Green Water Again?

[tackful]

Just two days after a water change and completely clear water, the tank is clouding up again and older plant leaves are starting to get covered with algae. I have a Green Killing Machine UV sterlizer from my last bout with green water.
I can only think of two changes that have occurred in the last two days:
1) A new DIY CO2 mixture, which is pumping out much more that the old one, and 2) A phosphate increase from 0.5 to 1.0. I intentionally increased the P dosing because it seemed to bring my sickly Wisteria back to life.
Can either of these changes upset the balance enough to cause green water symptoms? Presently I have reduced the photoperiod from 10 hrs to 6, which has helped in the past. Thanks for any help.

 

[customdrum]

the uv should kill the green water, green water is usally caused from natural light from a window or way to much lighting. you can do a 4 day blackout and it it will be gone usually.
is the tank new? a newer tank and sometime older tanks will go threw a cycle where the water is cloudy for a week then its clear. is the water green or smokey looking

 

[Jaykit]

I had this problem with my tank a couple weeks ago. I stopped dosing my dry ferts for the week and kept everything else the same. By the end of the week when I went to do my waterchange it was all cleared up and I resumed my fert schedule the next week.

 

[tackful]

No, the tank is not new, but over three years old. Never had algae problems until the substrate wore out and I needed to increase dosing amounts to compensate. And it's definitely green.

 

[zzyzx85]

I have a feeling that it's the phosphate that's causing the green water.

 

[tackful]

Makes sense, because that's the parameter that has changed the most recently. Shall back off on the dosing and continue with shortened photoperiod for a few days. Everything was much simpler before the substrate ran out and I needed to compensate with increased dosing. Seems to be a very fine balance now. Thanks.

 

[dundadundun]

how about root tabs? should help your root feeders compete. riiz did a write up on them and it's in the sticky in the planted section. good diy root tabs... a pain to make but it's a while before you need more. costs a whole lot less than just buying them too.

 

[tackful]

Have been using store-bought root tabs, but I'll check out the DIY article. Thanks.

 

[timwag2001]

i use diy root tabs. if you like to save money you'll love them

 

[tackful]

Have a new theory as to the root of the problem: clogged intake filter on the UV sterilizer, which had reduced the flow to practically nothing. Forgot to clean it during the last few water changes, I guess. So I learned that lesson, and it also appears that after three years my tank is now dependent upon the sterilizer. I purchased it earlier in the year as a last resort to a severe previous bout with green water that resisted other, more natural efforts at a solution.