Here's a pic of the tank from yesterday:
Today it has been 3.5 days since the UV sterilizer (9 watt Green Killing Machine) has been installed. No discernible change in the water quality. After about an inch from the glass, one cannot discern any detail of items the tank, that's how heavy the green murk is.
I've got a big problem here because the next 2-3 weeks I need to have this tank looking it's absolute best, due to the nature of the visitors who will be entering my place. This is not simply an issue relegated to mere aesthetics - there's absolutely NO way I can have this green tank sitting in my kitchen window. For the first time in my life I'm seriously entertaining thoughts of finding another home for my turtle of 11 years. The tank upkeep in recent months has become too much of an aggravation and has consumed more time than I have availible to devote to it and it's pushing me over the edge of in the balance of pleasure-to-aggregation quotient of having a turtle.
This issue must be solved ASAP. I'd assumed it would already be
well on its way to being remedied with the $50 dumped on the UV sterilizer.
I went to Petland in NYC to try to score some of the plants mentioned upthread: nothing doing. Further, the store salespeople have no clue where I can source plants in NYC (frankly, plants seem like a wild goose chase to me, I can't imagine how plants will turn this tank around). I have no time to devote to hunting for obscure plants. My life is too busy at present.
I mentioned Phosguard to the salesman, he does not sell it. He seems to think it's the same chemical in my Tetra Algae Control product that I've used repeatedly in this battle (without success).
He says that if the ceramic media in the filter is contaminated with algae, and I clean everything else but reintroduce the contaminated ceramic media, the algae will just regrow. He thinks I should clean the ceramic media in a mild solution of bleach and water, then rinse the media for a good long time to remove any residual bleach. Or buy new media.
At this stage, it looks like I can clean or swap out the ceramic media (and reset the filter to as close to the pre-algea arrangement as possible), toss some unobtainable plants in the tank, dump some serious chemicals that I can't easily source locally (Phosguard??? I don't know what it is) in the greatest metropolis and commercial center that the history of mankind on planet earth has ever seen (NYC) ... or call it the end of the line for my aquarium and turtle keeping days. I'm not deeply motivated to have an aquarium...it's not in my blood. I have this aquarium out of an act of compassion for a tiny turtle that an irresponsible roommate of mine had bought. I was asked to take care of it when she went on a weekend trip (I didn't even know she had a turtle). The turtle was obviously unhappy in it's little salad bowl, with no heat, no UVB, poor diet, no space to swim, no place to dry out or bask, no heat lamp. I played with him and we bonded over climbing ... I'm a climber and he too was a great climber when he was tiny: he would climb up my window screen and try to mantel over the top while I spotted him. I researched turtles and realized how neglected he was. I adopted him and took care of him. I got him pimped out with a tank, ATBA, and all the stuff he needs ... he learned to swim, he basked, he took walks, he grew really fast, he stopped just living with his head and limbs tucked inside his shell all day except for the few minutes he would tentatively stick his head out to quickly eat ... he began to thrive and not to be completely freaked out around people. That was 11 years ago. He's also developed a mean streak in the past couple years, he snaps and bites when he's held making tank maintenance more difficult, some years back he broke the tank - twice I've had water damage to my hardwood floors including newly installed flooring. When I'm out of town, my roommates have to take care of Mr. T., and I don't imagine it's easy or desirable for them to do. There's the vent machine gaining momentum.
Despite what events transpire, it is an immutable absolute that the tank must be 100% clear within the next couple days. I'm going to have to do a 100% water change to make this tank presentable, despite whatever repercussions that has on anything else.
Any other ideas? Blacking out this window isn't an option.