# 55 gallon turning green



## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

i have a 55 gallon freshwater cichlid tank. i have 2 penguin 280 filters on it and 14 fish in the tank. i have to change the water and clean the rock 2-3 times a month. and not even 3 days after a water change it turns back green...what am i doing wrong? the tank was predrilled for a sump but the guy i got it from sealed off the hole with cement would a sump do much difference with filtration or is what i have fine?


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## P.senegalus (Aug 18, 2011)

How long do you leave the lights on? I would cut back on the amount of light and see if that helps.


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

usually just during the day from whatever time i get up till around 10 at night so maybe 8 hours a day if that


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## mpfsr (Jun 22, 2011)

What type of cichlids are you keeping? I allow algae to grow in my cichlid tanks as most of the ones I keep (mbuna) graze on it.


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

umm i dont know whats the true names are but i got one dark blue with yellow fins, one jack dempsy, one oscar, one white with yellow and black stripes, one convict, one angel zebra, one blood parrot, one rainbow shark, two silver dollars, one pleco, one blue gourami, one tinfoil barb, and one other one i cant think of right now but i got 14 fish total in the tank


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

Algae is attributed to 3 things. Light, excess food, and the fish's poo. Cut down on them and you'll have less algae growth, however. I think you have another problem.

I don't think it's that your particularly doing something wrong though. Because honestly I had three pleco's in my last setup in my 125g and I had the same issues (common, and 2 BN pleco's) . 2-3 day's a film of green algae starts scouring over everything in the tank and the three of them couldn't keep up. It sounds to me like it's blue green algae. Like Black brush algae, it's next to impossible to get rid of, but fairly easy to manage. I'm not sure on the big box pet stores, but I know any and all local owned LFS's will have or have access to a treatment for it. 

Best idea for taking care of it yourself is cleaning it a lot. Gravel vac 2 times a week, clean the glass, and clean the deco and rinse debris out of the filter. Combined with treatment over 3-4 weeks and you should have pretty darn good control over it or get very close to eliminating it.

Outside of the algae issue, how long have you had these fish? Because it sounds like you've done a big no no and mixed african cichlids with south american cichlids. If you haven't had problems yet, that's awesome. But that may change and I just want to throw that out there.


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## Ladayen (Jun 20, 2011)

You are way over stocked. The oscar and and the jack dempsey should each have a 55+ of their own. You have excess nutrients as a result of the fish poo. You're going to have to get rid of some.

As blindkiller hinted at already, your fish will probably start killing each other off soon enough.


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## blindkiller85 (Jan 8, 2011)

The oscar is the biggest problem. Those suckers grow to what, 12+ inches long.

I didn't want to point out that he's over stocked because maybe he has plans to have multi-tank syndrome or just upgrade in the future. Biggest concern is the mixing of species as they will kill each other quicker than they will outgrow their space. They become territorial long before that. At about 4 months old in a tank it's survival of the fittest and or the one with the most cojones.


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

yea i tried using several different treatments for algea but nothing works. i have all the fish since they were born so theyve grown up together in the same tank for 3 years now. the oscar is 7 inches and seems to be happy the dempsy i just got about a few months ago and is only 4 inches. my tinfoil barb is almost 9 inches now and can grow upto 2 feet in the right environment. but yea i do plan on going to a 300 or 350 gallon acrylic tank when i get back to work. then the two species will be seperated and the 55 will be used as a sump. the only fish im having trouble with is my blood parrot, something is eating his fins and i can not figure out which fish it is even watching the tank with my security cams 24 hours a day...


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Does it look like bites or is the fin just disappearing evenly overnight? Once a fin gets nipped, it can easily get a finrot that will keep eating it invisibly.


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## poolplayerpro3 (Dec 1, 2011)

only on one fish, my blood parrot is being attacked by my jack dempsy but hes only 3 inches long im just waiting on the parrot to die really, ive had it 5 years and its pale looking im treating him with meds but their not helping


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