Algae bloom

[balon]

Hi,

I went away for a few days and came back to find my water was green. The timer on the lights was switched off and so my lights had been left on all day and night. Top that with the unusually hot weather lately, I've concluded it's an algae bloom.

I regularly change 25% once every 10 days or so, using cycle and stress coat with the new water.

Tank is 260 litres
Nitrite - 0
Ammonia - 0
Don't have nitrate test currently.
PH - 6.5
I've turned down the temperature from 28 to 26 C

I have 8 fairly young discus
2 young and one 2yr old angel
16 rummynose tetras
1 gourami
1 large golden severum
1 albino plec
8 corys
3 small clown loach

I've changed 25% of the water and used 'Green water control' 36 hours ago and removed the carbon from my filter as instructed. This new carbon had only recently been added to the filter by the way.

I've read the bloom is harmless and all fish seem to be fairly content, but it is ugly looking. I've not seen any change in the 'greenness', so am wondering how long I need to wait before doing anything else. How long should this product take to work?

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

balon

 

[boom-sage]

i would get algea scraper for the tank and keep doing water changes. your bioload seems a bit high so all the excess waste could contribute to it too. also leave your lights off for longer than usual and if the tank is near a window then you might want to cover the back of it.

 

[balon]

Thanks for your reply. There's no algae on the glass to be scraped. The water itself is a green colour. I haven't had the lights on for two days in an attempt to help the problem. Tank is 10 feet from the nearest window, and doesn't get direct sunlight.

The bio load maybe a bit high, I'll consider lowering it some. The water was crystal clear before I went away, and usually is.

I'll do another water change now as you suggest. Would it be recommended to use another treatment of 'green water control'?

Thanks again

balon

 

[rdd1952]

As a general rule, water changes do little in the way of getting rid of green water. They will obviously make the water clearer because you have replaced green water with clear water but that will be temporary. I battled green water in my 75 gallon tank for about 2 months with little success. I finally bought a UV Sterilizer and had crystal clear water in 48 hours. I only ran it for a week since I hooked it up temporarily using a power head. That was about 2 months ago and the water is still crystal clear.

 

[balon]

I came across Interpret Green Away and after adding it to my water, I had clear water within an hour. I couldn't believe it and neither could the shop I bought it from when I told them. They expected it would take 24-48 hours. I believe the key is measuring it out the exact amount for the size of the tank and adding the green away to warm water.

Happy days!