Green water again..

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Jag1980

Jag1980

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Aug 18, 2008
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I keep getting green cloudy water every couple months.
I keep my lights on only 8 hours a day.
Once I clear it up it stays gone for a month or two but then it comes back again.. This is starting to get real irritating.
Do I need to add something more to my filters to collect more bacteria?
I just have the sponges in my Fluval 205 with only a little bit of Zeo carb in one of the media baskets.
I also set up my EMP-400 a month ago, so I have two filters on my tank now.
 
JAY973

JAY973

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Dec 24, 2005
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Something is triggering a nutrient spike promoting your green water IMO if your lighting cycle doesn't change through out the month. What's changing leading up to the time you notice the green water? In my experience for me it's been something I did within the 24 hrs before green water was visible, in my case it was a ferts overdose.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

PS. Uv sterilizer works wonders to get rid of green water quick!
 
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K

kydsexy

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Aug 8, 2008
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well im making my first post, so i guess i'll answer for you :) green water usually comes from a mix of issues. nutrients in the water column, phosphorus and nitrogen, make sure you're not overfeeding and all food is being eaten. the other factor usually is lighting. th wrong spectrum causes algae blooms, too much light as well. check these out first and then look for other solutions if it doesn't work, such as nutrients already in the water. for an easy test, set up a 2.5 gallon tank next ot the big tank and see if the water turns green without the addition of any food. good luck. if you have goldfish, they love green water :)
 
Jag1980

Jag1980

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Aug 18, 2008
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27 Gallons of water
General 7 Day Dosing Guideline for High light and well planted 29 gallon aquarium.
20-40 Gallon Aquariums
¼ tsp KN03 3x a week =Friday, Sunday, Tuesday – Gives 7.8 per dose - Target 10-20ppm
1/64 tsp KH2P04 3x a week =Friday, Sunday, Tuesday – Gives 0.6 per dose – Target 0.5-2.0ppm
1/16 tsp K2S04 3x a week =Friday, Sunday, Tuesday – Gives 6.92 per dose – Target 10-20ppm
1/16 tsp CSM+B 3x a week =Saturday, Monday, WednesdayGives 0.17 of Iron per dose – Fe Target 0.1ppm
1/32 tps Iron =Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed – Gives 0.13 per dose – Target - 0.1ppm
50% weekly water change = Thursday
Lighting is about 8 hours per day.
Co2 drop checker is always light green
I rinse out my filters once a month with 75*f water
My sand substrate stays very clean and I almost never need to use the siphon to clean up anything.
Fish:
1 3" SAE
4 Scarlet Badis
4 Young Badis Badis
3 Pygmy Cory's
2 Oto cat
2 Amano Shrimp



If some plants are using up allot of a certain nutrient, could it cause a nutrient unbalance that can trigger the cloudy green water?
My plants are growing great, but once this cloudy water starts forming, my Belem's start looking bad and a little on the yellow side.
I will post pictures of the Belem's later to show what I am talking about.
 
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AshK

AshK

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Jun 24, 2008
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You are putting a LOT of fertz in the water. I know some people subscribe to the ideal of putting a crap load of fertz into the water so the plants assuredly have enough, but IMO it's better to dose just enough than risk all the algae. Have you tested the nitrate and phosphate levels of your tap water? Have you tested the actual level of fertz in your tank? How often do you do trims and remove plants? Does the algae bloom appear after you've done the trims? Or does it just appear randomly?

If it were me, I would cut back those fertz to half of what you are dosing. See how the plants look, and if they are not satisfactory then you can slowly up the dosage.
 
wesleydnunder

wesleydnunder

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Dec 11, 2005
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Green water is often associated with ammonia. Could it be showing up after a major cleaning and possible mini-cycle?

Mark
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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Dec 21, 2005
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AshK said:
You are putting a LOT of fertz in the water. I know some people subscribe to the ideal of putting a crap load of fertz into the water so the plants assuredly have enough, but IMO it's better to dose just enough than risk all the algae. Have you tested the nitrate and phosphate levels of your tap water? Have you tested the actual level of fertz in your tank? How often do you do trims and remove plants? Does the algae bloom appear after you've done the trims? Or does it just appear randomly?

If it were me, I would cut back those fertz to half of what you are dosing. See how the plants look, and if they are not satisfactory then you can slowly up the dosage.
Click to expand...



:iagree: often a result of an imbalance.
I discovered in my 75 that with CO2 130 watts 6700 and 10k hrs.. I was getting algae when dosing on a schedule.. I cut the dose back and the algae is not coming back.
still working to the best dosing schedule for this set up.
 
Jag1980

Jag1980

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Aug 18, 2008
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I think that is what is causing this problem, too much fertilizers.

I notice the green water when I dosed just a tiny bit more then normal, then my water got a milky green cloudy look to it a couple days after doing this.
The time I got the cloudy water before this was when I was doing the IE dosing and that cloudy water got really bad.
IE gave me 9.0 of Phosphates and the target range is about 1.0 - 2.0 People say that it is not to high, how would that not be to high if the target range is 2 ?
To solve this issue I stopped dosing ferts and did water changes and eventually cleared up. If this was from a algae bloom I don't think water changes would have done me good.

My tap water is clear and free from what you asked about above.
This last time my plants have been moved was 3 weeks ago, just started getting this green tint maybe a week ago. The first time it was little after I moved my plants around, I had root tabs in the substrate also when could have added even more with my ferts and is also why my green water was worse then it is this time.

I will dose 1/2 of what my schedule say and we will see what happens.

My last water check my reading where this on water change day:
Nitrate 15
phosphate 3.5
Not sure what my (K2SO4) potassium levels are? Might be to much of that?
 
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Jag1980

Jag1980

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Aug 18, 2008
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Here's what my Belem's look like now, they are still recovering from the time I had cloudy water before, after I started the IE dosing. My Belem's where starting to grow out and look healthy again, but down they are going down hill since I increased my dosing just a tiny little bit.





This is what my Belem's have looked like for over 6 Months before I started the IE dosing.
This is 1 stem:



When ever I up my dosing, my Belem's and water quality get really bad.. With such bright light, maybe the plants are taking it to much of something and causing a toxic level, or just a toxic level of Potassium?

Something obviously is not right.
 
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