I had serious algae problem in my son's 10 gallon. Used phosphte remover and it all died in a few days, with the exception of some tufts of what my LFS owner called "invasive hair algae". Since it's such a small tank all I did was pick it out by hand, which was a pain in the..., but worked.
To Tear Down or Not To Tear Down...
- Thread starter hondaman
- Start date
0 Kh high bio-load equals unstable Bio-filter, and the possibility of ammonia. Ammonia will create green water faster than anything else. Add in the pollution caused by Stress Zyme and you are on Track to create green water.
Here is my Suggestion
1. Buffer the water with something to get Kh and pH up to a level that will stay stable. MY personal Method of choice would be Calcium Carbonate in the form of Crushed Coral. I like KH above 3, But anything is better than your current situation, so start slow and go from there. Crushed coral is slow to dissolve, So bag a couple of tablespoons, Put it in the filter and give it a few days to a week. It will slowly raise the Kh and pH to a more appropriate level. IT does it slowly so you have no worries with your Fish. Baking soda is close to instantaneous if you want to go that route. Mix it outside of the tank and add it slowly. 1 teaspoon will raise 30g of water roughly 1 degree of KH (17.9 ppm) Remember that your Bacteria need carbonate to thrive, and if you have none the bacteria are struggling and possibly dieing. This I belive includes all bacteria ( or at least most) so it isn't just your bio-filter that suffers. The reason Green water is so common in new tanks is because all of the microorganisms aren't yet balanced you could feasably have the same situation here.
2. After water is buffered, Give the tank some time to develope bacterial colonies. You can black out the tank during that time as well. Do necessary water changes to keep nitrates as low as possible and remove any other pollutants that may be built up (Probably not many with the nitrate levels and water changes you've done)
3. Open a window, preferably one near your property line and throw the Stress Zyme out the window as far as you can. This will be the best way to make use of the money you spent since you can at least get some excersize and stress relief. That is about all that Stress Zyme is really good for, and adding it to your tank is never a good thing. It is the wrong Kind of bacteria even if it happens to be alive (Unlikely) when you add it. It may eat a little ammonia, but then dies off adds to pollution levels and send the tank through an ammonia cylce of some degree or another. Are you seeing the cycle in your mind. Water change add stress zyme, Stress Zyme eats ammonia for a day or two, Stress Zyme Dies, Bio-filter not big enough for ammonia because Stress Zyme was competeing, ammonia rises, green water grows, You do a water change and start the cycle over.
4. Stress Coat will effectively dechlorinate, so you don't need to throw it out. However Take it from someone who used the stuff for years, Don't use any more than the minimum dose, and look into other options for future purchases. The aloe does nothing but pollute. If you have Chlorine buy the simplest cheapest Generic dechlorinator you can find (They all use the same active ingredient) If you have Chloramines then use Prime or Amquel Plus. nothing else deals with both parts of the cholramine equation Properly. My vote goes to prime (Cheaper because it's more concentrated) But either one works.
After Blackout, Water changes, Buffering, and Stabilizing things you should so no more problems. It would be good to find out your Phosphate levels in your tap water, But Ammonia does far more to create algae than phosphates ever do Despite the Reputation of Phosphates.
Also Don't get mad at me yourself or anyone else about the Stress Zyme and the low KH. Most LFS employees don't know enough to explain or even understand this stuff, And the marketers take advantage of everyone they can. Between the myths and the marketing it's no wonder people spend money on stuff that doesn't work.
HTH
Dave
Here is my Suggestion
1. Buffer the water with something to get Kh and pH up to a level that will stay stable. MY personal Method of choice would be Calcium Carbonate in the form of Crushed Coral. I like KH above 3, But anything is better than your current situation, so start slow and go from there. Crushed coral is slow to dissolve, So bag a couple of tablespoons, Put it in the filter and give it a few days to a week. It will slowly raise the Kh and pH to a more appropriate level. IT does it slowly so you have no worries with your Fish. Baking soda is close to instantaneous if you want to go that route. Mix it outside of the tank and add it slowly. 1 teaspoon will raise 30g of water roughly 1 degree of KH (17.9 ppm) Remember that your Bacteria need carbonate to thrive, and if you have none the bacteria are struggling and possibly dieing. This I belive includes all bacteria ( or at least most) so it isn't just your bio-filter that suffers. The reason Green water is so common in new tanks is because all of the microorganisms aren't yet balanced you could feasably have the same situation here.
2. After water is buffered, Give the tank some time to develope bacterial colonies. You can black out the tank during that time as well. Do necessary water changes to keep nitrates as low as possible and remove any other pollutants that may be built up (Probably not many with the nitrate levels and water changes you've done)
3. Open a window, preferably one near your property line and throw the Stress Zyme out the window as far as you can. This will be the best way to make use of the money you spent since you can at least get some excersize and stress relief. That is about all that Stress Zyme is really good for, and adding it to your tank is never a good thing. It is the wrong Kind of bacteria even if it happens to be alive (Unlikely) when you add it. It may eat a little ammonia, but then dies off adds to pollution levels and send the tank through an ammonia cylce of some degree or another. Are you seeing the cycle in your mind. Water change add stress zyme, Stress Zyme eats ammonia for a day or two, Stress Zyme Dies, Bio-filter not big enough for ammonia because Stress Zyme was competeing, ammonia rises, green water grows, You do a water change and start the cycle over.
4. Stress Coat will effectively dechlorinate, so you don't need to throw it out. However Take it from someone who used the stuff for years, Don't use any more than the minimum dose, and look into other options for future purchases. The aloe does nothing but pollute. If you have Chlorine buy the simplest cheapest Generic dechlorinator you can find (They all use the same active ingredient) If you have Chloramines then use Prime or Amquel Plus. nothing else deals with both parts of the cholramine equation Properly. My vote goes to prime (Cheaper because it's more concentrated) But either one works.
After Blackout, Water changes, Buffering, and Stabilizing things you should so no more problems. It would be good to find out your Phosphate levels in your tap water, But Ammonia does far more to create algae than phosphates ever do Despite the Reputation of Phosphates.
Also Don't get mad at me yourself or anyone else about the Stress Zyme and the low KH. Most LFS employees don't know enough to explain or even understand this stuff, And the marketers take advantage of everyone they can. Between the myths and the marketing it's no wonder people spend money on stuff that doesn't work.
HTH
Dave
You might try looking into U.V sterilizers. I had an aglae problem with my 75gal and put a 9 watt Turbo Twist U.V sterilizer and after a good water change it took care of it. The water is crystal clear and no aglae breakouts and it also helps with controling harmful microoganisms. Hope this will help.
Yeah, what he saiddaveedka said:
If you still have a green problem you should check and see if you have green tinted glass in your tank 
Two months isn't that long....I battled with a tank for almost a year before I finally got it to settle down. Now it's a beautiful tank and one of my favorites.
Takes lots of patience Honda, and you learn alot along the way...but I do know from experience how frustrating it can be. Try adding a powerhead for current...do you add anything for carbon ? CO2 injection or flourish Excel ? If you have alot of lighting, but no carbon source...the plants can't make use of all that light....but the algae can.
I'd keep plugging away with it Honda....I know it was worth it for me because THIS is what I got out of it !
Takes lots of patience Honda, and you learn alot along the way...but I do know from experience how frustrating it can be. Try adding a powerhead for current...do you add anything for carbon ? CO2 injection or flourish Excel ? If you have alot of lighting, but no carbon source...the plants can't make use of all that light....but the algae can.
I'd keep plugging away with it Honda....I know it was worth it for me because THIS is what I got out of it !
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daveedka is right the main cause for green water is the NH4+ form of ammonia. Nitrates, phosphates, iron ... are not the causes of this type of algae. If you want more info about this scan my recent posts as I posted links to university studies concerning these nutrients and algae. I would churn up the substrate and then thoroughly vacuum the tank. Followed by a 3 day total blackout to kill the remaining algae. After the blackout, do another big clean and waterchange to remove the dead algae before it releases the ammonia that causes the algae problem. Green water won't go away unless the cause of the NH4+ is removed and the algae cells killed.
Why don't you just try a UV Sterilizer? They can be kinda expensive, but gosh darn worth it. This UV Sterilizer would be perfect for your tank: AquaMedic Compact UV Sterilizer
They have one that has a 50-100 gph flow rate and is for 50 gallons. Looks like it would be perfect.
They have one that has a 50-100 gph flow rate and is for 50 gallons. Looks like it would be perfect.
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Someone might want to explain to all of us why anyone would want to hide the problem with a UV sterilizer that costs a lot of money when they could just fix the problem without spending money and watch the symptoms go away. UV's do kill the algea, but they do nothing for the underlying cause which can and will have other ramifications over time.
Masking Issues in your tank eventually leads to other issues. Green water is not something that occurs without reason and is certainly not something that should be common in a maintained tank.
If someone already owned a UV, They might use it to kill the algae,but they would still ahve to deal with whatever caused the algae. Why spend the money on something they don't need long term, that does nothing more than a blackout will do for them.
Dave
Masking Issues in your tank eventually leads to other issues. Green water is not something that occurs without reason and is certainly not something that should be common in a maintained tank.
If someone already owned a UV, They might use it to kill the algae,but they would still ahve to deal with whatever caused the algae. Why spend the money on something they don't need long term, that does nothing more than a blackout will do for them.
Dave
