I have a 55 tropical freshwater community
ammonia >.5ppm
nitrate about 1.5 ppm
nitrite >15ppm
PH 7.6
76-78 degrees
Half of the tank heavily planted, other half swimming space, 1'X6"X3" piece of bogwood in corner with filter for shrimp
14 blue neons
9 orange neons
6 golden asian clams
5 otos
4 fancy guppies
2 ghost glass cats
2 bamboo shrimp
1 apple snail
some pond snails
I just set this tank up and about 1 month after finishing cycling I bought a gravel vac (until now was doing daily 2% water changes)
I know I have a habit of over feeding and have since stopped. Now feed once daily.
After vacing for the first time the water was a kind of dirt cloudy and assumed it would clear up as the junk settled, it did not. I assume its from the gravel getting stirred up, but the nitrate levels came up a little (referenced in water parameters on top). I have changed the filters, added fresh carbon, and have purchased freshwater clams.
The water went from the dirt hue to a greenish algae. After getting the clams have held off on my daily 10% water changes and the algae got too thick to see to the back.
Besides cutting back on feeding, is there a natural way to get rid of the stuff (assuming algae) and keep the water clear?
Furthermore for the past 3 days I have been performing 30% daily water changes is this too much? I looked into other posts elsewhere and the general advice was "keep up your aggressive water changes and it should clear up".
Thanks ahead of time for any help given.
ammonia >.5ppm
nitrate about 1.5 ppm
nitrite >15ppm
PH 7.6
76-78 degrees
Half of the tank heavily planted, other half swimming space, 1'X6"X3" piece of bogwood in corner with filter for shrimp
14 blue neons
9 orange neons
6 golden asian clams
5 otos
4 fancy guppies
2 ghost glass cats
2 bamboo shrimp
1 apple snail
some pond snails
I just set this tank up and about 1 month after finishing cycling I bought a gravel vac (until now was doing daily 2% water changes)
I know I have a habit of over feeding and have since stopped. Now feed once daily.
After vacing for the first time the water was a kind of dirt cloudy and assumed it would clear up as the junk settled, it did not. I assume its from the gravel getting stirred up, but the nitrate levels came up a little (referenced in water parameters on top). I have changed the filters, added fresh carbon, and have purchased freshwater clams.
The water went from the dirt hue to a greenish algae. After getting the clams have held off on my daily 10% water changes and the algae got too thick to see to the back.
Besides cutting back on feeding, is there a natural way to get rid of the stuff (assuming algae) and keep the water clear?
Furthermore for the past 3 days I have been performing 30% daily water changes is this too much? I looked into other posts elsewhere and the general advice was "keep up your aggressive water changes and it should clear up".
Thanks ahead of time for any help given.