Hey guys
in some of my tanks I seem to have recurring green water. I try to do 50% waterchanges in my tanks once a week but it is more like once every 2 weeks. these are fry/juvenile tanks, with no substrate just rocks. some dont even have rocks
all are cycled
I cant imagine the nitrates are that high with that kind of waterchanges. I dont overfeed
lighting is just your regular flourescent tube (s)
I suspect that I did have high nitrate once in the past which started the green water. and now I cant get rid of it. it just keeps coming back.
does anything eat this. I can do a 99% waterchange and it will still come back. this only occurs in certain tanks. but it is the same tanks over and over again. I have 20 of these setups exactly the same and maybe only 3 are affected
well at least one tank is politically correct for St. Patricks Day.
Did someone say St. Patte's Day :)
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David Patte
we had this problem at the store with one of the feeder tanks, we kept the florecent tube under the tank and it was like pea soup, for now we have gotten rid of the green water by doing 2 99% w/c back to back (1 day then the next day) and also algae scrubbing the entire tank (all sides)
yeah I bet the residual algae spores on the glass is causing it to keep coming back.
I put my tank in total darkness for about 5 days and that took care of my problem.
It is interesting, but fries (very small, like tiger barbs, not malawi) should be happy to have so much food around. :)
So maybe you should conservate some? Just kidding.
In my case it happened, when I had direct sunlight. Electical did not produce this problem. Mussels helped me a lot. I don't know their common name but they filter this stuff very fast.
Hi Art,
In planted tanks, 95% of the time green water can be attributed to high light levels and nitrates falling to zero. However, your tank is probably devoid of plants. A fast-growing plant such as water sprite or hygrophila will outcompete the algae for nutrients provided you keep the nitrates above zero. Alternatively, lower the light levels or build a daphnia cage to contain daphnia. They will clear up the problem, if it is a problem.
Regards,
Artw hit a good point, take out the lighting/hood and clean it good.
With light removing you will eliminate the effect but not the cause. And after some time it could repeat.
Try to figure out what caused it: bright light I think.
well I dont know about that the light isn't particularly bright. I'll give her another go this weekend. Patience patience
I have no desire to put plants in fry growout tanks.
I would like more info on doing a Daphnia cage Dave..
Hi,
I'll bring you my copy of the Aquatic Gardener (Vol. 5 No. 3) to the OVAS meeting Monday. It has an excellent five page article by Paul Krombholz on building one. He is one of the top hobbyists in N. America, and was the guy to pioneer the bleaching of plants to remove hair algae. I believe that he once described the process online. Do a search if you wish.
Regards,
alright I've been reading this.
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Algae/green-water.html
its unfortunate that there isn't any non-planted, non-nice, hohum growout tanks on that list.
Where do I get a daphnia cuture?
Quote from: "gvv"With light removing you will eliminate the effect but not the cause. And after some time it could repeat.
Try to figure out what caused it: bright light I think.
Good point. I was pretty sure that I was getting about half an hour of sunlight on the tank so I moved the tank first, thus solving the cause but I still couldn't get rid of the algae until I darkened the tank. I haven't had a repeat yet so I think I found the source of the problem.
the stores tank has 0 sunlight..my 2 big tanks both get some sunlight and I get no green water, but have terrible hard algae on the glass
I've had recurring green water in my 25 gallon for months. I use a diatom filter to clear the water out.
I get green water anytime I add anything more than 2.5 ppm of nitrate to the tank. (I only add if nitrate is at 0).
It's a plague I tell you, a plague!
green water and algae blooms seems most common in spring. I have found that it often has to be left to run its course and consume the nutients it seeks before it goes away on - extreme filtering only delays the process.
What the longest you have let it run before filtering it away?
Two weeks maybe?
well I did a big waterchange and took off half the lights and it hasn't come back.
I just need to actually DO weekly waterchanges
Hi Art
The green water could be caused by bateria. Using a filter with diaton (not sure of the spelling) filter will eliminate green water I believe the term for is is polishing your water
i had a cloudy/green tank here that i could only see 2 inches into, and just ran my marineland 350 on it. After 36 hours its crystal clear. Of course, I can't guarantee it will stay that way after I remove the marineland filter, as whatever stated the bloom is likely still there.
P.S. i didnt use any diatomaceous earth in it - just the micron filter.