# pale green water ?



## john321 (Mar 25, 2012)

*pale green water ? ( with images)*

I've bought a 2nd hand fish tank 2 weeks ago, and through out those 2 weeks have been hell lol!, so here is my story. I bought everything off the guy 2nd hand , that includes the tank,filter and driftwood(years old). Before i started putting water into the tank, i gave everything as in the filter, tank , new gravel and driftwood a very good clean with just warm water. 
After everything was clean, the tank was fill with gravel, water was added as well as the driftwood. The tank and water looked pretty clean!. 

As hours went past the water become cloudy from the dirty in the gravel , and it got me frustrated so i kept doing water changes till i could take it no more and decide to start from scratch , so i took out the gravel gave it a very good clean and did the same with the tank. On the other hand i had let my driftwood settle water for the time being. 

After that i decide to put the gravel back in as well as the water with some prime to remove certain stuff from the water and turned on the filter , the water looked great for a couple of days, so i decide to go buy some tetras !  after that i check the water of the driftwood and it didn't look bad at all so i decide place them into the fish tank as well after a day or two the water stared to turn into this pale green colour, algae ? and could only most visible when the light is off.


----------



## Alasse (Mar 12, 2009)

It looks like a bacteria bloom, completely normal for a newly setup tank, i would just leave it alone to settle.


----------



## SuckMyCichlids (Nov 5, 2011)

It could possibly be a bactierial bloom but if the tank was only set up days agio with some tetras I don't thinkk it would have that affect


----------



## navigator black (Jan 3, 2012)

You're probably thinking in hours, and fishtanks work in weeks. If you'd waited three or four days, the original cloudiness would have vanished without you doing the water changes. Probably, the cleaning killed most of the bacteria that would have kept the tank looking clean, and now, it all has to bounce back. I suspect a bacterial bloom, which is a good thing. 
Just do 25% weekly water changes, add no more fish, keep the lighting at 12-14 hours, keep the tank out of direct sunlight and don't overfeed. 

My garden looks awful now, in March with the snow just melted. If I'm patient, by the end of April, it'll be great to look at. It's about the same timeline with a fishtank.


----------



## Summer (Oct 3, 2011)

I agree, prob a bacteria bloom. Have you read up on the nitrogen cycle yet, and have you tested your water?


----------



## Kev1jm2 (Oct 18, 2011)

I'm addition to the correct advice above, I'd put a printed background on the back glass of the tank. I think it makes it look much better than seeing the white wall behind the rank.. You'll water will look clearer too.


----------

