Tropical Fish Forums

[Liszie]

I'm not really sure where to post this- diseases/disasters, planted tanks, freshwater basics, or here because it's a little bit of all of them.
'Neway, here's my problem.
I have a 20g (75l) tall planted freshwater community. Because it is heavily planted, I add 2ml of seachem flourish twice weekly. I also add 2ml of "algae destroyer" from Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (which claims it is safe for live plants), and 20ml of Blackwater extract once weekly. Recently, everytime I add the flourish, my tank, almost instantly, becomes very cloudy for a good hour or so then clears up. The fish show no signs of stress and act normal. I don't think it is an algal bloom because it is not green, just a whitish tint.
I've had this bottle of flourish for a few months and am wondering if it is old and I should get a new one?

Some extra tank info:

Inhabitants:
6 Harlequin rasboras
2 yoyo loaches
2 panda cories
3 marbled hatchetfish
2 otocinclus

Water chemistry

as of a few minutes ago, WHILE the water is cloudy
pH: 8.0
KH: 5 degrees
GH: 6 degrees
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

at last test (last week) when the water wasn't cloudy
pH: 8.0
KH: 9 degrees
GH: 7 degrees
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0

As you can see, the GH and KH are significantly different. I will test them again when the water clears up to see if the cloudy water has anything to do with it.
I do 25% water changes weekly, the most recent of which was yesterday.

Thanks in advance!

Liszie
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[DF Bobo]

maybe it's a reaction between flourish and the algae destroyer? I never use chemicals against algae since they aren't usually good for the aquarium and don't usually work either. that's just my theory though.
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[Liszie]

Could be... but I use the flourish twice a week and the algae stuff only once and it still gets cloudy when I add the flourish...

p.s. rockin signature
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[Liszie]

Oh, I also add Neutral regulator, also from seachem
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[fishlover888]

[Liszie]

No, I don't add dechlorinator- my tap water is from a well and it doesn't have chlorine in it.
You are probably right about all the chemicals. (would you believe I eat all organic food? I guess I just wasn't thinking ) I think I will definitely stop using the algae stuff, and depending on how the pH neutral stuff works, probably stop using that too.
Thanks for waking me up...
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[piranha]

If your using well water you already have a high iron content in the water. Adding flourish is probably adding more iron than needed. Adding all those chemicals at once is more than likely your problem. I use flourish once every two weeks and maintain healthy plants. I would discontinue algae destroyer and blackwater extract. There needs to be a natural balance to eliminate the algae bloom. Continue 25 percent water changes weekly, reduce slightly the length of time light is on, making sure the tank doesn't get direct sunlight. Add two more ottos.

[FiftyCalibre]

I also use flourish and seachem neutral regulator.

Neutral regulator also de chlorinates and binds metals.

My bottle of flourish is about 1yr old, and is still fine lol.

The iron in the well water is probably different to the iron in the flourish. I would guess that the well water iron is unchelated or something.

[Liszie]

No, no, pirhana, did you read my first post? I really highly doubt it is an algae bloom. When I say instant, I mean comic strip KAPOW. Algae couldn't grow that fast, could it?


I'm a little confused about the iron thing, which makes sense considering I've been given two conflicting opinions. Do I or do I not need to use flourish? (or alternately, is there any way of really knowing the answer to that question without an iron test?)
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[FiftyCalibre]

You don't NEED to use flourish, but it helps, since it provides other things besides Iron