HELP! Will adding plants help with my green water issue?

[gfink]

I've been battling green water for months. I can't even see halfway through my tank.

History:
I did the blackout method and it didn't really work.

Tank rebounds from 25% partial water changes in 2 days. So I would have to always be changing water to keep it diluted.

Tank is in my finished basement, so there is almost zero ambient light.

I cut back on light to 4 hours a day which sort of helped, but did not eliminate it.(I think it just slowed the rebound after water changes) FYI my lighting is 36 W for 29 gal or (1.24 wpg)

I bought a phosphate test kit and got readings of 1.5-2 ppm in tank and tap water....I've since added phosphate absorbing media. New tank level is about 0.5 ppm for the past month or so. (no noticable improvement)

I don't feed much, just once a day what they can eat in 3 minutes.

Nitrates are less than 5 ppm on average (never saw a reading higher than 10 ppm)

WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? :?

So, I ordered some live plants (low light) to compete with the algea, but I will need to increase the lighting interval to 10 hours or so. Do you think it will help?

 

[TankGirl]

If you have plants, then increase your lighting - since green water can flourish at lower light levels than higher plants.

If you can rent a diatom filter from the LFS, or if you have one, that would probably do the trick, but here is an article discussing green water:
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/algae/green.shtml

 

[gfink]

If you have plants, then increase your lighting - since green water can flourish at lower light levels than higher plants.

You mean increase my wpg, not my lighting interval right? If so then, brighter lights would be unfavorable to "green water" algea, and other types of life (hopefully plants rather than other algeas) would become dominant? Interesting.

Unfortunately, two T8-18's is all I can do in my eclipse3 hood.

I've read that article a few times:
"Until the grazing population also recovers, the water turns thick and green. Then, when the rotifers and copepods have returned in strength, the euglenoid population collapses under grazing pressures, and the "green water" mysteriously "goes away.""

Still waiting for this to happen, but I don't think it is going to.

 

[TankGirl]

Lengthening the photoperiod will help your higher plants, theoretically.

I strongly recommend, in your case, after all this time, to borrow or rent a diatom filter. They are a pain in the neck until you get the hang of it, but many people have used them to permanently "cure" green water in a matter of hours. If you want to add a piece of equipment that will serve you well for years to come, go ahead and purchase one (Bigalsonline has the best deals) as if you use it regularly, like once a month, you can prevent problems like ich and cloudy water.

 

[malkore]

having .5ppm of phosphate adn only 5ppm of nitrate could be a big problem too.

 

[gfink]

having .5ppm of phosphate adn only 5ppm of nitrate could be a big problem too.

How so? Please elaborate?

 

[malkore]

Phosphate kits only measure organic phosphates, not inorganic phosphates (I might have that switched around, but you get the idea).

you want at least 10 times more nitrate than phosphate. If you're only seeing .5ppm of organic phosphates, but nitrate is only 5ppm, you've got a nutrient imbalance.

True algae blooms, including greenwater, are ALWAYS caused by a nutrient imbalance. In your case you probably have less than 5ppm nitrate, but no reputable nitrate test kits can really distinguish in more than 5ppm increments.

Basically you need another 5ppm of nitrates for a total of 10ppm to ensure you have things in balance. Due to your high level of phosphates in the tap, you might want to even experiment with higher levels of nitrate, say 15-20ppm.

 

[gfink]

Due to your high level of phosphates in the tap, you might want to even experiment with higher levels of nitrate, say 15-20ppm.

Ok, so I will have to sacrifice frequent water changes which were providing me with some water clarity, and just let the nitrates go up a bit.

lol....that takes less effort, so I can probably find the time to work that in. 8)

 

[malkore]

Right. and you can follow TG's advice and try to borrow a diatom filter to strip out the floating algae that's currently in there.

 

[travis simonson]

One alternative to the diatom filter is to get an AquaClear powerhead with their QuickFilter attachment. It's a micron level filter that is cheap and replacable. Although not on the same level as a diatom filter, I've used it several times to clear up green water problems and it works great and costs quite a bit less.

 

[gfink]

One alternative to the diatom filter is to get an AquaClear powerhead with their QuickFilter attachment. It's a micron level filter that is cheap and replacable. Although not on the same level as a diatom filter, I've used it several times to clear up green water problems and it works great and costs quite a bit less.

Thank you!

I picked one up for about $30 and got it running. However, after a few hours the filter was still clean. The algea went right through it. However, I had some aquaclear drops which are meant to clump small particles together.....now although these never did squat with my normal filter, they apparently are able to make clumps just big enough for the Quickfilter to pick up (approx 1 micron). My tank is now almost completely green free!! 8O Huge change considering that visibility 3 hours ago was less than 6 inches.

 

[travis simonson]

Well things sound like they're looking up I would urge caution in using coagulents though. They can have unintended consequences. As soon as things look like they're back to normal I would recommend a water change and discontinuing the use of whatever caused the algae to clump and be caught in the filter. BTW what did you use?

 

[gfink]

Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Accu-Clear

Please elaborate on your worry related to this type of product.

 

[travis simonson]

I'm glad it worked. Green water is one of those weird things that, once it's gone, does not have a tendency to reappear. I would discontinue the use of Accu-Clear and would continue with usual tank maintenance at this point. GW is likely to stay gone, once gone. Glad things are looking up

 

[gfink]

you want at least 10 times more nitrate than phosphate. If you're only seeing .5ppm of organic phosphates, but nitrate is only 5ppm, you've got a nutrient imbalance.

True algae blooms, including greenwater, are ALWAYS caused by a nutrient imbalance. In your case you probably have less than 5ppm nitrate, but no reputable nitrate test kits can really distinguish in more than 5ppm increments.

Basically you need another 5ppm of nitrates for a total of 10ppm to ensure you have things in balance. Due to your high level of phosphates in the tap, you might want to even experiment with higher levels of nitrate, say 15-20ppm.

It WORKED!!! 8O Green water is gone. I can see from end to end in the tank now. My phosphates are 0-0.5 ppm, and my nitrates are around 10 ppm.

Once I bought a phospahte kit and tested my water, I realized I needed some phosphate absorbing media. That brought the phosphates down, but I still had green water. I then preceeded to do frequent water changes which made it look better, but was keeping my nitrates low.

So, I stopped the water changes and let the nitates rise. It quickly returned to soupy green (4" of visibility), but cleared up around 10 ppm nitrates. I even had my lights on 11 hours a day.

It's been clear for a little over a week...hopefully things will stay this way.

 

[TankGirl]

Malkore to the rescue again!