Green water: need some opinions

**cheeboonyong** · 14th Nov 2003, 23:10

Hi,

first time in my 1.5 years experience that I have green water...how to deal with it?

after searching from the forum, I think there's 4 options:

1. Change water frequently. 30% each day until it clears up. Practice black-out of lights. throw in hornwort to suck up nutrients.
2. throw in lots of dapnia to eat the green algae
3. use UV lights.
4. chemical solution

here's what I feel and heard about each option:
1. very tedious. not sure if will work
2. worried about parasites, particularly hydra
3. worried about oxidisation of minerals/nutrients, making them unavailable to plants
4. probably bad for the plants as well.

I'm most keen on the UV solution. But the oxidisation problem concerns me too. I spoke to Chan from Nature Aquarium and he said that his tanks all run UV, 8 hours a day (together with the lights). He said that oxidisation is generally minimal. He suggested that I dose smaller amounts of nutrients every 2-3 days instead of every week.

Previously, I was worried about the high cost of getting a UV light (>$100) but now, Chan has a $68 Atman UV light which is much more affordable.

I'm curious as to how true the oxidisation issue is. I'm thinking that after solving the green water, I should just stop the UV light and not use it, so no oxidisation problem anymore.

Any comments?

**hwchoy** · 14th Nov 2003, 23:16

BY, just try option 1 first, change water and reduce light. most of the time it is just a transient bloom. I had ONE in the last 3 years so no point adding gears.

**PeterGwee** · 14th Nov 2003, 23:19

Did you make any drastic changes to your tank lately? Prune heavily? Stir up the substrate? Added jobe sticks? Clean the filter with tap water? Added lots of new fish?

Ammonia...its the main culprit of all things here. Do a 3-5 day blackout should kill it(green water). Just make sure that absolutely no lights get in there or else it won't work well. UV is fine if you have the budget...forget about the oxidisation mabo jumbo..it ain't going to be an issue if you keep up with regular dosing of fertilizers.

**www.Aquatic-Store.com** · 15th Nov 2003, 05:55

Usually this happens from an excess of nutrients.
Try #1 and decrease nutrients and lights. It will clear up on its own though as well

**cheeboonyong** · 15th Nov 2003, 09:08

think it was because i overdosed the TMG. Added 15 ml instead of 10 ml last week. thought it wouldn't be a big problem, since only 5 ml more, but look what happened...

**Darkkon** · 15th Nov 2003, 10:15

5ml is a lot already leh... anyway i would strongly recommend the blackout + water change method. I solved my green water problem that way with no side effects at all. Takes time and patience though.

**Wheeler** · 15th Nov 2003, 11:10

GW is caused by a rapid increase in Nitrogen (usually NH4) coupled with intense light. The green water cells are always present and waiting for these conditions. Most folks get GW in new setups with PC or MH lights during the initial Nitrogen spike. Other common cases are massive substrate disturbances along with a decrease in healthy plant mass, and folks accidentally unearthing a Jobes spike.

TMG is not the problem-- Traces have nothing to do with green water.

Blackouts and water changes are effective treatment, but you have to be patient. Here's what I did before I bought a UV:

50% water change and turn off lights for 4 days. Everyday, change 50% of the water. On the 5th day, turn the lights back on and change 50% of your water. Continue to change 50% *everyday* until clear. This works everytime, and usually within 2 weeks...

If that doesn't work, something is wrong. UV sterilizers are effective and work in just a few days. This is really the best solution if are to continue using bright lighting. An even better solution is to borrow one for a week or so if you have any friends to mooch off of ...

Best wishes,
John Wheeler

**cheeboonyong** · 27th Nov 2003, 18:54

Solved my green water problem, by the most unexpected method.

Initially wanted to purchase a UV light but due to various reasons, kept putting off that plan. As a result, the green water got progressively worse. As a temporary measure, I had to change my water regularly, like 50% every 3 days.

The first 2 times, I had recurring green water immediately the next day. The 3rd time, I did a 100% water change. Voila! no more green water for almost one week already.

Some things I did: Kept the lights going. No blackout. No dosing of fertiliser, until the last time when I dosed half my usual dose. Added in hydropilia difformis as a floating plant.

Casualty: 1 SAE. Otherwise, no other fish loss due to water changes.

Not sure why my problem was resolved but I'm not complaining...[

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**theodore** · 27th Nov 2003, 21:25

Congrats! Interesting solution you have there. Did you take any readings (NH3/4, NO3, PO4, etc) throughout the ordeal?

**naturetan** · 28th Nov 2003, 03:46

Glad that you've get rid of it. Continue to monitor your tank. For my case, I prefer to conclusively deduce that it's solved only when tank run well without recuring problem for &gt;1-2 months. Less than that can usually be quite unstable, from experience.

**cheeboonyong** · 28th Nov 2003, 15:27

nope didn't monitor my water parameters. But doing the 100% water change seems to have done the trick

**knoogy** · 28th Nov 2003, 20:37

wah 100% water change?... if u got shrimps most likely will mati(die)

Y not u try putting a breeding net then buy a pack of daphnia n put inside? quite effective...

**ckll** · 6th Jan 2004, 17:20

Sorry to revive an old thread.. I'm fighting GW, and doing blackout now. Did a water change before starting it yesterday.

Question I have is : Is daily water change necessary during the blackout period ?

Thanks!

**fleekk** · 6th Jan 2004, 21:47

My experience is that GW problem has got to do with co2 vs lighting, NO3 & insufficient BB in your filtration.

Not necessary to have a black out or daily water change. Just do some adjustment to the above factors. If you have too much light but insufficient co2 for the plants, result is GW. Not enough BB, excess NO3, no fast growing plants, result is GW too. Do a 50% wtaer change & follow by necessary adjustments, you should solve your GW issue.

Balancing all the above factors is very important.

Hope that helps.

**cheeboonyong** · 6th Jan 2004, 21:59

I think flekk and the previous forumers are probably right in that you need to get the nutrient mix balanced out.

What happened in my case was probably an imbalance in nutrients which I did not manage to correct and went undetected, until the GW came along. So by doing a 100% water change, I basically reset my nutrient levels and I went back to my normal fertilisation regime. Haven't had any outbreak since then (about 1.5 months now)

Of course, this is a terrible way to correct it, given that your livestock will mostly likely suffer for it. Luckily for me, I didn't have any shrimps.

**PeterGwee** · 6th Jan 2004, 23:56

Ammonia..that's the key to "green water". Some folks get lucky if they plant heavily with fast growers with the CO2 on the low side and instantly correct it by upping the CO2. Once the production of ammonia surpass the uptake limit of plants and the ability of the bacteria to convert it into NO3 in a short time, you get "green water". Its not lack of nutrients that cause it...its more towards the amount of critters in the tank.

Regards
Peter Gwee

**Sleepy_lancs** · 7th Jan 2004, 00:04

[quote:5a366ee3c8="PeterGwee"]Ammonia..that's the key to "green water". Some folks get lucky if they plant heavily with fast growers with the CO2 on the low side and instantly correct it by upping the CO2. Once the production of ammonia surpass the uptake limit of plants and the ability of the bacteria to convert it into NO3 in a short time, you get "green water". Its not lack of nutrients that cause it...its more towards the amount of critters in the tank.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[/quote:5a366ee3c8]

Hi Peter,

I beg to differ. My green water problem was not due to Ammonia. Tested it with a test kit and the result has always been zero. High NO3 is usually the cause of green water.

Oh by the way, I did water change and its a hopeless fight unless you can control the amount of NO3. The way I resolve it was to put in a UV light and in less than 3 days the tank is crystal clear. But becareful of the iron and trace. UV may make them unavailable for your plants.

**PeterGwee** · 7th Jan 2004, 01:12

Where did your NO3 came from in the first place? It has to come from the critters in your tank. Where is the original source of NO3? Ammonia.. NH3/NH4 -> NO2 -> NO3. Still not convince...try bucket of water with heavy light over it and dump in quite an amount of KNO3 in there. What do you get? Try some source of ammonia and dump it in. What did you get?

One tip for ammonia if you are cheap here...get urine sample from you and your family members and pour it in daily. Kinda gross but it works.

Regards
Peter Gwee

**ckll** · 7th Jan 2004, 10:49

I dont think my fertilization regime is out of whack since my water had been okay previously.

I've done a few things that promoted GW (damn!) : heavy uprooting of glosso, siphon out too much mulm (and good bacteria), 70% water change, changed filter wool. (damn! damn!)

I believe ammonia produced by the fish was more than the bacteria was able to cope and hence GW.

BoonYong, your 100% wc sounds tempting but I guess your tank was heavily planted/low light/enough good bacteria remained that solved the GW problem. Just my guess

Well, nobody has answered if daily wc is necessary during blackout period.. hmm..