Green water!!!!

zacdl

zacdl

AC Members
Aug 14, 2005
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Oklahoma
www.zactrades.com
OK This is driving me nuts. I had to shut the tank lights off because it looks so bad (Also hoping less light will stunt the growth).

So far I have tried Algea Fix. It worked when I started getting stringy algea, but does not seem to be working on this green water.

I also got some Aqua Clear yesterday, and added it. It said its supposed to take hours before it works. Well, Its not working.

WHAT SHOULD I DO?

Would carbon help? I have been told it hinders plans, is this true? All I have is Anacharis, Hornwort, and Camboma.
 
Your best bet (I have researched this problem a bit) is to have a blackout for 5 days. That is to wrap your tank in a towel, no light!!!! Thing is, I haven't ever done this because I ended up moving the tank to a larger set-up and the green water didn't come along.

From what I hear, your plants will be fine and your fish don't care. I think there is one product I have read about that one person said worked, but I am not one to add chemicals to the tank unless necessary. If you do add chems, you'll want the carbon on there to filter them out. THough with carbon on, it often filters the chems before the algae is undercontrol.

ALSO you should find the source of your green water if youhaven't already, or else it will just come back. (overfeeding, excess of ammonia, rotting stuff)
 
FisheyLisa said:
Your best bet (I have researched this problem a bit) is to have a blackout for 5 days. That is to wrap your tank in a towel, no light!!!!

From what I hear, your plants will be fine and your fish don't care.
ALSO you should find the source of your green water if youhaven't already, or else it will just come back. (overfeeding, excess of ammonia, rotting stuff)
Click to expand...

Follow this. It will work.

PS--I would use chemicals only as a last resort.
 
Hi zacdl :hi:


I would advise staying away from chemical products to do the trick. They're often useless and do more harm than good. A blackout for green water - just as for BGA - is only a temporary solution. The green water will come back as long as there is an imbalance of nutrients in the water column. I'll relate a little story:

I had a green water problem that lasted for several months. Sometimes it was awful, sometimes not so bad, but the water always had a slight green tinge to it. I had been running pressurized CO2 and dosing KNO3 with 2.4 watts/gallon. Blackouts and runing a diatom filter were only temporary solutions - the green water always came back after a few days. Finally I added some hornwort - a fast growing, nutrient absorbing plant - to my tank, and the green water was gone within a day. Now, there are three big growth limiters (yes, I know plants need their micros, but just for simplification purposes...) for plants: C, N and light, and certain kinds of plants are better at using these nutrients in the water coulmn faster than others. In my case, I believe I had provided enough C but probably too much N - the slower growing plants in my tank were unable to absorb it all, thus the excess KNO3 hung in the water column where it was used by single-celled green algae. They feasted on the stuff and reproduced like mad, thus the green water. However, once I added the hornwort, the imbalance changed - it sucked up those excess nutrients faster and more effeciently than the algae could, so it basically starved the algae to death. The key to fighting algae is always finding what is either limiting plant growth or encouraging algae growth.

So in your case, it seems you have enough N in the water just from fish waste etc. - I would either think about adding some sort of CO2 unit to your tank, or dose a product called Flourish Excel which provides carbon for your plants to use. Your Anacharis and Hornwort growth should explode once you start getting them growing, and you'll soon see the green water disappear.
 
If you are going to do the black out, don't add anything else.

I'd also figure what your problem is without adding new stuff. Like you can get your plants to outcompete the algae, but that again is treating the symptom, not the cause. After you find that maybe you're over feeding, there are dead, rotting leaves (I just had an anacharis explosion-that is a stalk died and I missed it, and there were leaves everywhere, but I didn't see them. That is what cause my algae the first time, I couldn't get out all the dead leaves- this time I have a bigger tank, and I got on top of the leaves.) whatever the problem is, I think it is in your best interest to solve it before making changes. Best not to put too many varibles in your equasion. Also, IMO, adding ferts or co2, though would cause your plants to flourish, wold also contribute to the algae at this point...I may be wrong.

Also if your plants are low light you could be leaving your tank light on too long or it could be too powerful. I have been adivsed to lessen my light time, I can't remember the # if it was 4 or 6 hours. I have it on for 6 and it sits next to a window, which lights a corner of it at points through the day. I have algae, but it is the not the green water kind, and it is under control. I think some algae in a tank is useful. I know what things contribute to it's growth, so when it gets out of hand, I can make changes I need to.

Plantgeek.net has a whole algae section, it tells about all the kinds. I think there is a forum I referred to also, which might give you more info! good luck, darn green water!
 
do you know the levels of other things in the water? I have iron in my water, so it contributes to algae growth. here are some links:

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=50118

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/

Might help you find your source.


This will help you control it:
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/algcont.shtml

ps skeptical aquarist is a great site, although I am having trouble with it. I have to go to their sear feature, get the link to pop up in google, and then click it. I know it is a lot of trouble, but they have soo much info.
 
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Actually I am confused. Do not know what could be causing it. Might be too much light, but the Algea Fix should have prevented it from getting so bad like this.

I think I will add some Chemi Pure.

I also have a phosphate mat. It takes 48 hours. I will add it as well.
 
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