Unstopable Green Water ! (i'm Going Insane)

[Scott MacAdam]

welll my 25 gallon tank is having some serious problems with the water! although the fish seem fine and very content with it all, it looks DISGUISTING and it seems impossible to get rid of! my tank stats are good and i have been doing changes almost everyday to see if i can replace the green water with nice clear water. when i do this it seems to make the water more opaque with this green filth mixed in with my water. I decided to do a large water change (about 40%), and this is all good because i live in the sticks and my water stats from my well are almost perfect for fish. So i did the change and took out all of my plants and accesories and caused havoc to my poor fish all for the water and to my suprize, when i filled the trank back up to the top the water was as green as ever !!!!! i'm stumped! i used to have an alge growth problem but since i am using my DIY lighting system, i had too much heat so i switched over to florescent bulbs and now there seems to be no extra growth after my first cleaning of alge infested shells and such. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE ?!?!? i'm lost any help or suggestions would be great! thanks alot !

 

[Jen]

I am the queen of green water. Not really something to be proud of, but I have beaten some really horrid cases of it.

First off, how much light do you have on the tank.
Do you have lots of plants (real ones?)

 

[Scott MacAdam]

i have one incandescent bulb and One florescent (coil bulb, made as energy eficient replacments of regular bulbs)

and as for plants.... i have 3 small real plants that i got not too long ago

 

[Jen]

I honestly reccomend getting rid of the incandescent bulb... they do absolutely nothing for plants.

For my outbreaks, it was due to too much light, and not enough co2 and other nutrients. I had a very heavily planted tank, and way to much light, without the other parts of the equation to even things out.

What worked for me the first time, was 50% water changes daily for about 3 weeks. In a 90 galon tank... thats a lot of water.

The second time, I was going away for 2 weeks, and turned off half the lights. I can back to a perfectly clear tank.

Green water is caused by a single cell algae that cannot be caught in filters. It's too small, and needs to be eliminated by removing the problem. In may case, it was that I wasn't adding extra ferts and co2 for the amount of light that I had.

What is the wattage of the flourescent bulb that you have?

 

[Scott MacAdam]

maybe you can tell me what you thinki of this information i found on a site from google ...

Cause:
Suspended microscopic algae

Excess light, especially direct sunlight

Too many fish

Excess nutrients

Excess wastes

Green water is usually due to either a significant excess of light (particularly direct sunlight), or a major water quality problem. Although it may look terrible, it is not toxic to fish.

Cure:
Blocking out light completely

Diatomic or micron filteration

Introduce daphnia to the tank

Water changes will reduce green water temporarily, but will not elminate it. Completely blocking out all light for three days or more is very effective. The use of a diatomic filter will remove the suspended algae. If daphnia are available, they will quickly eat the microscopic aglae, then in turn be eaten by the fish.




Cause:
Suspended microscopic algae

Excess light, especially direct sunlight

Too many fish

Excess nutrients

Excess wastes

Green water is usually due to either a significant excess of light (particularly direct sunlight), or a major water quality problem. Although it may look terrible, it is not toxic to fish.



Cure:
Blocking out light completely

Diatomic or micron filteration

Introduce daphnia to the tank

Water changes will reduce green water temporarily, but will not elminate it. Completely blocking out all light for three days or more is very effective. The use of a diatomic filter will remove the suspended algae. If daphnia are available, they will quickly eat the microscopic aglae, then in turn be eaten by the fish.



Note: Water aggregators that profess to clump suspended algae and remove it are not effective against green water.



Prevention:
Regular water changes

Regular aquarium cleaning

Use of UV Filter

Avoid direct sunlight on tank

Avoid overfeeding fish

Do not overstock the tank

As with any algae, keeping the tank clean and performing regular water changes is one of the best preventative measures. Prompt attention to sudden algae growth will prevent more serious problems

wattage ..... hmmm i'm not sure but it is really big








i think i'll get rid of it now then and use 2 florescent bulbs and then limit the ammount of light untill the problem goes away. is there anything else that causes it or can solve it???

 

[Jen]

I'd say they have the causes right, although i didn't have any luck with some of those cures. I did the 3 day black out, but as soon as I re-introduced my regular lighting it came back full force. Only way to figure out how to solve it is to figure out what caused it.


Getting rid of those bulbs are proabaly the best bet. Can you fit 2 bulbs in your hood? for a 25g they would be what, 18w bulbs?

What are the plants that you have in that tank? Do you remember the names?

 

[black angel]

Dont know if it is or not but try testing for phosphates.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

1 second i'll go check the wattage

ok it dosen't say but it's big it's one if these shapes
.............. __
.............{....}
.............[.....]
............/........\
.......... /..........\
........./_______\

woudn't let me leave spaces so i used dots on my illustration

 

[Jen]

I must say I have never seen anything like that before.

What kind of plants do you have in tere?

 

[love cichlids]

I had green water for a long time in my goldfish tank and did daily water changes with no luck. One day i seen it was starting to clear up and then with one of my water changes it was gone, have not had it since. Mystery why it went away, made sure I kept blinds closed which is beside the tank when I seen the water was green.

 

[Scott MacAdam]

they are all reflective around the base and up untill the acctual head of the light. i'm pretty sure they are heating lamps, and given the situation, this makes me seem insane..... hahahaha. ok the light goes!

 

[Jen]

lol. that looks a little better. Is it long and skinny? Any change of you taking a picture of it?

 

[Jen]

have you had any luck?