It’s summer, and with the heat comes an increase in bacteria and algae blooms. Today we’ll break down why exactly your water is cloudy and help clear things up - literally!
Bacteria Bloom
If your aquarium suddenly starts to take on a milky hue, it’s likely you’re experiencing a bacteria bloom. When there’s excess nutrients in the water and not enough beneficial bacteria to consume it, the bad bacteria rapidly reproduces. This is identifiable by a dense fog in the water that is difficult to see through. The most common reasons for a bacteria bloom are adding a new fish, cycling a new aquarium, increase in temperature, or excess water changes.
- Adding a new fish to your aquarium is an exciting process that at first seems quick and easy, but without proper precautions can have negative consequences. If the aquarium is not equipped to handle additional ammonia from a new inhabitant, the additional bad bacteria can spike and cause a bacteria bloom. To avoid this, test your water prior to adding your new fish and perform a water change if needed.
- When cycling an aquarium, it is important to add fresh, live beneficial bacteria. This can be done in a variety of ways, from taking filtration media or rocks from an established tank to adding liquid bacteria such as Turbo Start. When there is not enough beneficial bacteria added in the beginning of this process, bad bacteria reproduce and cause a bacteria bloom.
- Bacteria blooms are common during the summer with temperatures rising. Heat encourages bacteria to reproduce quickly. For the health of your aquarium inhabitants and stability of your parameters, a chiller may need to be added to maintain correct temperature.
- Excess water changes can start a bacteria bloom due to manual removal of beneficial bacteria. This is why testing your water parameters prior to doing a water change is vital to a balanced aquarium. Water changes should typically only be performed if the aquarium is missing beneficial bacteria, needs bad bacteria to be removed, or is missing elements.
What To Do: Add Bacteria or Do Nothing
As frustrating as it is, it is typically best protocol to leave the aquarium alone. The bacteria in your water column will best reestablish itself if nothing changes. This process typically takes up to 2-4 weeks. However, if nothing improves after a week, add beneficial bacteria to the aquarium following the directions on the bottle. Doing water changes, adding a UV sterilizer, or disturbing the tank's water parameters will further disturb the bacteria and encourage bad bacteria to reproduce.
Green Water
If you’ve ever seen Nemo and your aquarium looks like Nemo’s aquarium when it was green, you most likely have green water algae. While the water may look green, the reason it’s green is due to tiny green algae floating in the water, creating the illusion of green water. This algae is due to a combination of excess light and nutrients.
What To Do: Install UV Sterilizer
While many recommend blacking out the aquarium (wrapping cloth around the tank to block out all light), this has more negative results than good. Plants will suffer from lack of light and the dead algae will cause an ammonia spike. Instead, install a UV sterilizer to remove the algae without spiking the ammonia or allowing it to reproduce. The UV sterilizer changes the algae’s cell structure, unlike how blacking out aquarium leaves residual algae that may not have completely died to reproduce. UV sterilizers are a great contribution to any aquarium and have many benefits that are not limited to controlling algae.
Brown Water
Brown water is caused by tannins, and contrary to bacteria blooms and green water, is actually beneficial! Tannins leach from natural compounds such as driftwood and catappa leaves. Aquariums that have heavy tannins are called blackwater aquariums, which are favored by breeding or baby fish due to them having anti-fungal and antibacterial benefits.
What To Do: Water Changes, Carbon, and/or Chemical Filtration
If you’re not a fan of the aesthetic of a blackwater aquarium, small water changes over time, carbon, mechanical filtration, and Purigen by SeaChem can help remove tannins from the water.
While bacteria blooms are stressful and time consuming, patience and finding its cause are key to bringing balance back to your aquarium. Still stumped? Let us know and we’ll get to the bottom of it.