Eliminating green water without chemicals or blackout...a simple method

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jec0995

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Nov 10, 2005
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I just posted this in the general freshwater forum but I know there are members of AC who only visit the plants forum so I thought I should also post here. Maybe someone is interested in this?

I came across this method on Aquatic Plant central. Sounds great...almost too good to be true. From what they say though, it really seems to work. I just got done battling green water in my 75 gallon and it took 3 weeks and 11 days of blackout. Covering and uncovering the tank became a real pain and I like to watch my fish so it was killing me to have it covered all the time.

Anyway check out the link. I did a search on AC for willow and didn't come up with any posts regarding this method of dealing with green water.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...ight=filtration

You might have to register to actually view the posts...I'm not sure. For those of you who can't see the posts...it describes a method of using willow tree branches to clear up green water. You essentially leave your lights on their normal cycle and continue dosing your plants (if you have them). The willow branches will eventually grow roots and begin sucking up all the excess nutrients the algae is thriving from. When this happens, the algae will be starved and the plants can take advantage and begin to outcompete the algae for the nutrients. There were some really knowledgeable people conducting experiments on this and it seems to work.

I didn't copy and paste the original post because I wasn't sure of the rules but I can if I'm allowed...while giving full credit of course.


Ok, I just wanted to inform people like me who were unaware of this method. Good luck fighting that darn green water.
 

Blinky

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Jun 22, 2004
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I fought GW using the same principle; I left the lights on, cranked up the CO2 and made sure the plants were well fertilized, then relied on fast-growing stem plants to outcompete it. Worked like a charm :D
 

RTR

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Oct 5, 1998
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The willow bit is just using an emergent plant to do the same work that a bunch of stems will do equally well, especially if they are just floating. It is a fun variant because it is different looking, but not different by nature.
 
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