greenwater

[urville]

i'm going to cover my tank for three days and i'm worried about my fish. i use diy co2 in this 30 gal., and a diy canister. and lots of plants.
the darkness wont hurt them will it? i would assume it would, and the plants too

 

[TankGirl]

Disconnect your CO2 during a blackout - that could be disastrous if it is left running.

The plants are not going to like it, but they will soon recover. Be sure to do a big ole water change afterwards to remove dead algae.

 

[urville]

is three days enough?

 

[Guest]

I'd go five days for greenwater. If you have access to a diatom filter, or a magnum, you can clear gw blooms in 1-2 days with no blackout.

just saw this

SOON FW Gold Clams!!!!!

They are hard to keep, but they filter-feed on stuff such as gw. I wonder if they'd do the job, and if so, how long it would take? Might be worth a try just using them and no blackout.

 

[urville]

they are hard to keep?
also what about removing the co2 and then my ph will swing back up...

also i have some brass fittings on the diy cnister, brass doesnt rust, no iron, but it does develop some green, crust every so often. i know brass is safe for drinking water, but what about the water params, nothing seems odd but...

 

[TankGirl]

Don't know what you decided to do, but am catching up on posts tonight :?

In the case of running CO2 with resultant lowering of pH it might be the best policy to rent a diatom filter from the LFS, if possible, or purchase one. That would obviate the possible trouble of a pH swing (some well respected aquarists say this risk is overrated but I prefer to err on the side of caution, and can't help but think it is stressful).

 

[urville]

oh... yeah...
i nticed replies dont come as often from anyone lately. people are busy as are we all i imagine
well i blacked out and removed the co2 for days
i pumped in o2 while i did this.
it worked but only sort of.
i've been on the actwin plants mailing list lately, it seems the gw comes specifically from urea/nh4, so i removed the nutrafin plant sticks, big recco on NOT using them!!
anyway, copper apparently works but i couldnt find a way to dose this algacides have it but they arent usually for use with live plants, whats that all about.
anyway, a good friend of mine said some years back he had green water and velvet at the same time, and he used Jungle's Velvet Guard to medicate and it lo and behold rid him also of the GW. so i'm givin it a shot.
thats where i am at present. of course if you dont rid your self of the nh4 then its all for not. alot of this i got straight from tom barr
we'll see i guess.

also apparently now it isnt so bad to use a trikle with co2. this hobby is so d#$@%
confusing at times....

hehehehe
oh well all in the spirit of the aquascape

 

[TankGirl]

I've been totally swamped and have not been online like I'd like to be, and this is good and bad, lol!

Algaecides kill plants because algae is essentially a plant, in a basic sense.

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[urville]

well let me tell you:
IN MY OPINION BY DIRECT EXPERIENCE
DO NOT use NUTRAFIN AQUATIC PLANT FERTILIZER STICKS . they contain ammoniacal nitrogen or NH4 which is THE reason for GW outbreaks and in fact alot of algae outbreaks. I refer you to the aquatic plant mailing list on actwin. search for thomas barr this is the first time anyone has ever advised me of anything fish and backed it up with proof. i also strongly advise against jobes fern sticks which also contain urea/NH4.

also james at my lfs, my friend, he was completely right.
overnight the gw situation was NOTICEBLY better. i couls hardly tell it was still there. so i also advise the Jungle products Velvet Guard is in fact ridding my tank visibly of GW. By using it according to it's directions.

 

[BrianNY]

Great research urville. Thanks for posting it.