# How to keep water clean? Seachem Clarity brown my ADA tank!



## YoungBoy (May 19, 2009)

Hi everyone,

After 9 months collecting bits and pieces, my baby is finally born! I finally put my ADA Aquasoil Amazonia I into my 5'x2'x1.5' tank, filled with water and plants!

In my new tank I have Limnophila sessiliflora, Urticullaria graminofolia, hairgrass (Eleocharis acicularis), 2 beautiful Pogostemon helferi, Hemianthus micranthemoides and Monosolenium tenerum in Iwagumi layout. I also have a T5 HO light with 4x80w tubes, Eheim 2217 filter with Eheim filter media and Seachem Purigen(I took the carbon out) and CO2 supply.

The tank looked amazingly beautiful, it was filled with thousands of oxigen bubbles, on the surface of ADA Aquasoil, all the plants and even the wall of the tank. By the 3rd day, the oxygen bubbles slowly disappeared, the water turned a little greenish, so I started to worry and put in a recommemded dose of Seachem Clarity, hoping that it will clear up the water. 

Clarity is brown in colour so it browned my whole tank! The label said it's common that if the water looked cloudier than before it was added into the water, it will be clear after 2 hours, but my tank was still the same colour as when the Clarity was first added, after 10 hours. 

I started to worry so I went to my local aquarium to seek advise. The nice guy from my local aquarium suggest to me that it's best to change the water. He thought Clarity might have reacted badly with ADA soil! So I drained out nearly all the water(to the substrate level), and refill it water. The tank looked beautiful again.

Now it's the 3rd day since I changed the water, it has just started to look greenish again, I now worry that Algae might appear soon. Should I worry about this? Can anyone be so kind to give me an idea how I can keep the water clear and the algae out?

I would also like to add HC and Eleochris vivipara but I can only get them next Thursday. The nice guy from my local aquarium suggested I should drain out the water when I add the new plant because ADA soil has too much nutritions, and algae grow easily. Is this correct?

Thank you all so much for your help.

YoungBoy


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi YoungBoy,

You didn't mention how long you are running your lights. When I start up a tank I start with a short light period and gradually increase it after the nitrogen cycle has completed. When I get the start of "green water" in a new tank, I immediately cut way back on my light cycle.


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## rosedew (Mar 6, 2010)

Hi Youngboy,

I am having the exact same problem with the water being a greenish brown color. Its been 6 days since i started my walstad tank and the color change occurred on the third day. The water isn't cloudy or anything but the color does make me a little nervous. My plants, the 6 guppies and two mystery snails are still looking healthy.

Since you posted about a year ago, i'm wondering if the water color went away. And if so, did you do anything particular?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi rosedew,

I see this is your first post....welcome to APC! Maybe you could give us some for information like tank size, amount of lighting, and how long you leave your light(s) on?


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