Tank Cleaners

Bought an air pump and air stone yesterday, looks great but the stone is made of a sandy material, and my tank has recently started looking as though it has got bit of something floating around in it and it is making the water look cloudy, could this be the material on the stone?

I have been thinking about tank cleaners, i would rather buy some kind of invertebrate or fish than another filter, i know that bamboo shrimp are filter feeders and they grow quite large (i need something big enough so that it is not eaten by my featherfin catfish) would it help if i bought a few of these? or should i buy another small filter.

the tank is also looking quite green lately aswell, i got some live plants a few weeks ago, is it this or algae? i don't know if it is algae becuase the tank is in no direct sunlight, would shrimp help with this too?


Thanks in advance

James

get a bristlenose

murky water is cuased by 101 different things so first thing to do is to check your water parameters to ensure that there is no ammonia cos that can cause murky water. second, did you burry the airstone? some people do this and it forces all the gunk trapped in the gravel to float up. it could also be a bacterial bloom in which case you can try some melafix. finally, check all of the parameters to ensure that nothing (esspecially any of the salts) are really high. When my phosphates were high the bubbles caused it to precipitate out of solution and cloud the water.

If you are having an algae issue then you have an imballance in the tank. either too much light, too long photoperiod or too many nutrients. you have to identify which of these is causing the issue and deal with it. once you have it right the plants well out compete the algae for the nutrients and all will be good

Thanks Doug, when you say parameters what should i test, because i only have PH and nitrite, i did bury the airstone so that might be why.
and is photoperiod the amount out light per day? if so i have the light on for 10 hours, is this right?

Thanks

James

I never have my light on my tanks for more than 4 hours max now, and even then one or two tanks can often have alot of algae round the top..
infact one appears to have what looks like blanket weed /moss....

though it is only directly above the air stones on the top of the lid.....

Test everything. I test Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia, pH, KH,GH and phosphate. the things to look at with algae are nitrate nitrite and ammonia as these are the nutrients that algae use to grow.

Photoperiod is indeed the time the light is on. this varies from tank to tank and from light to light. 10hrs is ballpark ok depending on the light. Lower powered lights can be left on a bit longer before causing issues but i wouldnt go past 10hrs a day. If you are having issues with algae, back the photoperiod off to 7-8hrs to see if that makes a difference.

also, you dont mention if the algae is on stuff or its green water algae...?