# Will Green Water clear by itself?



## incendie22 (Aug 2, 2009)

I've setup a week old 10 gallon tank with lots of assorted plants that I've bought online. One night I forgot to turn off the 30 watts flourescent light that continued to light the aquarium for 24 hours straight. Now the water has turned green and normally the plants would absorb all the nutrients and kill the algae but the water remains green. Will the aquarium full of plants kill all the algae on its own or do I have to treat the water?


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## bsmith (Dec 13, 2006)

Some say it will but _ tried to let it go for a month and just gave up on the el natural method. Get a uv steralizer and call it a day._


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## Karebear (Oct 6, 2008)

New tanks have all sorts of things going on when they are started up, green water can be very commen for them. for the time being I would shorten the light period by 2-4 hours depending on how long your light period is. When I started up my 58 gal I had some green water and the white cloudiness for a while and I delt with it by shorter light period, water changes and the amount of food I fed my fish. It will take awhile to get past the "new tank syndrome" so just have patience. You may want to invest in a timer for your lights so that this does not happen again, you can pick up an inexpensive one for $10-$20.


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

Hi. I think everyone gets green algae once in awhile. For a long time, I've been using an inline UV sterilizer which works in 4-5 days to clear greenwater. Recently though on my other tanks, I've been using this 



 Picked it up at my local Petsmart. It works great and is portable! It's around 30-40 ucks and saves time and maybe some money on making your own DIY portable UV sterilizer. Worked in 4 days for me. Pretty cool stuff.


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## Wire Fox Terror (Apr 7, 2006)

As an alternative to the UV sterilizer, which I've also used, I had great success with adding a TON of floating plants. Within 5 days, the green water was completely gone. Floating plants are nutrient sponges!


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## kwc1974 (Jan 4, 2006)

10% WC every day until it is gone has worked for me in small tanks


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

Eventually either the nutrients the green water needs are used up, or some live rotifers get into the tank and eat up all the green water. You might have rotifers on the surface of a sponge filter if you want to try inoculating a green water tank with some rotifers. Also sold by live fish food dealers. Not all and not all the time since rotifers tend to escape into algae cultures and eat all their food up, then starve.


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## armedbiggiet (May 6, 2006)

spcyamada said:


> Hi. I think everyone gets green algae once in awhile. For a long time, I've been using an inline UV sterilizer which works in 4-5 days to clear greenwater. Recently though on my other tanks, I've been using this
> 
> 
> 
> Picked it up at my local Petsmart. It works great and is portable! It's around 30-40 ucks and saves time and maybe some money on making your own DIY portable UV sterilizer. Worked in 4 days for me. Pretty cool stuff.


This looks very cool but how come I don't see it in my petsmart...? How much is this by the way?


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## armedbiggiet (May 6, 2006)

I do 50% water change everyday on my green water problems green water. With the Aqua soil tank than I have to use UV to stop it.


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## rhodophyta (Jan 23, 2006)

To feed some types of live fish food, I have had to raise green water. One way to keep the green water going, is to do frequent (daily) large water changes. A large goldfish and a large pleco in a 55 gallon tank can keep the green water going for a long time, but eventually the green water dies out.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Some kinds of green water go away after many months. Some kinds you can fight and win. 

Just try to understand that green water is not a problem that will be straight forward to resolve.

UV, plants, water changes - all of that is worth trying. If it works - great. If it doesn't just be patient.

--Nikolay


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## marrow (Mar 4, 2007)

If you have a willow tree near you, then stick a couple of willow branches in the tanks ( with the tops sticking out) soon as you seem some little roots on the willows the water will clear in about 48-72 hours. This has always worked for me without fail. My quarantine/nursery tank always seems to get green water as I change the plants in there so much.


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## StevenLeeds (Jul 21, 2007)

I've always let it clear on it's own. My last 2.5 it took almost 2 months but when it cleared it was almost overnight. I'm too lazy to fight it any other way since it never hurts what's living in there.

I've never had it where it didn't eventually go away on it's own...


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## spcyamada (May 13, 2005)

It was just around $30-$40. Cheaper than buying the parts yourself for a DIY. I have it and it works well.


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