can plants beat back green water?

Cory Keeper

Cory Keeper

LED Guru of Aquaria Central
Aug 7, 2007
2,449
0
0
38
I know this is going to sound stupid, but can plants with plenty of CO2 and making a ton of oxygen bubbles (to the point that they are on everything, in large quantities) outcompete green water for ferts?

More specifficaly, my plants.

2 banana plants
1 crypt (medium sized)
1 java fern (medium sized)
a whole bunch of comomba
and 1 moss wall.

Do you think that this can beat back my green water and if so, what should the lighting schedule be?

I am not dosing ferts at the moment, nor reef calcium (in case of phosphates?).
 
Those plants, no. They're not going to suck up nutrients fast enough. Stem plants might be able to do that, but you'd want a lot. The culprit for green water is the substrate getting kicked up and ammonia getting mixed in with high nitrates and phosphates

I see your lighting setup in your signature. That is A LOT of light. How much light is the tank currently getting? Can you remove one of the bulbs?
 
oh, lemme add, zero nitrates. I don't plan on a water change unless needed, the algae has got to run out of nutrients,

oh, and my substrate is sand, I've kicked it up tons of times, no problem.

And do your research, that is moderate lighting, removing a bulb wouldn't do a thing for my plants. In fact, it would just make matters worse, because the plants wouldn't grow.
 
I apologize if I'm reading something wrong or misinterpreting it, but I'm seeing (2) 23 watts over 20L in your signature.

Well plant growth relies on light, then carbon, then macro nutrients, followed finally by micro nutrients. Any break in the chain is going to slow growth of plants and allow for the simpler green life form (algae) to grow.

If you have CO2 as your carbon source as well as the macros and micros, your plants will be able to grow at a faster rate, but the plants you listed are not resource hogs like most stem plants. At that point you are better off limiting everything by cutting back your light source to a manageable level that the plants you have can suck up.

If you plan on having 0 nitrates, your plants are going to suffer and start looking ratty. If you do find an equilibrium for your plants, you will still need to do water changes, although less frequently. Once every two or three weeks is probably a good point as you have a couple things in your tank that need minerals in the water that may not be in sufficient amounts in just topping off. Your snails are going to need calcium from water unless you're feeding a special diet to include calcium for them. Your plants are going to need the trace elements found in tap water as well.

Unfortunately there really is no shortcut to keeping the aquarium. In order to keep the bioload down, maintaining plants is a whole other issue.
 
Last edited:
I think in his sig the 20L=20 long. eitehr way green water is caused by to much light and ammonia

The simpliest way to get rid of green water is to reduce light or do a complete black out. Then you'll need to do a 50% water change. Or if you have extra cash just buy a uv sterilizer.


Confusion about your tank can be avoided if you post your specs with your plant list.

I agree with everything Theo said.
 
Oh! I was thinking 20 liters the whole time.

It's definitely important to stop the source of green water algae or else it's just going to come back.

The way I always read to remove green water is a four day blackout. Do a water change. Cover the tank so that no light gets to it at all. Leave it there for four days. No feeding. No peeking. The fish will be fine. Without a light source green water will disappear.
 
found the entire source today, and where the algea was living.

Turns out my house faces the east, so does the tank, no backing. windows, bad combination.

I decided I had enough, and matters wern't getting better, plus I think my snails were suffering from copper poisoning. So, Ive torn down the tank and starting from scratch. I'm certian I can keep it in check this time.
 
Glad to read youve got it fixed now, and deffinetly a bummer on the snails. I hope the babies are doing good.

And my some cherries for the new tank setup and desighn. They'd the the java wall?

and im thinking another tank for some crayfish?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom