The 65 gal tank's water is murky and has a greenish hue. It has been set up for less than a month . The tank has Pressurized CO2 injection and has dosing of Flourish and Flourish Potassium. Lighting is 1x 96 watt PC and 30 watt Life Glo. Is possible to use UV light to eradicate the Green water? Is there another treatment for this algae?
Green water cure
- Thread starter eddtango
- Start date
GW is one of the easier alga's to cure.
A UV will eradicate it in 1-3 days with little to no effort on your part and the tank will look awesome afterwards.
GW is VERY common with higher light PC/T5 lighting and it infest new tank set ups, tanks that have their substrate disturbed, have too many fish, get sunlight some part of the day etc.
Lots of light, lots of fish, little bacteria/new tank => NH4 + light= GW.
I've long suggested adding mulm to any new tank, not hard to get the dirt from another tank to seed yours.
Lots and lots of plants from day one, packing the tank will also accomplish no NH4 in the start up phase and no algae of any sort to speak of.
Zeolite and carbon are chemical methods to prevent new tank algae, NH4 etc also.
Water changes, like 2x week 50-80% also help for the first 1-2 months, again, for the same relatable reason: NH4.
With increasing light, new tanks and tanks in general require proportionally less NH4 to induce a GW bloom. Some tanks are very sensitive and get reinfected.
Poor CO2, substrate disturbing without following up with a water change that same day etc also will cause GW blooms in the previously infected tanks.
There are other ways to kill GW, maybe more than any other.
Chemicals are terrible at killing green water, stay away from these and in general.
Diatom/microfiltration works very well also.
Some have tried Willow branches, other's Daphnia, blackouts etc, these tend to work with milder cases. Water chaning the GW out never works if you have UV.
You may be able to water change + blackout for 5 days+ Excel dosing.
But the best results will be from a UV. See Ebay for a 30$ Via Aqua brand 5 w/unit, that's about all you'd need.
Regards,
Tom Barr
A UV will eradicate it in 1-3 days with little to no effort on your part and the tank will look awesome afterwards.
GW is VERY common with higher light PC/T5 lighting and it infest new tank set ups, tanks that have their substrate disturbed, have too many fish, get sunlight some part of the day etc.
Lots of light, lots of fish, little bacteria/new tank => NH4 + light= GW.
I've long suggested adding mulm to any new tank, not hard to get the dirt from another tank to seed yours.
Lots and lots of plants from day one, packing the tank will also accomplish no NH4 in the start up phase and no algae of any sort to speak of.
Zeolite and carbon are chemical methods to prevent new tank algae, NH4 etc also.
Water changes, like 2x week 50-80% also help for the first 1-2 months, again, for the same relatable reason: NH4.
With increasing light, new tanks and tanks in general require proportionally less NH4 to induce a GW bloom. Some tanks are very sensitive and get reinfected.
Poor CO2, substrate disturbing without following up with a water change that same day etc also will cause GW blooms in the previously infected tanks.
There are other ways to kill GW, maybe more than any other.
Chemicals are terrible at killing green water, stay away from these and in general.
Diatom/microfiltration works very well also.
Some have tried Willow branches, other's Daphnia, blackouts etc, these tend to work with milder cases. Water chaning the GW out never works if you have UV.
You may be able to water change + blackout for 5 days+ Excel dosing.
But the best results will be from a UV. See Ebay for a 30$ Via Aqua brand 5 w/unit, that's about all you'd need.
Regards,
Tom Barr
24/7 and wait 2 full days afterwards and the tank should be very clean and pearl well.
Good water changes etc and maybe turn the UV on after water changes for 24 hours from then on if you want(not required to get rid of GW, but to min spores from other algae species).
Regards,
Tom Barr
Good water changes etc and maybe turn the UV on after water changes for 24 hours from then on if you want(not required to get rid of GW, but to min spores from other algae species).
Regards,
Tom Barr
Green water is caused by a free floating algae. It is a photosyntetic primary producer so it converts carbondioxid into oxygen increasing oxygen supply.
The problem that might occur when using blackout, UV or similar methods that kill off the algae is that the ammonium that the GW consumed is no longer consumed and will the accumulate in the tank up to toxic leves for fish and invertebrates.
In a newly established tank where bacteria is not yet the foremost consumer of ammonia I think it's a good idea to play it safe and add extra ammonia consumers or absorbers before killing of the GW. Large numbers of fast growing plants will do the job.
cheers
Mattias
The problem that might occur when using blackout, UV or similar methods that kill off the algae is that the ammonium that the GW consumed is no longer consumed and will the accumulate in the tank up to toxic leves for fish and invertebrates.
In a newly established tank where bacteria is not yet the foremost consumer of ammonia I think it's a good idea to play it safe and add extra ammonia consumers or absorbers before killing of the GW. Large numbers of fast growing plants will do the job.
cheers
Mattias
Broken Equipment -- Need Natural Fix
I have a heavily planted 55g, with a UV light that just broke. I bought it six months ago after my diatom filter broke. The green water is back. There is no NH4, but I do have a healthy fish load. I haven't fed them in a week, and the green water is worse. Light period has been reduced from 12 to 10 hours.
Looking for a natural cure. My hunch is to increase CO2, hold back on water changes, and let it burn itself out. This happened before in the spring, and diatom filter plus water changes wasn't enough, hence the UV sterilizer purchase. Does this sound like a decent plan, or would 5-6 days of darkness be a better idea? Thanks.
Andy
I have a heavily planted 55g, with a UV light that just broke. I bought it six months ago after my diatom filter broke. The green water is back. There is no NH4, but I do have a healthy fish load. I haven't fed them in a week, and the green water is worse. Light period has been reduced from 12 to 10 hours.
Looking for a natural cure. My hunch is to increase CO2, hold back on water changes, and let it burn itself out. This happened before in the spring, and diatom filter plus water changes wasn't enough, hence the UV sterilizer purchase. Does this sound like a decent plan, or would 5-6 days of darkness be a better idea? Thanks.
Andy
You might try daily or 2x a day water changes+ blackout combo+ Excel.
Do this for 3-4 days and see.
Less light= more wiggle room on dosing and CO2 demand and algae inducment energy.
Use less intense light, not just short time peroids.
I ought to try this for GW and see how the water change+ blackout works.
BO's are not that effective, especially for those with higher light.
At low PAR lighting, the GW is not even induced successfully many time with NH4.
Blackouts likely will work well in those cases.
But for more intense lighting, ramp the lighting up slowly after and do water changes and Excel in conjunction.
That should beat it to death pretty good for 4 days of that along with massive water changes and dosing thereafter.
Regards,
Tom Barr
Do this for 3-4 days and see.
Less light= more wiggle room on dosing and CO2 demand and algae inducment energy.
Use less intense light, not just short time peroids.
I ought to try this for GW and see how the water change+ blackout works.
BO's are not that effective, especially for those with higher light.
At low PAR lighting, the GW is not even induced successfully many time with NH4.
Blackouts likely will work well in those cases.
But for more intense lighting, ramp the lighting up slowly after and do water changes and Excel in conjunction.
That should beat it to death pretty good for 4 days of that along with massive water changes and dosing thereafter.
Regards,
Tom Barr