OPTIONS TO GET RID OF GREEN WATER?

[cappieBridget]

I have had gw from the start, no wonder since my tank is next to a window :x It is a 55 gal and I have no where else to put it. I have been reading up and found they say to use uv filters. Would a filter with bio wheel remove the algae bloom? I think a uv filter is to complicated and expensive for me right now. It's a tropical semi-aggressive aquarium. I tried a 5 day blackout with garbage bags, 20% pwc daily until clear(never cleared) and algae remover once but I didn't want to harm my fish, I was more or less testing it and of course it made my tank beautiful for about 24 hours and then back to green. It is rally frustrating as this has been for months now. I started to put real plants in to absorb soem of the nutrients from the algae but I just get to many hours of direct sunlight.

my temp is about 80 degrees
ammonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-5-10
I do 20% pwc twice a week with gravel vac', last week every day to get the water clear but it didn't work

I was thinking of just doing a 50% pwc, 5 day blackout again, another 50% pwc, and then keeping the tank covered with garbage bags all day until evening and then just using the light from say 5-10 pm and covering it again. I only feed my fish 1 time daily a small mix of flake, granuals and baby shrimp. Should I stop feeding flake to keep phosphates down?
My gravel is almost not dirty at all. I can't think of anything else.
Thanks!

 

[JDogg]

you could put thick curtains over the window and keep them closed...:?

 

[cappieBridget]

yeah, I don't think my mom would like that, lol. My family is living with her, once we move out, I won't have a gw problem because I'l have a place to put the tank away from a window. I am thinking of a way to move furniture to fit it in the diningroom where the window gets no sunlight because it's a breezeway, in other words, the window faces a brick wall, lol. Maybe after Christams and we don't need a -place for a tree.

*edited:we have mini blinds and curtains over the window now. We only leve the bottom of the blinds up, maybe 4-6 inches for light, I'll keep it closed and maybe she won't realize :?

 

[Mosaic]

I'm not convinced too much natural light alone causes algae. I have had several tanks near windows, one directly in front, without ever getting GW.

The fish tank at work got GW after being in front of a window for 3 years, but I suspect it was because we added too much to the bioload at once, because it makes no sense that there was suddenly too much window light after all that time. I tried to fix it with blackouts and water changes for months and nothing worked.
Then, one week out of sheer frustration, I did a 60% PWC, the next day I did a 60% PWC and the next day I changed 90%. At the same time I added some very fast growing plants- wisteria, hornwort, duckweed, and watersprite. You need some crazy nutrient suckers to outcompete GW, not just any ol' plants, and you have to remove as much of the GW as you can first so the plants can get a hold. I also threw in some ramshorn snail babies just in case there was an excess of food that had caused it (not likely). The tank has been beautiful ever since.

 

[rkilling1]

You may want to give this a try:

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...fighting-green-water-simple-cheap-method.html

 

[cappieBridget]

WOW, THANKS!!!

AFTER THINKING OF IT, I HAVE A MISSING BUMBLE BEE GOBY I HAVE CLEAN THE TANK TOP TO BOTTOM VERY WELL AND IT DIDN'T TURN UP BUT IT COULD HAVE GOTTEN EATEN BY ONE OF MY CICHLIDS DURING ON OF MY BO. I GUESS I'LL GIVE IT ONE MORE VERY GOOD CLEANING AND THE ONE FILTER THAT I HAVEN'T CLEANED YET AND I'M GOING AWAY FOR 5 DAYS SO I'LL DO THE BLACKOUT WHILE I'M GONE, THAT WAY I'M NOT TEMPTED TO PEAK AT IT. I'M GOING TO FIND SOME WILLOW WHILE I'M GONE TO BRING HOME AND ADD RIGHT AFTER THE BO.

I'LL UPDATE ON MONDAY

 

[7Enigma]

Diatom filters are THE best thing for GW. There is no better way to get rid of it without harming fish/plants. You need to fix the REASONS behind the GW, normally ammonia present, but I wouldn't be surprised if the direct sunlight isn't helping, but once you've fixed your problems the simplest and best way is the diatom.

No blackouts, no chemicals, no PWC's, no willow or other methods of removing nutrients, just a simple 30min-2hour run with a diatom and your tank will be crystal clear and GW free.

UV sterilizers will kill the GW, and then rot in the tank causing more ammonia to be produced and GW will come back. A diatom removes the GW from the tank so no rotting can occur.

I would definately recommend if you cannot prevent the direct sunlight from getting into the room, to prevent the direct sunlight from getting into the tank. I've used mylar party balloons (the inside that is shiny) and put them on the sides of the tank. The front of the tank can be covered with a mylar "curtain" that can be installed and removed in 2 seconds by a piece or 3 of tape. This blocks all of the light from the room from getting in the tank, and vice versa. While not the most esthetic, you can then be sure the light level is not prolonging the GW from staying around (or coming back).

Here's a quick example of my results. I had been on vacation and had a fish die which caused a lot of ammonia to be released. My biological filter converted it all to nitrAte so my fish didn't suffer, but there was enough ammonia an any given time to get a wonderful GW bloom. After removing the dead fish, doing a lot of PWC's and still seeing the GW (very easy to prevent, very difficult to get rid of) I on advice from this forum picked up a diatom filter. In 1 hour my tank was more clear than it had every been, and the GW never came back (until the other day when I rearranged all my plants).

before diatom:

1 hour later:

 

[cappieBridget]

wow, I read I can rent these diatom filters, is that correct? my tand has been running for 3-4 months and has had gw almost the whole time. I don't know what I did in the begining to get it, but I have been fighting since. It does look like it's getting better today. I have been doing 20-50% pwc every day to every 3 days, trying to keep it covered during the day and giving it a few hours of light at night when I like to put the lights on and observe It does look like it gets worse while the lights on. I haven't hd any ammonia or nitrites dected with my ap liquid test kit, but I did use a floculant called crystal clear and I'm sure that gave me a mini cycle. I used it only 1 time to test it I will call around to see where I can rent a ditom filter. Thanks!!!

by the way, love your tank! I just started adding real plants, got rid of my plastic adn silk, figured, if I wanted the semi planted look, it'd be more beneficial for the tank and fish by using real ones.

 

[7Enigma]

wow, I read I can rent these diatom filters, is that correct? my tand has been running for 3-4 months and has had gw almost the whole time. I don't know what I did in the begining to get it, but I have been fighting since. It does look like it's getting better today. I have been doing 20-50% pwc every day to every 3 days, trying to keep it covered during the day and giving it a few hours of light at night when I like to put the lights on and observe It does look like it gets worse while the lights on. I haven't hd any ammonia or nitrites dected with my ap liquid test kit, but I did use a floculant called crystal clear and I'm sure that gave me a mini cycle. I used it only 1 time to test it I will call around to see where I can rent a ditom filter. Thanks!!!

by the way, love your tank! I just started adding real plants, got rid of my plastic adn silk, figured, if I wanted the semi planted look, it'd be more beneficial for the tank and fish by using real ones.

Find out how much they want to rent it to you for. If its more than $15-20 I would purchase your own. I have a 20gallon tank and used the Vortex D1 which can be purchased for $60-70. I would be worried about introducing disease into my tank if using one rented from a LFS. If you do go the rental route I would sterilize the filter by running some 5% bleach through it for an hour or so and then rinsing HEAVILY with water, followed by another rinse with dechlorinator.

That picture is really old btw. I have recently had another small bout with GW which seems to be kept in check with proper ferts and CO2 levels, but it definately has not completely gone away.

 

[cappieBridget]

WOULD I NEED A FULL SIZE FILTER LIKE FOR UP TO 60 GALLONS OR SOMETHING OR WOULD IT BE OK TO GET A 20 GAL SIZE FILTER SINCE IT'S NOT MY ONLY FILTER AND IT WILL ONLY E USED TEMPORARILY? I JUST PICKED UP A BUNCH OF HORNWART ADN BLACK MYSTERY SNAIL AND A BIG DOUGHNUT AIR STONE. I HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR a REASON TO GO SHOPPING FOR MY TANK AGAIN, LOL. HEY, WHY DOES EVERYONE GET GOLD MYSTERY SNAILS? ARE THEY BETTER THAN BLACK, IVORY OR BLUE MYSTERY SNAILS? MINE WAS STUCK TO THE SIDE WHEN I GOT IT BUT HAS BEEN LYING ON THE BOTTOM SINCE I BROUGHT IT HOME 2 HOURS AGO. DO YOU THINK IT DIED?
THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!

 

[Mosaic]

I've never had a gold one. There's no difference other than color.

He's probably just adjusting. You will know if your snail dies. They turn to mush and smell bad. Don't toss it unless that happens.

 

[7Enigma]

WOULD I NEED A FULL SIZE FILTER LIKE FOR UP TO 60 GALLONS OR SOMETHING OR WOULD IT BE OK TO GET A 20 GAL SIZE FILTER SINCE IT'S NOT MY ONLY FILTER AND IT WILL ONLY E USED TEMPORARILY? I JUST PICKED UP A BUNCH OF HORNWART ADN BLACK MYSTERY SNAIL AND A BIG DOUGHNUT AIR STONE. I HAD BEEN LOOKING FOR a REASON TO GO SHOPPING FOR MY TANK AGAIN, LOL. HEY, WHY DOES EVERYONE GET GOLD MYSTERY SNAILS? ARE THEY BETTER THAN BLACK, IVORY OR BLUE MYSTERY SNAILS? MINE WAS STUCK TO THE SIDE WHEN I GOT IT BUT HAS BEEN LYING ON THE BOTTOM SINCE I BROUGHT IT HOME 2 HOURS AGO. DO YOU THINK IT DIED?
THANKS FOR ALL OF YOUR HELP!

They make an XL model for larger tanks, but honestly its just a time thing. You could filter a 100gallon tank with the D1 if you wanted too, its just more practical to get the larger one.

Make sure you identify your snail. Some mystery snails I believe are HUGE plant eaters and will decimate your tank. Small ramshorns, MTS, most common pond snails, and nerites are plant friendly.

Give the snail some time. If any fish went after it, it might stay hidden until it feels safer.

 

[cappieBridget]

Oh, ok. I wanted a ramshorn but they only had mystery snail, kinda like, will it eat my plants? It's a mystery, lol. oh, I forgot to tell you that I put tin foil covering the side of my tank facing the window. Do I need it on the other end? Here are 2 pictures, one fo the tank to show how green it is (not horrible IMHO) and how close the window is to the tank.

 

[BillD]

I have one tank that quite often gets green water, due to too much light. A water change takes care of that for a month or so.

 

[cappieBridget]

I wish! I have been doing water changes constantly. Is yours a small tank? I started with a 20 gal adn a 10 gal and they are perfect, this 55 gal is kicking my a$$, lol.

 

[7Enigma]

LOL, I can't see anything in your tank! (and I only see 1 pic) Can you take another picture with the lights in the tank on less (if you have more than one bulb), or turn the tank lights off and take a picture with the flash?

Aluminum foil is not as good as mylar for reflection, but it will prevent light from the window getting into the tank which is what you need. I would do both ends just to be safe, but the majority of the light will come through the front. You need to build a front cover for it if you really want the GW gone since that is the largest surface area, and thus the most light can get in their.

 

[cappieBridget]

sorry! it was from my phone camera, lol. didn't rexcieve the email of my pic in time. here it is:

oh, i had to move my snail, my kribbies were going after it, lol.

 

[7Enigma]

You definately need some more plants in there, from the photo it looks very sparsely planted. That can allow for GW if your filter doesn't get the ammonia and convert it to nitrAte first...

 

[cappieBridget]

I have 2 bunches of hornwart, 2 of some kind of big, dark green leaf plnt with brown twiggy roots, and 2 of a whispy stem plant, light in color and similar to the hornwart but not as dense. I did a huge water change today, 50-75% and covered it with black trash bags as we re leving for the holiday nd won't be back until Sunday afternoon. I was hoping to get most of the algae out and keep the light out so it can't grow and let the plnats absorb what was in there awy from the algae. Do you think it will be alright or will the plants die and make the gw worse?

 

[7Enigma]

I have 2 bunches of hornwart, 2 of some kind of big, dark green leaf plnt with brown twiggy roots, and 2 of a whispy stem plant, light in color and similar to the hornwart but not as dense. I did a huge water change today, 50-75% and covered it with black trash bags as we re leving for the holiday nd won't be back until Sunday afternoon. I was hoping to get most of the algae out and keep the light out so it can't grow and let the plnats absorb what was in there awy from the algae. Do you think it will be alright or will the plants die and make the gw worse?

GW can't grow without light, so even if ammonia gets released into the water GW will not get worse. Your filter should take care of the GW, hopefully your hornwort has a good storage of sugar and can grow during the blackout.