Hi guys...
i had a thread sometime ago about GW, tried all kinds of methods, eg daphnia, medicine, blackout, pouring a whole bottle of BB, daily water change, UV!!! you name it!
finally got sick and tired after spending at least 100 bucks on the above methods, i re did my tank... took out the rocks, scrubed them, dried the ADA soil in the sun, washed the filter & tank, changed all piping...
there i was scaping my tank and filling up water carefully... 2 days, BB bloomed, yay! 4 days, BB bloom cleared up, GW TOOK OVER!!!! i didn't on the lights as there were no plants, no direct sunlight, and obviously no fert regime! i even connected the UV jussssst in case... BUT no use... the green water is back! i was like *** man...
if there's someone out there who can help me, PLSSSS do! any advise is greatly appreciated!
thanks for taking time to read this thread!
cheers
The UV should work if the bulb of the UV set is running fine. Does your UV set have a viewer to see if the bulb is running fine (not blown or the unit is faulty?)? Do not assume the unit would work fine from the start...some can come in bad as well.
Regards
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
yes, i could see the blue light from outside the casing...
Mind posting a pic
Wow, sounds like an extreme case of Greenwater...post ur tank specs so that folks can help u out...
i'm ADDicted to this wonderful hobby
Hey guys...
Here's the pic when on the 2nd day after setup... BB bloom, happy!
here's the pic atfer 1 week with 1 water change... use the wall to guage... heh heh! sad...
tank specs as of today, no plants, so no lights, no CO2, no fert, only added anti chlorine and BB after water change...
And one more thing!
This is with the UV turned on 24hrs... since day 2 after the BB bloom... i even added some hornworts as you can see...
Just run the UV for several days and see if things improve. Consider getting some old dirty filter material from you LFS which you often visit and buy things from. Add that to the filter and the bacteria population should pick up fast. The other option is to do a total blackout for the tank along with the UV.
(Why are you not planting in the start and adding mulm aka established dirt which is often mentioned to get a good start?)
Regards
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
U did not on the lights rite.... maybe too much glare from the window...
GW is always with excess lights and nutrients... Is your filter new? I got a less serious case when i just change my filter....
Peter, the UV has been on 24hrs for at least 5 days... i will do a blackout to try... hmmm... i thought i had to run the water for at least 2 weeks b4 planting as wat i used to to... b4 this, i was using some cheap gravel... now after trying ADA soil, sigh... so much problems... and it's not cheap!!! i have at least 4 packs of ADA soil in there... hmm the thought of getting dirty stuff is not very nice... haha it's a new setup, dun wanna get my filter all dirty... although it speeds things up... i really want to try the willow tree method like in APC... but the problem is where to find a willow tree here?
AquaObsession, yes the filter is new, i washed everything in there, changed the media and stuff... no direct sun... i'm facing the north... so sun is out of the question...
you know wat? i suspect it's the ADA soil that's giving out too much nutrients... cus you know when you squeeze the particles, they become powder? due to the weight of the rocks i guess some amount turned into powder, thus giving out the nutrients? is that possible?
cheers guys...
flush, there is nothing to do with the ADA soil... My setup is new too... The only difference between mine and yours is that my filter is seeded with a piece of old filter wool from my other filter... The rest of the media is new too... And I planted from start.. Although not packed...Originally Posted by fLuSh®
So you don't want to get your filter all dirty is abit the strange, since they will be dirty... hahaha...
Plants don't need the 3 weeks cycling! Which happens to be the time taken for the nitrogen cycle to be established... It is the fishes that needs it!
And if you seeded your filter, the 3 weeks can be cut down to 1 week...
Why don't you go get all the plants you need, drain the water till the substrate level and start planting?
Yeps, not the ADA soil. I have ada too.
most probably it's about the filter....as i said, when my filter was new, i got the same problem. anyway, yours (GW) seems to be like mine which is mild case...not like the GW the other guys post here...
When you fill tank first time, be careful not to disturb the subtrate too much...else the tank will look cloudy.
You have 2 sources that will uptake the ammonia that is being leech from the aquasoil and you did not add any (namely live bacteria from old filter material/substrate and lots of plants from the start). I'm not sure about the ambient light level in the area that the tank is placed nor could I know if you have use the UVC properly or not (undersize for you tank perharps). I can only give you that much advice and if you refuse to take any, I cannot help you anymore.
You don't need to go through the nitrogen cycle for a planted tank!!! The bacteria and plants will go after it and it will never happen.
NH3/NH4 --> NO2 --> NO3
l
\/
bacteria/plants
Regards
Peter Gwee
Plant Physiology by Taiz and Zeiger
Thanks for all the advise guys... ok so here are ways to rectify my GW prob...
1) get some old filter material/substrate and add it to the bottom of the canister filter, change 50% of the water, and continue cycling.
2) get the plants that i need then drain water most of the water, and start planting.
3) do all of the above... heh heh
Peter, the tank is placed facing the balcony which is at least 3-4 meters away, facing the north, so whatever sun that shines is all in the balcony (1-2m), never into the appartment... unless, some amount of light is being reflected by the marble flooring... possible? well, as for the UVC, i bought the Jebao one, it's cheap but its still UV, i placed it after the filter and direction of in and out is the same right? Sizing wise, i bought the right one as stated on the box, and recommended by LFS, i even wanted to get the next size up, but kena scolding... haha...
Aqua, this is a mild case, correct! but it's freaking irritating one, it keeps coming back! i rather have a serious one, clear it, and thats it! haha
Valice, thanks for the advise! stupid of me to think that the filter is new! haha wat we want is the older the better! haha
cheers!
You may need to regulate the flow of water through the UV. If water flowing too fast, it is not effective.
yup! i thought about that... the period of the water being exposed to UV is too short, thus not effective... therefore i restricted the flow of the water through the filter, very very slow... almost to a halt... thanks for that anywae dude!
Flush, 3-4m is considered very near to natural light source if you have a large open window or sliding door. Can you draw down your curtain for a week to see if it helps. Also start planting immediately so that the excess nutrients are taken up by the plants and not by the algae.
near? hmmm... i used to have another tank long time ago, planted tank... it was doing ok... until i picked up the hobby again... then all these problems started... will do... i'm trying to get a piece of old filter material... haha
Flush, if all solutions fail. The last resort is to drain off the tank water and this time use filtered water. I used to have this greenwater problem when I placed my planted tank next to the window. Now I just set up a nano tank using water from my drinking water filter, so far so good after one and a half month.
Plant heavily and it should be the end of your GW problem. I have 3 tanks by the windows (literally by the windows; one East, and 2 South-West facing windows). None of them have GW problem. The SW facing tanks have very little algae, the E facing tank has some -- deliberately grown. But none has GW. None of them use UV.
I think the problem with your tank is that there is too much nutrient and too little plants to absorb them.
/John
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