from my next door neighbour which currently contains 3 tigers, a parrot fish, a plec, 4 silver dollars and numerous malawi cichlids [blue in colour with vertical black stripes- unsure of species].

All fish appear healthy except on Oscar seems to spend all its time on its side...should i be worried??

I'm running 2 heaters at 27degrees as well as a Filstar XP3 external filter [2nd one ordered due to volume of water and awaiting delivery]. 4 air hoses are present too.

the problem I have is my water is green and has been since about a week after getting the tank. I did a 50% water change when we moved the tank. I was just wondering what this green is and can it be easily cured. I thought the filter would get rid of it but i think it might be algae which is too small for the filter to remove. I could be wrong.

On another note does anyone have any advise on an easy method of doing water changes on such a huge tank. Both removing the water and refilling with buckets is an absolute nightmare. How do I add conditioner to the new water as I have been using a hose direct to my kitchen sink and just tipping in caps of conditioner to the approximate volume of water, is this o.k?

Any advise on both questions would be greatly appreciated.

PS- I have had the tank 4 weeks now and i'm addicted!!

Cheers, Ross

Hi!

First off,the green water is algae and is from too much light.Cutting the light down some will help.Not sure if oscars and such will leave plants alone but if they would then several amazon swords would also help.

On the water changes,what you are doing will work just fine.Many people here use a system like you are and its perfectly ok.

Yep tanks are addictive!I am slowly trying to talk my land lord into letting me make payments on a nice large system they have and are not using.

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"Come to the dark side....we have cookies...and filters/heaters/and water changes!"

Green water is best taken care of with a total blackout. A mere reduction in light will not work or take a long time. Use a blanket or comforter and throw it over the top. You need a minimum of 3 days. All light needs to be blocked, no feeding.

Your Oscar should not be doing that, probably not going to last that long if its health is that bad.

Don't listen to people with little tanks...they are clueless to your pain . I have 2-125g tanks and understand the whole thing about bukets not working too well. It works sure, but who wants to carry that many buckets to and fro for that much water? I pull 50% weekly, so you can see where it would be hard work. I got the Aqueon watering system and it changed my life. Aquarium Maintenance and Water Changes: Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer I dewater by gravity siphon, but you can use your faucet to pull water if you want - seems wasteful to me when it will run out easily enough. Once the water is out as far as you want to go, drain the water out of the hose, hook to your kitchen faucet and re-fill. Can't get much easier. You can make up your own version as well with parts from Lowe's if you wanted.

I just got one of these, and I'm actually looking forward to water change this weekend! (and this is just a 30 gal tank!) haha.

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100 Dirt + Stuff. To be Angel baby tank.
37 Planted. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f45/pla...nal-20774.html
29 Tall community tank. 5+ Years up and running.
15 Soon to be RCS tank.

When doing a water change with hoses, dose your dechlorintor directly to the tank before adding new water. Its best to dose for the entire tank when doing that.

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