horrible green water algae problem

[ZakTheRipper]

I recently added a DIY CO2 setup, driftwood, a 65 watt PC light (with an actinic bulb as well), and some plants. Now I've got horrible algae blooms. The water is basically green. There's no hair algae or anything like that, just really green water. I did a pwc to almost no effect.

Is there any product out there that will destroy this algae without harming the plants?

 

[bman]

What size is your tank? Have you added any fertilizers, and how much? Usually green water means there is an imbalance in the major nutrients that plants (and algae) use to grow. That imbalance gives algae the advantage over the plants to grow.

That being said, how green is the water? Light tinge, or pea soup?

You can use seachem's excel temporarily to curb the algae growth if it is not severe.

did you add the CO2, Light, and plants at the same time? Even in a properly cycled tank, those components are going to majorly change your water, and bacteria levels.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

What are your test results. The nitrate to phosphates ratio should be 10:1. If not, then you have an imbalance. Check the stickies, there is a ton of good info there. Also to temporarily get rid of the greenwater, turn the lights off and put a dark blanket over the tank for 3 days, then do a 75% PWC afterwards. Then get your nutrient levels balanced out.

I put a 65W on my 26G, and been using Flourish Excel, and no CO2 injection. Have had no greenwater or algae. In fact, the ugly stuff that was growing on my java moss is just about gone completely now. On my last test, my ratio was 8:1, because of my PWC. The fish bioload will bring it back inline at 10:1 in a couple days.

 

[ZakTheRipper]

Sorry, forgot to mention it's a 20 gallon. I added all that stuff at the same time pretty much. Admittedly, I did an idiotic thing though--I cleaned my filter and the impeller and fan, probably getting rid of much of the bacteria that had grown. Basically, i figure my tank is now also cycling, and with massive ammonia spikes over the last couple weeks (despite a couple pwcs) both of my fish (oscar and pleco) got sick. Yes, I know, those are bad fish for a 20 gallon. The pleco has definitely grown to about 6 inches, and it's been time to give him back to the lfs, and I'm gonna do the same for the oscar, who isn't huge yet, but it's almost time.

The water is pea soup, with about 3-4 inches of visibility.
I don't have a kit to test phosphate levels, but I guess now that I have plants I'd better get one.

I have been adding what the bottles claim to be appropriate amounts of macro and micro nutrient fertilizers.

I tried keeping it dark for three days until today, to little effect. I didn't do the water change, however. I'll do that tonight.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Do the PWC, then black it out one more day and see where you stand from there.

 

[Devilishturtles]

How many hours a day do you keep your lights on? Does your tank get any direct sunlight? PO4 levels would also help. When you did the blackout, did you keep it completely black(ie: not take the blanket off at all) for the entire 3 days?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Sorry, forgot to mention it's a 20 gallon. I added all that stuff at the same time pretty much. Admittedly, I did an idiotic thing though--I cleaned my filter and the impeller and fan, probably getting rid of much of the bacteria that had grown. Basically, i figure my tank is now also cycling, and with massive ammonia spikes over the last couple weeks (despite a couple pwcs) both of my fish (oscar and pleco) got sick. Yes, I know, those are bad fish for a 20 gallon. The pleco has definitely grown to about 6 inches, and it's been time to give him back to the lfs, and I'm gonna do the same for the oscar, who isn't huge yet, but it's almost time.

The water is pea soup, with about 3-4 inches of visibility.
I don't have a kit to test phosphate levels, but I guess now that I have plants I'd better get one.

I have been adding what the bottles claim to be appropriate amounts of macro and micro nutrient fertilizers.

I tried keeping it dark for three days until today, to little effect. I didn't do the water change, however. I'll do that tonight.

I clean my filter now and then, rinse out the housing, clean the impeller, etc. But I use the same cartrige and media, rinse the cartrige a little in tank water and call it good. And I just set the bio-wheel in a cup of tank water til I'm done and reinstall everything. And do nothing with my ceramic rings, just put them back in. Never had an ammonia or nitrite spike.

 

[ZakTheRipper]

I keep my lights on for 12 hours a day
when i blacked it out I kept a jacket over the tank for 3 days, removing it only to feed the fish.
no, my tank doesn't get direct sunlight--i'm not that stupid.

I did about a 85% water change last night. The water is less green now, but I still have a bad white, milky cloudiness problem, which I assume is excess bacteria from the waste in the water that isn't being broken down by the filter, since it's still cycling.

I'll try to post a picture in a bit, but the screen on my camera is broken thanks to my housemate.

how did the date get to be two days off on this forum?

 

[Devilishturtles]

Black it out again. This time, with a blanket(something large enough and thick enough to cover the entire tank), and no peeking. The fish will be perfectly fine with no food or light for those 3(or even 4 if you wish) days. To be honest, you taking the cover off for those times to feed the fish did nothing for the blackout.

Also, try trimming your light schedule back to around 8 hours a day.

 

[ZakTheRipper]

Yeah I've tried everything you guys suggested, and after the second blackout for about 3.5 days, I did a 60% water change. The water was still cloudy, but most of the pea soupness disappeared. However, several days after that it's back. Any other suggestions? My friend recommends I get something called a UV sterilizer. Anyone here know anything about them and their effectivness? I assume they somehow filter out the wavelengths of light that algae use to grow, while allowing the ones plants use to pass through. I'll have to look them up...

 

[lovemybarbs]

my lfs told me to use a little clarifier because that stuff won't filter out without it. I guess the particles can go through the filter and back out into the water.

 

[rich311k]

What are your nitrate, KH, PH and phosphate levels?

 

[ZakTheRipper]

pH is pretty stable and usually stays at about 6.2.
kH is pretty low, but i try to add a bit of Kent pH stable to raise it a bit, and I have alkaline and acid buffers to use as needed, since I've got a simple diy CO2 setup. I haven't been using a lot of chems though recently.
nitrate is likely a little high right now, probably around 40 or 50 ppm, and I've still got the ammonia troubles. I also don't have a phosphate test kit.

This is damn frustrating.

 

[czcz]

Ammonia + high light = green water. You likely will continue to have problems until keeping an appropriate bioload for your size tank.

 

[ZakTheRipper]

You're probably right. My oscar and pleco are both getting big, the pleco is definitely too big for a 20 gallon. I'm gonna give the pleco to the lfs for store credit tmrw. We'll see about the oscar, but I'm thinking I'll give him away too and once my tank is looking nice again I'll make it a cichlid tank.

 

[greenmaji]

there isnt any seeing about an oscar in a 20 gallon tank.. you need to find it a new home as well..
If you want cichlids I would recomend shelldwellers. anything else is much too large for your tank really..

 

[ZakTheRipper]

I don't understand what is so horrible aboput keeping an oscar by itself (except whenever feeders are added) in a 20 gallon.

 

[7Enigma]

Umm....if the fish at full-grown size is longer than the width of the tank, its normally an indication that the tank is not the proper size.

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with keeping an oscar in a 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100 gallon tank, as long as you have plans to upgrade your tank at the appropriate time as well. In most cases, this does not happen, and you end up with large physically (and for sure emotionally) deformed fish in tanks much too small to house them.

It's much better to plan out the tank before you buy any fish and decide on the proper species that at full size will not be adversely affected by the tank size. I'd love to have a bala shark for my 20 gallon tank, but I know the potential size that they will become and so I have to stick with smaller species (barbs).

Instead of the pleco, I'd recommend a couple of cory catfish and some Otocinclus catfish. They are great in planted tanks because they will clean the leaves (Oto's) without damaging them, and clean the substrate of left over food that the fish miss. These are not recommended if you go cichlid however...

 

[ZakTheRipper]

Well yeah, obviously a full-grown oscar that can barely turn around in the tank would be wrong. But he's nowhere near that big at this point. He's only about 4" long now.

 

[7Enigma]

My point was that a lot of people say they will upgrade when the fish gets bigger, but more often than not will do 1 of 2 things:

1. keep the fish in the same tank anyway since they will somewhat "grow" to the size of the tank they are in (and by "grow" I mean physically be deformed and have other health/emotional issues)

2. try to pass the fish off to someone else (which is what you are now doing)

Option 1 is awful, option 2 can just prolong the problem depending on whom takes the fish next.