Starting to get green water?

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got-to-love-Chiclids

Aquarium Advice Activist
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Nov 13, 2011
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143
So I'm starting to get green water. (basicly algee growing in the water duh to sun light) I cut out the sun light but is there anything els I can do before I use a uv utilizer?
 
Hi a U/V would be the obvious answer:) The other answer would be try cutting down on the light entering the tank - artificial and natural. Do a good water change and cut back on the feeding? Not sure if carbon would help or using a polishing pad/floss would help?
 
Put a blanket of some sort over the tank to block out all light, turn off the hood lights. Leave it blacked out for a few days. This will starve the algea of light and should kill it or atleast reduce it. Then just make sure you move the tank away from Windows if it is near one and keep nitrates in check.
 
When I got green water I tried all the tricks, blacking out the tank, chemicals, water changes, bla bla bla. I finally broke down and bought a uv. Best investment ever! I would run it 2 days then turn it off for months until I got green water again. After going through that cycle maybe 3 times I'm happy to say that my tank is balanced enough that I've not used it in probably 6 months. Some people (no one on here) made me feel like a failure because I had green water and because I bought the uv, but I'm here to tell ya, you gotta do what's right for your tank and sometimes that means buying a uv. Good luck!!!
 
I've always dealt with green water by adjusting lighting and/or fertilizer dosing (if applicable). I've not tried UV but I have heard great things (like the previous posts in this thread)
 
jetajockey said:
I've always dealt with green water by adjusting lighting and/or fertilizer dosing (if applicable). I've not tried UV but I have heard great things (like the previous posts in this thread)

For me, uv was the way to go! I used it until my tank was stable enough to take care of the algae on its own.
 
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