Newly cycled 29g and green water

check out the aquatic plant forum there's a current post about a battle with green water and there are lots of good tips in the thread- ecopit seems to have a rather furious case. . .

be sure to read the Whole thread before you administer some of the suggestions as one of THE experts weighed in and corrected one of mine- good luck!

Are you using Live plants or plastic?

If you're willing to use live plants, get some Anachairis, cabomba, hornwart, etc.

These will absorb the nutrients in the water that the Algae needs and thus eliminate most of the algae by simply preventing it's growth due to missing nutrients.

What kind of filter do you have on your tank and what is its GPH? Maybe you should have a higher GPH. Your tanks volume should be filtered 10 to 15 times an hour. So a 10 gallon tank needs 100-150 GPH.

With the problems I have been having my eyes were drawn right to this thread title.

I doubt filtration is the issue. Unless you are using micron or diatom filters it will not pick up the algae, so increasing the flow rate will do nothing.

The biological filter produces nitrates as waste, so completely removing all nitrates would have zero effect on the bacteria. If you did a large water change with tap water and forgot to dechlorinate it that would kill your bacteria. Have you tested your tap water? Does it have any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate? Since it is not a planted tank you probably don't have a phosphate test kit, but it would be good to know if you have any of that in your water too.

Here is what I would do in this tank: assuming no N compounds in your tap water, do a very large water change (75% or higher) and then do a four or five day blackout. Completely cover the tank and do not uncover it at all during that time, not even to feed fish. After the five days, uncover and do another very large water change. Hopefully, that will solve it. If it does, try to avoid having it happen again--feed lightly, try not to stir up gravel too much, and regular water changes to keep nitrates down.

Alternatives:
- UV sterilizer, which you already said no to.
- A filter with a micron or diatom cartridge.
- Fully plant the tank, and allow the plants to outcompete the algae. I can tell you that this is a VERY SLOW and frustrating process. If you go this route start checking the planted forum for info and advice before jumping in.

Filtration begins with flow rate. Filtration capacity and effectiveness are directly determined by the rate that water is pushed through the system combined with the quantity and quality of the filter media. The more water filtered totally (mechanically, chemically and biologically) in the least amount of time translates to cleaner water and healthier fish. This will usually help the problem.

If someone is using filter floss that is too coarse to capture the algae cells causing the green water then what good will increasing flow rate do?

It will eventually filter out. Buy some water clarifier. What brand of filter is it? If it is a Whisper, I would suggest Tetratec Pro II Cartridges. If your filter media is not dense enough, I would suggest a new filter. Follow the links on the Aq Produts under Water Treatments, then Crystal Clear II.

http://www.aq-products.com/Catalog/Catalog Frame Page.htm
http://www.tetra-fish.com/catalog/product.aspx?id=60