Green Water Experience

Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
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South Florida
Hi all,

Well, for the first time since I was 10 years old (a long time), I had a bout of green water :)

While it was not pea soup, it was clearly green, and even multiple larger w/c did not really help.

First I looked for root cause as it came out of 'nowhere' :)

The culprit was the c02 timer w/o a batter backup. For 4 weeks here, we had daily lightning/thunder storms, where the power would go out 1-2 per day. The ATI fixtures had to be reset constantly. The timer eventually got way out of whack with the light schedule, and that coupled with the high light (90 mmoles) combined to form the green water.

So, I fixed the c02 timer and replaced with one with a battery backup :)

Then, I simply turned off the 4 tubes completely and used only 2 bulbs for the photoperiod. So, the light was much reduced.

After 7-10 days I noticed the water a bit clearer. I did a large w/c and used micron filter pads. 3-4 days later, the water became very clear again, as it was before.

Since it is mostly ferns in the tank, growth continued on as c02 and ferts were still added as usual.

I am NOT saying this will work all the time and that the root cause is 100%, but I wanted to report my experience.

I did not want to use any conditioner or algaefix product and was prepared to be patient.

It took 2-3 weeks of lower light along with the normal large weekly w.c before I saw a real change. It always got worse as the week went on, but this stopped by week 3. One week in now with the micron pads and water is very clear/clean.

I will get a pic up as it is way too wild, but looks nice. I need to trim in the worst way.

So, after the trim, will guage how much PAR I want and adjust the 4 tubes accordingly. I will turn these back on starting tomorrow and monitor.

I will post any further developments, but really do not anticipate a return of the issue.

Okay, later!
 

Tom Barr

Founder
Staff member
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Jan 23, 2005
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Most use either micron filtration or UV, both are 100% effective methods, algaecides do poorly IME for GW.

CO2 is the root of all evil.