y does my water look like mountain dew?

squiggles1

like i said, i have a tank that's water is the color of mountain dew, a limey green. the params are fine, 0 amm, 0 nitrite, 15 nitrate. it's a 12g eclipse with a betta and a little grey fantail Goldfish. the water's been this color for months. ive tried daily water changes and leaving the light off but nothing seems to help. it is across from an east facing window so does get a couple hours light in the morning but not a whole lot. when i do a large water change and the water's looking almost normal within maybe 3 days it's back to being so green u can't see the back wall. there is no significant algea growth. a touch of brownish here or there but only a tiny amount.i'm also careful not to over feed. Any ideas?

Fish Frenzy

Do you have driftwood in the tank?

GalaxyGirl

Is it something in your filter?

Andyandsue

Ooh Ooh! I'm raising my hand in the air!! I know the answer! I have eclipse tanks and have had similar problems and through much research, help from members here, and good ol' trial and error I have fixed the issue-at-hand. Here is what I did: First, make sure the bio-wheel is running smoothly. If it seems to stall in between "pumps", clean the brackets that hold it, and try unplugging it for a while to loosen whatever has caused the impellor to run more like a pulsation. If that does not work, take the intake apart and thoroughly clean everything that you possibly can with water, and a towel and bottle brush (you probably know this, but never clean the bio-wheel itself).

Also, if you have high phosphates in your water (THANK YOU usmc121581!) algae can attack the tank, and the carbon in the eclipse filter can actually encourage algae. I took a cartridge and cut off the floss, removed the carbon, and replaced it back into the filter with filter floss specific for removal of phosphates. It took a few days but everything cleared up!

As of now I still use the carbon filter with some phosphate removing media on top of it, but I don't know how that will work out yet. I'm not sure if the carbon will negate my efforts of the phosphate removal. Someone suggested I find a phosphate testing kit. I never did find one, but I admit I didn't look very hard since my water cleared up quickly, but it wasn't too "mountain dewy" yet.

I hope I was able to help.

squiggles1

thanks for the input. ill try out ur suggestions. :D ( no driftwood in there)

fish_4_all

If it has been around thatlong you might want to test your tap water also to see what the phosphate levels are.

A couple easy plants like Elodea might also help to soak up the phosphates if that is an option to you.

Also, anything that might have died in the tank under the gravel or behind something you have not found can cause it. I know you have no ammonia but the algae could easily use it up as fast as it produced and you would never get a reading. I got split pea soup when my Malaysian Trumpet Snails and I didn't know it. It went away after about month and all I had left were empty shells.

Is the sunlight direct sunlight or is it ambient light?

Andyandsue could be right so give them a try also. There is only like 100 things that can cause green water so we will have to go through as many ideas as possible. Hopefully it will be one of the earlier ideas that cures your problems.