How to get rid of green water?

Stefanie

Stefanie

AC Members
Jan 12, 2005
119
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16
Maryland
A week ago I messed up during a water change and forgot to add dechlor. I had an ammonia and nitrite spike, and a day later the water turned milky, then green. From what I have read it is green water caused by ammonia/nitrite spike. Now it seems that water changes are not helping me at all. I do not have access to a UV filter, and if there is another way of getting rid off it, I would rather not spend the money on one.
I have read about black outs, but I am unsure how to ensure to really get it all out if I do one...But if someone has had success with this, please let me know and I will try.
So, is there anything I try without UV filter? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
Stefanie
 
I recently had a bad outbreak of blue-green algae.....frequent water changes and cleanings helped a little but it came back fast. Finally I did a very good cleaning..changed %50 of the water and cleaned as much of the algae as I could then did a three day black out. I put a sheet over the tank to ensure more darkness. That seemed to kill all traces of the algae and my plants are doing great now. I think I was going a little heavy on the ferts. Hope that helps.
 
The best fix for unicellular algae IME is a tank stuffed with healthy plants and time - just keep doing regular maintenance and don't completely cut off light or fertilizing the plants; they need food to continue growing well and outcompete the algae. You could also ask your LFS if they'll rent you a diatom filter to clear the water, that will give you a head start on getting things back on track :)
 
A three day blackout with 50% water changes and tank cleanings before and after will do the trick, but it may be overkill for green water.

UV and diatom filters are wastes of money, IMO. They only treat the symptom, not the cause. Yes, an abundance of ammonia is likely the cause. Do you have really high PO4 levels as well? Id the tank water especially warm right now? Do you have plants in the tank?

In any event, do 50% water changes and clean the substrate as thoroughly as possible. Also rinse out filter media. It wil take a little time, but the water will clear with water changes after you get the nutrients under control.
 
Thank you for the replies. Yes, I have plants in the tank (not heavily planted, yet). My PO4 is around 1 ppm.
I think for now I will just sit it out, keep doing my regular cleaning and wait. I think it already cleared up a bit, but it might just be wishful thinking ;-) I added some wisteria last night, maybe this will help?
Anyways, I will come back for help if it doesn't solve itself. Thanks everyone!
 
I had it for the longest time and I went to the store and bought like 3 more plants (one was a huge clump of hornwart) and did a 50% water change and covered it up for a day and than took that off and did another 50% change and its been crystal clear ever since than and I've even taken the hornwart out
 
Green water is usually just a case of nutrients getting out of control.

The one time I had it was before I knew anything about aquaria, PO4 was through the roof, as was NO3. It was at its worst when the wife and I returned from vacation to find that our fish-sitter had misread my instruction and fed double. Water was also very warm.

Since then I've kept nutrient levels low, both through light-ish stocking, light feeding, and of course plants. But plants will only help you get the situation under control. If the cause of the problem isn't resolved, then you're just setting yourself up for a repeat. It's the same with every problem that you encounter in aquaria (and life ;) ). Attack the cause of the problem and the symptoms will heal themselves.
 
I had the same problem. At the time my tank was alot of plants, water changes did not help. I wraped the tank with paper and turned the lighting off for 3-4 days, no more green water. I know that this is not a well acceped thing to do, but it worked. I think that my problem was that my tank was not cycled, for some reason it took forever for the tank to cycle.
 
Be warn that by covering the tank you stop your good plants from doing that Photosynthesis. Once the mechanism shuts down you will lose the plants. I've never heard of the process starting up again.

thePlantMan cometh.............
 
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