Feed me Seymour! (~1MB of photo's inside)

[superjohnny]

Ok guys,
I know my water is really dirty. I added some Flourish and BAM! green water. I'm doing 50% changes every other day. Hopefully my water will be within reason in the next few days.

Anyone know anything about this plant here....

First off, anyone know what that honkin' thing is? It grows like 3-4 inches per day. Uh, fast growing...yea.

You can see in this one how there are some vines growing up to the surface of the water. Those literally grew 5" a day until they started swirling around the top of the tank.... They have a bulb on the end and once they flower the shell of it falls off. I have given the flowers some room at the top of the tank because they seem to like to stay dry. This is so weird...

It has these flower type things. But from what the LFS said these plants don't propagate.

This grew while I was at work... it wasn't there this morning.

 

[Fishiebusiness]

Nice pix.
That big plant looks like an Aponogetion species, probably ulvaceous, did it come in a bulb?

 

[superjohnny]

I knew I'd know the name once I heard it... you are right, it's an ulvaceous. Thank you very much for solving the mystery

All my other plants are growing roots like crazy... all over the place. Do i need to replant them, or just let them figure it out on their own?

 

[Richer]

Thats some green water you have there!

Water changes won't get rid of your green water... once it gets established in a planted tank its difficult to get rid of.

I'd suggest trying a blackout to rid yourself of the GW. Raise spray bars, add an airpump + stone, etc. to increase surface aggitation. Do a 50% water change, clean out the mechanical filter pads, and cover the entire tank with heavy blankets and or black garbage bags. Make sure no light can enter the tank. Shut off your lights and CO2 systems and let your tank sit like this for 2-4 days. Don't worry about your fish or plants during this time, they'll be fine... although some of the faster growing plants might be "stretched" out a bit in their search for light. After the 2-4 day period, remove all the covers, take out the air stones, and reset your spray bars (if you have them). Do another 50% water change, turn on your lights and restart your CO2 system (once again, if you have one). Keep a good nutrient balance, and you should be rid of most of the algae in your tank for a long while.

HTH
-Richer

 

[superjohnny]

Yea the green is pretty bad I'm really not worried about it though. After I took these pics I did a 50% and it looks much better. I'll give a black-out a shot though and see how that goes.

What should I do about the flowering? As you can tell I don't have that many plants (just starting out you know ). The flowers are dropping little black things into the water. I'm just such a damn ignoramus when it comes to all this.... "black things" sheesh, I'm terrible! That's what you get with public education I guess So what should I do with this monster?

The other plants are rooting like crazy as well. Should I let them be or should I cut them and plant the little ones?

Thanks guys

 

[Matak]

SuperJ, I think that you'll find that by the time you read this post your GW (green water) will be back.

WetmanNY told me that it would eventually clear itself if I was patient. Mine took weeks, but that time can be drastically reduced if you get a Litre (quart) of water from a healthy, clear, well established planted tank. It seems there are micro-organisms that chow down on the algae. Now when I add too many nutrients, my water gets a little hazy for one day, then is clear the next.

You can filter your water with a diatom filter, as I did, or kill the GW with a UV sterilizer and these will work effectively, but it won't solve the problem.

Also, about cutting the plants, the more growth you have going on in your tank, the better control you will haveover GW.

HTH

 

[Skittyfish]

I have the same plant, but when I added more lights, BAM, thing just about died. now it is only a couple of inches tall. I need to get CO2 and ferts going good, maybe then it will look like yours.

 

[tfish]

Beautiful plant!

Just wanted to add on to what Matak said -- I too had a GW problem and tried to do the many water changes. Always came back. The only solution that worked for me was the blackout. Covered my entire 55 with a blanket and left if for 5 days. Water was crystal clear afterwards. Just be sure to be checking nutrients and adjusting accordingly after that, otherwise, the green water will be back to rear its ugly head!

Good luck!

 

[superjohnny]

Here is a picture I took this morning... it's better than it was last night.

What should I do about the flowering? Should I chop them off, just ignore them and fill my tank or leave them be?

 

[djlen]

IME if you let them go to seed they will fall off themselves and re-seed the tank with a bunch of little plants. After this occurs, in my case, the mother plant went into dormancy for a period of time and then came back to "life". The upside of this is that you get a whole new bunch of plants. The downside is that you have no control over where they will grow. I had them all over the place. You can always move them though. I thought it was kinda neat to watch all this unfold.
Hey Supe, you gotta do something about that algae. It's probably going to come back. Are you fertilizing other than the Flourish?
Len