My 180 is basically done with it's setup. The plants are growing like crazy, the animals I have in their so far (Otos, and Braz. Grass Shrimp) seem quite happy. But the water looks like pea soup. I've got a 4x96 watt power compact kit. C02 has not arrived yet. Nitrates seem to be staying consistantly high. I kept amonia levels high (.5-1.5 mg/l) during the cyling, so I imagine that's why. Even daily water changes don't help much. But miraculously enough, the plants are growing like crazy. All of the green myriophylum has put on 14-18" in a week, and the red has grown at least 8-10, and bushed out big time. I've never seen red milfoil so happy! It's thickened up incredibly and turned a great deep red color. I'm sure the aquascape looks great, except I can't see it. What should I do? I added a lot of duckweed yesterday, but that hasn't helped so far. Hornwort?
Green water....
- Thread starter ChuckV
- Start date
That's a lot of tank to fill with plants. How heavy is your plant mass? Are you dosing anything?
How large are your water changes? A series of large water changes would alleviate the situation, but you need to balance the tank. Can you post a picture so we can see how many plants are in there? My guess is that you don't have enough plants in there, especially if you are dosing nutrients.
What do you mean by, 'I kept the ammonia levels high'. Are you adding ammonia? That would definitely pose a problem.
Len
How large are your water changes? A series of large water changes would alleviate the situation, but you need to balance the tank. Can you post a picture so we can see how many plants are in there? My guess is that you don't have enough plants in there, especially if you are dosing nutrients.
What do you mean by, 'I kept the ammonia levels high'. Are you adding ammonia? That would definitely pose a problem.
Len
Adding to Len's response. I found that I couldn't get rid of my green water for longer than a few days until I got rid of my hair grass. I suppose a bleach dip would have helped but I was frustrated and 1 day after taking it out my tank was clear.
A LOT of plants. Couldn't really fit any more in there, and most are fast growing. Ie: myriophylum, egeria densa, even some duckweed on the top. Spent about $400 at AZ gardens. I meant amonia during the cycling. Not anymore, amonia is at 0.
I've been doing about 25% water changes every day. Hasn't really helped.
I've been doing about 25% water changes every day. Hasn't really helped.
Chuck,
I think folks want to know why you have high NH4 and high plant biomass.
They generally don't exist together unless you are adding NH4 from hearing about doing a fishless cycling routine.
I have never been able to measure any NH4 in any plant tank I've ever had. That's a lot of tanks(eg I lost count many years ago).
Your Green water is not going to be cured by nutrient management.
Do some water changes, like 2-3 over a week roughly 50-75%.
Get rid of the NH4 that's there and get the levels down.
Next, consider a Diatom filter or a UV.
You will not really need it after you get rid of the green water, btu occasional use may come in handy.
If you can borrow or rent a UV, that would be great.
As you can tell, the algae does not harm the plants at all.
But you will be the butt of jokes for your nion aquarium friends.
Once you remove the algae, then basic maintenance/dosing will take care of any future issues you may have.
The thing is, once it gets in the tank, it's very tough to get rid of.
You can try blackout, but it'll come back. You need the CO2 up and running. Also, you'd need to do at least 5 days and I still do not think the GW would stay gone for long.
The other bad thing, no CO2 but high light.
Never add plants or light until you have the CO2 system in place.
Regards,
Tom Barr
I think folks want to know why you have high NH4 and high plant biomass.
They generally don't exist together unless you are adding NH4 from hearing about doing a fishless cycling routine.
I have never been able to measure any NH4 in any plant tank I've ever had. That's a lot of tanks(eg I lost count many years ago).
Your Green water is not going to be cured by nutrient management.
Do some water changes, like 2-3 over a week roughly 50-75%.
Get rid of the NH4 that's there and get the levels down.
Next, consider a Diatom filter or a UV.
You will not really need it after you get rid of the green water, btu occasional use may come in handy.
If you can borrow or rent a UV, that would be great.
As you can tell, the algae does not harm the plants at all.
But you will be the butt of jokes for your nion aquarium friends.
Once you remove the algae, then basic maintenance/dosing will take care of any future issues you may have.
The thing is, once it gets in the tank, it's very tough to get rid of.
You can try blackout, but it'll come back. You need the CO2 up and running. Also, you'd need to do at least 5 days and I still do not think the GW would stay gone for long.
The other bad thing, no CO2 but high light.
Never add plants or light until you have the CO2 system in place.
Regards,
Tom Barr
No root tabs, but the substrate is definitely nutrient rich. I was adding the amonia for fishless cycling. I really should have waited for the C02. Thanks guys, I'll look into renting a UV sterilizer and see if that does it.
If you plan on keeping your aquarium, just buy the UV sterilizer. I have both the UV and the diatom filter. I'm glad I heard about them and bought them with the advice from this forum. The Vortex XL diatom filter is used after some water changes or re-planting the tank. The UV sterilizer is cycled on and off...