Aquarium Water Abnormally Green

[TheRedDiscus]

Hello Everyone! I'm back from my 1 month vacation to Germany! Such a wonderful place! But when I came back, (The tank was cared for and water changed regularly, water is tested regularly, Ammonia 0, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Ph 6, Chlorine 0, chlorimanes 0, water hardness=soft, the typical from a well cared for tank.) the water was abnormally green! Usually you would excpect a minor green in aquarium water, but in my aquarium, it's too green!. (for pics go to the same topic title as this topic in tropical emergencies.) Please! I need help! It looks so dramatic like someone put mustard gas inside!

 

[WILDER]

Is your tank near direct sunlight.
Just water changes and gravel vacs.
Have you added a med that threats green tank water.
http/newaquariuminformation.com/aquarium...arium-water.htm

 

[Colin_T]

As Wilder has said, unless you added some medication that turns the water green, just do some 50% daily water changes and gravel cleans. Also reduce the lighting.
Make sure the new water is free of chlorine and has a similar temperature & PH to the tank.

 

[rdd1952]

You have a case of green water. As mentioned, direct sunlight is a prime cause. It is actually free floating algae called diatoms. Usually (at least in my experiences) water changes do little to solve the problem. I had the problem on my 75 gallon when I set it up. I did 50% water changes every day for over 2 weeks and it got worse every day. I ender up buying a UV Sterilizer and it cleared it within 48 hours. I actually used it on another tank and documented it with photos in this thread. I would stay away from any chemicals to clear it. It will eventually clear on it's own and usually isn't harmful to the fish. Not certain about discus though as I know they require very good water conditions. The sterilizer may be your best bet.

 

[RushingChamp28]

It is also worth mentioning that green water can sometimes be attributed to larger than normal levels of phosphates present in the water. Phosphates enter the water from fish food (poorer quality, cheaper foods generally having a much larger quantity of phosphate in them). Perhaps this may be adding to the problem.

I would say as long as you are doing regular water changes and keeping the aquarium lighting to a normal time period you should be ok and should see some improvement. If more drastic measures need to be taken UV sterilizers have also yielded lots of success to many people.

 

[drobbyb]

Clearing it is easy. Just don't turn the light on for 3 days. If it's in the sun, cut pieces of cardboard to block out the sun. On the fourth day perform an 80% waterchange.

The hard part is figuring out what caused it in the first place and preventing this in the future.

 

[rdd1952]

Simply cutting the lights off won't solve the problem as there is still plenty of ambient light during daylight hours. It may help if you completely blackout the tank with a thick towel but I don't think so. At the end of the blackout, if there are still diatoms in the water, they sill simply multiply again even with the 80% WC.

 

[ThePiggy]

I had this same problem in my 10 gallon tank which has a Jewel cichlid in it. The tank is not in direct sunlight. I have a stand that houses two 10 gallon tanks, one on top one on the bottom, and the top tank didn't get green water. I used API Algaefix. It can't be used if crustaceans are in your tank though. It cleared my water in less than three days. I did 25% water changes every day that included gravel vac for a week after starting the treatment.