Help with the green water blues

[tazcrash69]

OK, I goofed up big time. My tank was coming along nicely, with the exception of some thread algae, and high Nitrates. My hornwort was growing out of control, and picking up detritus, so I decided to remove it, BIG Mistake. The result was a Green water bloom. You can see my tank specs in my signature.

The Back story:
The tank was about 3 weeks old. I was getting great growth from all the plants especially my Led Ludwigia, and Water sprite (both reach the top of tank), and I was getting pearling consistently every day. There was some thread algae, and my nitrates were running over 20. I am doing weekly water changes (40 -50%) on Sunday, and dosing Macros on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday according to testing, and Plantex CSM + B + Fe on the alternate days. (Saturday was the day of rest for the tank). I also increased my 10K lighting to 7 hours because I noticed more pearling. As I said above I removed the hornwort which was a big mistake. I was gifted with GW.

Here are the results of my last water tests:
pH: 6.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10
Phosphate: .2
kH 8 degrees
Gh 18 degrees.
Temp 76 degrees
CO2: 38 calculated as: ((3*kH)*10^(7-pH))

What I’ve done:
Now, I’ve shut off the extra lighting, and reduced the photoperiod to 8 hours a day of 130 watts, I’ve added a couple bunches of wisteria, and moneywort. I’m very apprehensive to doing any other trimming right now for fear of making matters worst. I’ve run a Magnum HOT 250 with Micro cartridge, for 2 days, but didn’t see any noticeable difference.

Last dose:
Phosphate .2 grams
Potassium 4 grams (amount I dose when I dose macros).
Nitrate: nothing since I was having Nitrates over 20 since before my last WC.

Is there anything else I should do other than a blackout? Should I continue to run the Magnum?


TIA,

 

[tazcrash69]

sorry here are the tank specs. I need to update my signature.

Aquarium: 55 gallon with 60 lbs fluorite 20 lbs gravel
Filtration: Eheim 2026 Pimp #168 with Fluval surface skimmer
Lighting: PC 130 watts of 6700k PCs 12hours, 130 watts 10K 4 hours.
Co2 suppl.: 10lb tank with Milwaukee al in one.
Flora:Java Moss, Water Sprite, Microsword, Anacharis, Water Primrose, Rotala rotundifolia, Cryptocoryne wendtii, Echinodorus x barthii, Bacopa monnieri
Fauna: 3 Sailfin Mollies, 8 Tiger barbs, 6 Cory Julii, 6 Ottos, 2 SAEs, 9 Amano shrimp.

 

[wobbles]

I recently had similar issues. I did the blackout thing which worked well for about 3 days after. My problem was not enough fe. What are your fe readings?

 

[tazcrash69]

Never tested for Fe. Too many people I tust say that that test is too inconsistant.
With all the flourite, and using the Plantex CSM+B+Fe at 1/8th tsp I would doubt it's that though.

I may have to do the blackout thing

 

[wobbles]

Damn now I have green water. I might go and get a UV sterilizer this weekend

 

[travis simonson]

I've seen green water issues in new tanks before and the blackout method works well to remedy the problem. In most cases it will stay gone after a blackout, but make sure to do a 50% water change both before and after the blackout to clear the algae as best as possible. And stop ferts during the blackout as your plants will not uptake any significant amount of nutrients during a blackout.

I use a UV sterilizer on my 125G and have never had any issues with greenwater in it, so I can attest to their effectiveness vs green water algae. It is a bit of overkill according to most, but it also helps keep the water crystal clear and I simply love mine

 

[Scottm]

Black out worked a miracle for me and didn't seem to affect my plants much. my chain sword died back a little but now its springing back well. I added hornwort for nutrient uptake speed and I am enjoying the results. I have to cut it to pieces every week but its not bad.

 

[wobbles]

I love my new UV sterilizer!!!

No more green water for me. Fish seem to be happier too.

Only drawback is that my fe levels went from 0.8 to 0.0. Can anyone explain this?

 

[travis simonson]

Only drawback is that my fe levels went from 0.8 to 0.0. Can anyone explain this?

It has been noted by those with more chemistry knowledge than me that UV sterilizers may actually oxidize the iron and trace elements in your water column. Your results may indicate that this is actually happening. Because of this possibility, I only run my UV during lights-out in my tank and dose my iron/traces in the morning, right after the lights come and the UV goes off. This gives the iron/traces a full photoperiod for the plants to uptake them before the UV comes back on again. It also virtually doubles the service life of the UV bulb (from 6 months to about 1 year). I have yet to have a sick fish so I think even running UV 50% of the time does a great job of zapping parasites and diseases, and the water is always crystal clear in the morning

 

[wobbles]

Ill try that. Cheers

How do you dose your tank with fe? If I have to dose my tank to get it to 0.8 and above everyday, it will become very expensive. Im using liquid ferts at the moment. Is there a more effective way to dose? Also my substrate is fe rich as well.

 

[travis simonson]

I use Plantex CSM+B in solution. I buy it in dry bulk form by the pound from www.gregwatson.com. I'm not sure if there is a similar supplier down under but I'll bet you can find someone who sells a good trace/iron mixture down there. There really is no reliable iron test so I use fast growing plants like Hygrophila difformis (Wisteria) or Ceratopteris thallictroides (Watersprite) as indicators of iron levels. If the new growth on these plants is pale then you likely need to dose more iron. Many plants can serve as good indicator plants but the fast growers are usually your best bet because they will show signs of iron deficiency before most others.

Your iron-rich substrate should help your root-feeding plants with their iron uptake but many plants absorb iron through their leaves (foliar feeding) and require iron in the water column as well. HTH

 

[tazcrash69]

Sorry, double posted.

check out here:
http://www.gregwatson.com/proddetail.asp?prod=IronChelate

I only use dry ferts, and he's good, and inexpensive.

Wait wobbles, I just noticed you are "down under", not sure if he ships there, but you can try to find a local distributor, or hydroponics store.