Green Water and Undergravel Filter, what is the cure?

[fish_4_all]

I have a very well established tank but it has recently turned very green. I believe this is green water, diatoms in the water and I need to get rid of them.

My worry is the tank is well planted. Will my plants suffer? Also, will an AquaView remove the green water or do I need to get an aquaclear or some other filter if the light trick doesn't work?

Please help, the light is bright but the tank is very dim and I need to get it taken care of before my fish suffer.

Best cure would be to get rid of the undergravel filter.

[Blucat]

undergravel flter? I doubt that will help.

Check out my thread on greenwater.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewto...46017&start=50

Discusses various ways to remove it and how i am removing my green water.

[oldshell4481]

i had a [acronym:33cde03175="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:33cde03175] and it held green water. removed it and no problems since.

Originally Posted by Blucat

undergravel flter? I doubt that will help.

Check out my thread on greenwater.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewto...46017&start=50

Discusses various ways to remove it and how i am removing my green water.

I wasn't suggesting he get one, I was suggesting he get rid of his!

[TankGirl]

fish_4_all - your fish are not going to suffer one bit with green water. It is not a problem at all for them. I have done a lot of reading about green water and basically it will go away on its own, but you have to be very patient (not easy!) and wait several months sometimes. There is a relationship between phosphate and nitrate, and often with heavy green water you will measure zero nitrate because the algae is using it all up, and some will actually dose nitrate to get rid of green water if there are plants that need the nitrate.

You can do the blackout method, but this means a 50% water change and 5 solid days of not one smidgen of light, no peeking, no feeding, no nothing (fish and plants will be fine). Then another 50% water change to remove dead algae. This works very well for many very expert aquarists.

[acronym:f20d919e22="Ultra Violet"]UV[/acronym:f20d919e22] sterilizer will almost definitely do the trick, but if you don't want to spend the money on that, you can definitely wait and it will resolve. It is not pretty but it will go away by itself.

Often a heavy water change schedule in an effort to get rid of the green water will only feed it, so usually keep the water changes minimal and keep lighting and feeding minimal as well.

Daphnia will eat all your green water up completely, but first you have to find someone who is culturing them and then you have to keep your fish from eating them, lol!

[malkore]

[acronym:76c284dc07="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:76c284dc07]'s aren't recommended for planted tanks. Can cause problems with plant roots. They really aren't the best filtration either, and those lift tubes hog tank space [acronym:76c284dc07="In my opinion"]IMO[/acronym:76c284dc07].

undergravel filters are the devil!

lol, seriously though, i had one when i first started mine and had nothing but problems, when i finally took it out, my tank finally stabilized. I never had green water though, but i have a feeling if you get rid of that [acronym:015105fd88="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:015105fd88] you will have less problems, someone needs to make a sticky on filter's... or at least to not use [acronym:015105fd88="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:015105fd88]'s.

[Zezmo]

I had an [acronym:329d495c72="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:329d495c72] along with my [acronym:329d495c72="Hang On Back"]HOB[/acronym:329d495c72]. Though I had no issues with the [acronym:329d495c72="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:329d495c72] I removed it 2 weeks ago, because I was adding [acronym:329d495c72="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:329d495c72]. They may or may not be related, but a couple days later my Green Water bloom started. I was blaming it on the lack of [acronym:329d495c72="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:329d495c72], or really what I did was change my tanks ability to break down nitrates and such. I am not convinced that is really what led to my Algae bloom. I suspect the bloom was already waiting to happen and stirring up all that muck from removing the [acronym:329d495c72="Under Gravel Filter"]UGF[/acronym:329d495c72] is what kicked it off.
After a bit of reading, I have added a couple pack of "ALGONE" to absorb excess nitrate until things get a bit more under control in there. I did this last night. I was considering the Blackout thing too, but I was concerned over two things... will all that dead algae cause problems before i get a change to do a [acronym:329d495c72="Partial water change"]PWC[/acronym:329d495c72]. In the dark, will the algae and my plants consume all the oxygen and suffocate my fish?

will the algae and my plants consume all the oxygen and suffocate my fish?

You will still leave your air pump running and your filter running. Also, plants and algae don't consume oxygen, they consume [acronym:f20eef154e="Carbon dioxide"]CO2[/acronym:f20eef154e] and release oxygen into the water... therefore the plants actually help to better oxygenate the water.