Green Water

[Anonymous]

My brother has a 30 gal tank set up for 3 months. He has fluval canister filter.
The tank was doing very well for 2 months and he did a large water change and now the water is green. I told him not to worry and just do 20% changes a week from now on he also changed the carbon 2 weeks ago and the next day its green again. Its been a month and its still green. What do you think he should do next?

 

[Anonymous]

Less bioload. (less fish) And more plants.

 

[fishfanatic2]

Less bioload may help, but it won't do it completely. What you're experiencing is a suspended algae species. Cut off all light for 12-16 hours and do a 20% water change. That should fix it. HTH

 

[Anonymous]

He only has 3 fish, tri colored shark and small cat fish and some other like parot fish or something. He covered the tank sat. night with a sheet and last night it looked the same. So he is leaving it on till tonight and is going to do a 20% water change. I will let you know what happens.
Thanks
Teddy

 

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to second the more plants idea.

Also I once had green water with very high lighting for a very long photo period. Tried the water polisher which would remove the green in a couple of days. then two day later the green was back.

What finally cleared up the water was reducing the intensity and duration of the lighting. At that point the plants were in charge and the water remained clear.

So you might try more plants and a change (usually reduced) in lighting.

 

[Anonymous]

Right now he does not have any plants. I am working on him about that.

 

[Anonymous]

Right now he does not have any plants. I am working on him about that.

If he's got no plants at all to worry about, kill the lights. The fish do NOT need it. Only turn on the lights for viewing, otherwise leave them off. Don't buy fw plants.. they will only dirty your water and cause more hassle in the long run.

I've kept cichlids for years with keeping the lights OFF, and always had crystal clear water with weekly water changes.

~wings~

 

[fishfanatic2]

FW plants are a great idea. However, all he has to do is turn off the lights for 16 hrs at least, do a water change and it'll be gone. Chemicals won't help.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, chemicals would help but figuring how much K-tea to use in a 30 gallon would be a PITA, convert gallons per acre foot to gallons/gallon. :lol:
Of course an overdose would reduce your bio-load.
Reducing light for a mere 16 hours will have no effect, did you mean 16 days? Adding plants is still an option. Cast iron things like java fern and floating water sprite are things a brown thumbed person should be able to grow.
Remember these algae can go dormant when condtions get bad and these spores can germinate and start the cycle over again. One product that might be worth a try is algone, which seems to be small portions of barley straw. See: http://algone.com
It might also work by causing a rotifer and protozoan bloom eating the algae.
I read an account of one frustrated aquarist that bought some daphnia and set them up in a fine mesh breeding trap. They cleaned up all the algae in a few weeks.

 

[Anonymous]

Teddy: Getting rid of the algae is the absolutly easiest thing to do. After all, just killing the lights until all the algae dies off would get rid of the algae.

And it would also get rid of all the good things that plant life is doing. It would stop the plant life consuming the carbon dioxide, ammonia, nitrates and phosphates. And also stop the plant life filtering out the toxins like copper present to some extent in any household and water supply. While fish do not need light they do need water that does not contain the carbon dioxide and other wastes they produce. The fish also live longer when plants are present to bioabsorbe copper, lead, cadmium, houshold cleaners, and so on.

No partial water change can remove those things and maintain necessary trace elements. Not even nitrates will go to 0 through partial water changes.

But he will be well on the way to an easy to maintain tank providing an outstanting environment to the fish, when any kind of plant life is thriving and completing the system. The only question is plant life he likes or the algae he doesn't.

 

[gpodio]

I agree, kill the lights. I usually do a 3-4 day blackout in planted tanks if I need to kill algae, with non-planted tanks you can kill the lights for a week and make sure the job is done right

After having cleared the water up I would suggest reducing the amount of light, no one wants a tank with no lights on it after all. If you don't have plants you want as little light as possible.

I don't agree however that plants dirty the water and add to the problems... unless you can't keep them alive that is But it's true that plants require a little more work and involvement so if that is something you don't want to deal with simply reduce the lighting and check your nitrate and phosphate levels, they may be high which would help feed the algae bloom.

Giancarlo

 

[danmhippo]

Yeah, kill the lights. Micro algae will die faster than the rooted plants.

 

[wade1]

Adding daphnia (if you can get them) also helps immensely. They are a great source of food for fish, but if you put them in something like a breeder's net... they sit in there gobbling up the algae and can clear a tank in very short order.

Wade

 

[Anonymous]

If there is too much light, maybe indirect sunlight, green water is inevitable.

 

[Anonymous]

They sell little dinky UV rigs that you can run inline with a canister filter or whatever. Not too expensive an you never have to worry about green water again!

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help for now he is using some type of chemicals and he has to dose every week. He is thinking about a bigger tank and I will of course mention plants and I think he would like the UV idea.

 

[Anonymous]

soundslike algae to me..that will do it in the tank...microscopic algae cells floating in the water to give it a green appearance..that or it's Simple Green. Try leaving the lights off for a few days and see what happens..