Help with Green Water
- Thread starter kidmaxx
- Start date
You are correct. In a nonplanted tank, algae is a thing of life. In a planted tank if run properly, you should never have to worry about algae. My planted tank has little to no algae in it and I dose massive amounts of phosphates, nitrates and pottassium. I dose 1.5 ppm of phosphate every second day, 15 ppm of Nitrate and 40 ppm of potassium right now to get optimum results in my tank. It actually takes an effort to find any algae in my tank at the moment.
thanks for the info. after reading them i will henceforth never speak the words algae and phosphate in the same sentence. :thm:
You could try floating plants if you don't want to 'plant' the tank. Maybe hornwort, water wisteria or water sprite. A good layer of these plants might absorb some of the excess nutrients, and also shade the rest of the tank a bit.
Just an idea,
Cathy
Just an idea,
Cathy
Just to update for those with similar green water problems: I first tried adding plants and cutting off most light (a "brown out" approach), which did lighten the green color but didn't get rid of it.
So, as suggested, I rented a Diatom filter from the pet store. Man, those things work as advertised. It was a bit of a hassle to set up, but the water was crystal clear within a couple hours. Well worth the $12 they charged me to borrow it overnight and -- if I had multiple tanks or a bigger tank -- I'd seriously consider buying one for myself.
Thus far, there has been no return of the algae. The plants I added were of the floating variety again as suggested here, and I haven't managed to kill them yet. Technically, I believe it is the longest I've ever kept a plant alive in my home (other than the algae, of course).
Anyway, thanks again for the useful ideas; they actually worked.
So, as suggested, I rented a Diatom filter from the pet store. Man, those things work as advertised. It was a bit of a hassle to set up, but the water was crystal clear within a couple hours. Well worth the $12 they charged me to borrow it overnight and -- if I had multiple tanks or a bigger tank -- I'd seriously consider buying one for myself.
Thus far, there has been no return of the algae. The plants I added were of the floating variety again as suggested here, and I haven't managed to kill them yet. Technically, I believe it is the longest I've ever kept a plant alive in my home (other than the algae, of course).
Anyway, thanks again for the useful ideas; they actually worked.
