Clear water

Question
I cannot seem to keep the water clear in my 29 gallon tank.  I have clownfish now....will it hurt to put baking soda in my aquarium to help clear it up?  I have tried changing water several times and after a couple of days it is green and cloudy again.  I have 2 filters that are working so I know that is not the problem.

Answer
Hi Barbara;

Baking Soda will not clear up your water. It will cause the pH to rise and stress your fish. If the water is green colored, it's from a type of algae called "suspended algae", a single-celled floating algae. Water changes sometimes make it worse because you may be essentially re-fortifying the bacteria with whatever combination of nutrients it likes from the tap source. It can be a very difficult problem to solve and not every solution works in every case. Sometimes nothing works and it has to just be left alone to spontaneously clear up on it's own. Below are some web pages with suggestions to help you find something. Some may be talking about ponds but the problem and solutions are similar;

http://www.akca.org/library/greenwtr.htm

http://www.nunnie.com/cloudy.html

http://tinyurl.com/2vye8q

http://www.vcnet.com/koi_net/GRENH2O.html

http://www.ponddoc.com/WhatsUpDoc/WaterQuality/GreenWater.html

Good Luck...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins