Green Water help.

[JadeButterfly]

Hey Tom,

I've been through several algae battles

But after adjusting high level of CO2 and using EI for dosing...I've gotten rid of most of my algae problems.

The only algae that keeps coming back is green water. I use diatom filter (HOT Magnum) quite frequency now and have to recoat the cartridge because of the algae clog about 3x a week..

Including my 50% W/C weekly...I still having been able to fully clear the green water...it just keeps growing and growing

What is the cause of green water? and how can properly get rid of it?

Thanks.

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: Green Water help.

GW cannot be water changed away nor nutrient limited away.

UV, Diatom, Micron filter(5mic or so work well), Daphnia, blackout sort of work.

Good biofiltration, add more media, mulm etc to a tank.
New tanks that are not cycled and have NH4 will always get GW if they have high light/CO2 as well.

You must kill the GW and remove what's there, other wise it'll grow forever.
It's easily induced by adding NH4 or jobes sticks etc to the water column.

NO3 will never induce it.
The adult GW cells will use NO3 and grow, but the spores only respond to NH4 to bloom and start growing.

Other algae are similar.
So prevention of that and good plant health from here on will likely resolve any future GW issues. Once you kill it, it'll seldom come back.

If you do major tank reworks and pull lots of sediment, then do a large water change afterwards to remove the potential NH4.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[JadeButterfly]

Re: Green Water help.

okay makes sense.

I had it pretty controlled for a while untill I starting uprooting alot of my dead glosso..probably disturbed my substrate abit and caused some ammonia spike..

thanks. I'll keep using diatom to kill it off.

 

[Kevmo]

Re: Green Water help.

Hi!

I've also been able to kill it using a UV sterilizer. Tom mentioned this, but in my experience, I used a diatom many times and it never made a difference. I finally fixed it by using the UV. Here's a detailed report of my repeated failures and eventual success...

http://www.aplants.com/75g/bloom.html

Kevmo

 

[JadeButterfly]

Re: Green Water help.

Hi Kevmo.

When I was deciding to buy a UV or diatom, my tank looked a lot worse than yours. It was so green I couldn't see my finger 4" into the tank.

I was told that both method worked effectively because they both can bring you to the same results. However, on a major outbreak, I was recommended to use diatom because it actually 'filters' out the algae. Unlike UV, it kills the algae but doesn't filter it out.

I actually manage to get rid of my green water shortly after Tom posted.

I recoated my micron cartridge once a day for 5days...and the green water is totally gone.

after my weekly water change. i let the diatom run for another day...and for the past week, its been doing really great.

I was quite amazed at your pics and happy that you mange to kill your algae bloom as well...just wanted to note that diatom and UV is both just as good IMO at least

Barry.

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: Green Water help.

Do you have plenty iof bio media in the filter(not the diatom, the reg filter)? Add some if you don't. You will keep having GW till you balance the bacteria out and you need a filter with some biomedia to do that.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[JadeButterfly]

Re: Green Water help.

I'm using a Eheim as my normal filteration.

i didn't add anything except 2extra layer of filter floss...

I have not sighted any algae on the plants lately...

but continue to get a little bit of it on my rocks and glass.

my glossos have gotten taller though since using EI...but I'm going to prune them all down this weekend and do some tests next week to see if it is an EI issue or lighting issue.