Green Water

[fish folk]

still having problems with our tank the water is still very cloudy green we are doing 40




we are still having problems with our tank.the water is very cloudy green we are doing 40% water changes almost daily and it still goes the same been like this 2 weeks now! any ideas please x

w












5

 

[fish_tank0311]

Well firstly, if you have fish in there, dont do the water changes that often. Even if you dont have fish, a lot of the time putting new water in wont get rid of the algae anyway. I had the same problem as you. The only way i got rid of it was a UV filter. If you search the net, you will come across some solutions like "only leave the light on for a few hours a day". Or "Chuck a blanket over the tank to prevent any light getting in and leave it there for 3 days". Well, that first method just plainly doesnt work. The 2nd method doesnt work either, but what it will do is Kill every single plant in your tank, letting it to rot, therefore making more ALGAE. What is your pH? If there isnt any driftwood in there at the moment, put some in, that should bring the pH down and the slightly acidic water can help reduce the algae. Someone else might have another better method, but mine is: UV filter.

 

[Dave Spencer]

Well firstly, if you have fish in there, dont do the water changes that often.

Why not?

Even if you dont have fish, a lot of the time putting new water in wont get rid of the algae anyway.

Water changes can be effective means of ridding the tank of algae spores, particularly as a means of initial prevention in an immature tank.

If you search the net, you will come across some solutions like "only leave the light on for a few hours a day".

In this instance, reducing the photoperiod probably wouldn`t be effective as a stand alone means.

Or "Chuck a blanket over the tank to prevent any light getting in and leave it there for 3 days…….but what it will do is Kill every single plant in your tank, letting it to rot, therefore making more ALGAE.

Whilst not necessarily being particularly effective against green water, a black out, or series of black outs is just about the most effective method of defeating an algae bloom. Are you saying that you can`t perform a three day black out without killing all your plants?

What is your pH? If there isnt any driftwood in there at the moment, put some in, that should bring the pH down and the slightly acidic water can help reduce the algae.

This is the first I have heard of this, and have to say I am extremely dubious.

Someone else might have another better method, but mine is: UV filter.

UV filters are excellent for curing green water, and can be the only answer with persistent green water.

The cause of the green water is most likely persisitent background ammonia, possibly from overstocking, disturbing the filter bacteria colony, or a substrate disturbance releasing ammonia in to the water column.

 

[ajs2294]

If your having serious problems consider an UV sterilizer they are pretty cheap on ebay

 

[OldMan47]

As Dave Spencer said, the things needed for a green water bloom are light and nitrogen. If you can remove the nitrogen source and use a short blackout the green water fades away. Frequent large water changes are not effective at controlling green water but they also will do no harm. I have worked the other side of this several times and cannot grow green water indoors, green water makes excellent daphnia food. In order to grow some effectively, I placed a container outdoors in full sunlight, added a bit of ammonia and got some starter culture of green water added to the container. That container gave me a good green water culture for a while.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Dave. WD

 

[raptorrex]

Agree with Dave. WD

me too. less light and water changes. failing that? UV.

As its "on topic". I am dealing with, just, such a problem, now.

20 ukg tank, filter fluval 3. the tank is "immature", vastly, over stocked. and has algae to the point of "pea soup".
the solution i have come up with is:

reduce the light, less than 3 hours of direct light. 2x 50% weekly water changes. unfortunately the owner, is not in the position to afford a UV unit. so i am "fishless cycling a Eheim 2215 (on another tank). this will replace the fluval 3.
Daves comments on Ammonia, ring true to me. especially with this tank.

one question Dave? would algae around the hood add to algae in the water (dropping spores?)

 

[fish_tank0311]

Well firstly mate, such frequent water changes is going to get rid of all the good bacteria and will mess up the cycle. "Dave" you do not have to "correct" every single thing i say in the forum. Im not saying im always 100% right, im just posting using the info of MY knowledge and expertise. And yes, if i cover the whole tank with a blanket for 3 days, 80% of the plants WILL die. Only the hardy plants that dont require much will survive. And the driftwood, well i dont know about you but every time i put driftwood into a tank it lowers the pH, and when my pH is a bit below 7, well iv never had algae problems with that. But recently my tanks pH got up to 7.6 and had major algae problems.

 

[OldMan47]

There are no beneficial bacteria in the water Fish_tank. Although none of us are 100% right, that is a simple fact known to be correct. We have lots of people here who are quite successful doing fish-in cycles while changing 50% of their water daily. If I get a partially cycled tank that I need to put fish into, I just do 90% daily water changes until my cycle finishes. I have done that more than once. The fact that water changes don't do much to stop green water does not mean that it harms your cycle in any way. I have no doubt that you have done cycles and not changed much water but that does not mean that you helped by not doing so, it merely means that a fishless cycle can often be done with no water changes.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with OM47, this is well-established ground. If anything, bacteria will benefit from the oxygen and fresh traces of calcium and iron from the tap water coming in during a fish-in cycle. They cling tightly to the biomedia inside the filter and those are the colonies we care about. The small numbers of free-swimming beneficial bacteria at any given moment are insignificant to a cycle.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[raptorrex]

Well firstly mate, such frequent water changes is going to get rid of all the good bacteria and will mess up the cycle. "Dave" you do not have to "correct" every single thing i say in the forum. Im not saying im always 100% right, im just posting using the info of MY knowledge and expertise. And yes, if i cover the whole tank with a blanket for 3 days, 80% of the plants WILL die. Only the hardy plants that dont require much will survive. And the driftwood, well i dont know about you but every time i put driftwood into a tank it lowers the pH, and when my pH is a bit below 7, well iv never had algae problems with that. But recently my tanks pH got up to 7.6 and had major algae problems.

ever though he "needed" to correct you? one thing is true. you will need many years of experience to glean a, fraction, of the knowledge/expertise that Dave has on theses subjects.

basic mistakes like, the misunderstanding of, how bacteria are carried and husbanded. don't help. especially if you want people to except your advice.
as OM says, fishless cycles, seem to, benefit (in my limited experience) from no water changes. thats nothing to do with the bacteria in the water. but is about keeping the ammonia (and derivatives) within the system to give the new colony food. I've never done a "fish in cycle". but, those who's knowledge i respect state, water changes actually help, in that scenario. as WD, explained.