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Trouble getting back on track.

1K views 2 replies 2 participants last post by  cal1112333 
#1 ·
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.
 
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#2 ·
You could always do a total blackout for 48 hours (no lights, no feeding, wrap a blanket around the tank to block ambient room lighting) to get rid of the green water, but I would be afraid that your clams would starve to death were you to do this. Freshwater clams are very difficult to keep as they need pretty much a constant supply of green water or something similar and are thus prone to starvation. If they don't get enough to eat, they can die and very quickly foul your water.
 
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