Green water,

[little]

I am sure there is something some where on here about my question, but I dont know where to start. I change my 60g community tank every week, about 20-30% one week then the other week i try to get atleast 50% water changed, thats also when i srub things and mix up the gravel abit to get what settled on the corners. But my water is still greenish tinted, There is normally no alge growing on things except in the filter tubes, the pleco takes care of the deco in the tank, so I am wondering what the green water is all about. do I need to change more water more offen? or do i need more alge eaters? my smaller tanks dont get green like this, but I also do small water changes every day.

[heatherhoge]

I had this problem with my stingray tank a while back. IT is an alge bloom and wont harm your fish so no reason to panic for their safty. It is probably a lighting issue. How long do you have your lights on for each day? It is standard rule to leave lights on about 8 hrs a day. What isn't mentioned is that lights in the house also affect tanks just not as much as tank lights. IF they are in a well lighted room and have tank lights on for 8 hours makes good growing for alge. I had the problem so bad you could only see 25% into the tank so i had a bad case. So what i did was a 50% water change and left tank lights off. Following week another 25% water change with lights off. I kept doing this water change and keeping lights off for about 2 weeks and i cleared up. I don't think an alge eater will help because the alge is in the water. ALge eaters only eat alge off surfaces and need other than alge in their diet. They are more of a look at fish. They do help but never solve an alge problem. After I cleared my tank i now only leave lights on for 4 hours a day and works well since they are in well lite rooms. I have tryed 8 hours again and started the bloom but cought it in time so that is how i came upon my conclusion. IT took me 2 month of trying diffrent things before the lights and nothing else worked for me.

[little]

oh crud.... found a post my Georgia peach about the same thing too,, this whole light thing is new new new to me!!! i have never heard about lights. this is the embaressing part, I turn my tanks lights on at 4:30 Am when i get up and they get turned off around 9:00 pm when i go to bed,, @ tanks are on each side of 2 lg bay windows. I heard not to put them in front of the window, so I stuck them next to the window on each end of the sofa, the 60g is across from a window that gets alot of morning sun. I cant move the 60g tank, there is no place to put it! I have lots of windows!!! Dang moving time i guess!!! in G. peach post I read about putting a blanket over the tank, what do I need to do to fix this?? I cant see my fish now with no light and green water

[heatherhoge]

LOL. Don't feel stupid. With fish there is a lot to digest and remember and I too tend to forget things that seem simple. Its hard to remember everything. LOL. If your tanks are on the side of the window and not in front you should be ok. if some how the sun is getting into your tank get a towl and just cover up the side the sun is hitting. You don't need to cover the whole tank. In lightning storms i cover my 180gal cuz my boys freak and very capable of braking the tank. So i just cover the front of it till the storm is over. Just keep your lights off permanately till alge gone and do regular water changers at least 25% once a week and should see a diffrence. I work from 8:00 am till 4:30 so i turm tank lights on when i get home (so i can enjoy my fish) then turn off at 9:00 pm. So lights on from 5:00 pm till 9. IF you do the same method and notice your water gets brown there is brown alge too. Brown alge grows in the dark. So that will be a sign if not enough light. Don't mistake brown alge with dirty water. Easy to do since it looks alike. To see if actually alge or not is to clean gravel and if really dirty it most likely waste and food and another way to tell is if there is brown sluge in filter than probubly same thing. IF everything is fairly clean and brown water than its probubly brown alge. Brown alge wont harm fish either it just makes tanks look gross and embarrasing to have people see. Just what we need animal control coming out for fishy abuse due to alge. LOL

[fishn00b]

I had a whole bunch of problems on this... if you do a search for "Green Cloudy Water" in the Beginner section you should come up with three parts. Each has a whole bunch of information on how to fix these problems and what could be causing it. It may help you out.

[TheOldSalt]

Well, leaving the lights on for nearly 18 hours per day is certainly the main cause of your problem. Let the sun come up before turning on the tank lights, which your fish will like anyway since they hate it when the lights suddenly snap on when it was dark. Actually, wait until around 9 or 10 am before turning them on in order to shorten that too-long daylength you are currently giving them. That will get rid of your green water quite nicely.

[Sprite42]

I had 'pea soup' green water in my ADF tank. I couldn't even see the frogs. It has been like this for months even with 50% water changes weekly and live plants. After getting a gander at how fat the frogs were, I put them on a diet.

My water cleared up in about a week, but the frogs are still fat!

See...

[little]

ok,, frongs under water,,,, hmmm,,, what are they called, i want to look this up, can they go with fish? do they need anything odd?? that frog is kind of funny looking in a cute way,,,, I feel a ""I want"" coming on

[Sprite42]

This frawg is an ADF (African Dwarf Frog). Each frogger requires about 2.5 gallons. I have 3 in a 10 gallon tank. Their body size is about 2 adult inches. Some people keep them with fish. But, I have found that these guys hunt by sight and are a little slow when it comes to eating. They 'taste' anything that moves within their sight range even if it is their own foot. LOL They are also somewhat messy. Keeping them in a tank with fish that are faster to get to the food, will starve them to death unless you hand feed them. MIne get mostly live food: grindal worms, flightless fruit flies, and occasional daphnia (when I can get it). They will eat frozen tubifex and bloodworms, mysis shrimp and glassworms, too!

THey are really comical, though. I truly enjoy mine. The males will 'sing', but it is more of a 'chirping' sound. They live their whole life underwater, but are air breathers. If kept in a deep tank, you will need to provide a 'resting' place about half way up. I keep mine just as I would tropical freshwater fish: Temp between 75 and 78 degrees, cycled tank, live plants, and hiding places.

[little]

well its to late i want one now,,, can i get one and keep it in a 2.5 hex tank??? only thing i dont have for it is a heater, ..

[Sprite42]

Yep, a 2.5 gallon is great for one frog. Keep in mind when selecting decorations and substrate, that these funny critters do love to 'nose-dive' into anything. WHen I first got mine, I used a 2.5 gallon with no heater. As long as the water stays close to room temp, they should be okay. Some light fixtures will warm the water enough.

[little]

ok now that we are 100% off the topic,, I did read some site just now that there not for first timers, , well what can i get my hands on to read and learn so i can get on of these guys? any resources you can recomand to me? And i guess they need cycled water too i take it, so I should start a fishless cycle going asap?

[TheOldSalt]

Sounds like a plan.
You can probably get a lot of froggy info here at FishForums with some effort & patience, but for instant gratification try Google. I just googled "African Dwarf Frog" and found more info than I could ever want.

[little]

I have been reading , but what I read tend to be diffrent, I did a search for them also. first site i read said there really hard to keep and not for newbies.. the next one said there just about as easy to keep as goldfish. And i am sure when i read more, I will get even more diffrent info,

[Sprite42]

The thing with these frogs is that they tend to look for 'moving' food. When you get them at the stores, they are usually in a tank with fish that are much quicker than they are. LFS employees don't understand this and most of the froggers starve to death, or they are too far gone when you get them. I have never had any problems with mine. I fed them a block of dried tubifex worms tonight. I just worked it between my fingers until it came all apart. The hunt was on then! LOL As long as you feed them something that will move in the water current, they will definitely not starve. But, you don't want to give them food that sinks and lays on the bottom, they will never 'see' it.

If you practice good tank maintenance (you know the drill), they are very easy to keep. You will need a tank that has no escape holes, cuz they can and will jump.

One word of caution though, iron and heavy metals are deadly to frogs. I use AquaSafe (It is all my Walmart carries) And, the pH of my water is 8.0 coming out of the tap and they have adjusted to it very well. LOL You can tell by the picture, Ethel isn't being mistreated. Here she is when I first got her...about a year ago now...