# Help me with options for green water



## Fome (Oct 29, 2006)

Alright, I have a 5.5g with a pretty bad green water outbreak. I'm using EI for ferts, 2x20 watt spiral fluorescent bulbs on a 7hr photoperiod, and 2x 1liter DIY co2 things hooked up to a homemade reactor. My DIY drop checker broke (suction fell off) and is waiting to be re-siliconed so I'm not sure about my CO2 levels but my riccia is still pearling like crazy. Tank is full of riccia, wisteria, and parrot's feather. I'm using RO water for top-offs and 50% water changes.

But... I can't see more than a few inches into my tank due to green algae.

Here are my options as I see it:

*Black-out*
- but will this kill my riccia? For how long? Is this just a temporary solution?

*Willow branch*
- it's winter time and I wouldn't know where to find a willow branch even if it wasn't

*Diatom filter*
- I really don't want to spend $90+ on this though, and I dont understand how diatom powder works. If there's a feasible way to do this, then yeah, I'd love to.

*UV treatment*
- Cost is an issue again, if I could get an adequate UV system for about $30-35 then I'll go for it. Even then, do they make systems for such a small tank?
*
Complete tank teardown/Many many waterchanges*
- would this work?

I appreciate any and all advice, I'm really confused here.


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

Out of the options you listed I would try the blackout, although I've never had to get rid of green water. If your plants are healthy the blackout should have no adverse effects on them. Here is the link that shows how to go about the blackout... Aquarium Plants | My views, Steve Hampton, on how to succeed with aquarium plants


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## AndyT. (Jun 28, 2006)

Blackouts do work and I agree with trenac... that is definately your most attractive option.

What is the spectrum of the lamps? Is it really low like 4500k, in a range that encourages the algae? Is the aquarium in the sun? I think it would be worthwhile to figure out why this is happening so that it does not disappear then reappear and so on...


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## snowhillbilly (Mar 29, 2006)

AndyT. said:


> Blackouts do work and I agree with trenac... that is definately your most attractive option.
> 
> What is the spectrum of the lamps? Is it really low like 4500k, in a range that encourages the algae? Is the aquarium in the sun? I think it would be worthwhile to figure out why this is happening so that it does not disappear then reappear and so on...


If the tank is that small why not try several 50% water changes every day. I think i would black out your tank and do a 50% water change for the next 3 days. It is a small tank you know, couldnt be that hard. What other algaes do you have? Thats what im also wondering.


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

Change all of the water. I came home from vaction once to find an auto feeder had caused green water in a 5 gallon tank. I removed the betta, changed all the water, and put the betta back in. No more green water. I did this on a 2.5 gallon tank about three weeks ago as well, the green water hasn't returned.


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## XBurgos (Dec 26, 2006)

Water changes! all the way


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## Fome (Oct 29, 2006)

AndyT. said:


> Blackouts do work and I agree with trenac... that is definately your most attractive option.
> 
> What is the spectrum of the lamps? Is it really low like 4500k, in a range that encourages the algae? Is the aquarium in the sun? I think it would be worthwhile to figure out why this is happening so that it does not disappear then reappear and so on...


I'm not entirely sure. I have two 20watt spiral bulbs. They're a bit more "yellowish" than I'd like.

I think I'll try the blackout + waterchange method, hopefully my riccia will be fine!

Thanks everyone.


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

Personally, I would do a 50% water change then blackout the tank for three days. Blackouts are free and the only plant I have ever lost during a blackout was newly acquired Elatine triandra.

You can do a search of this site for the blackout method but basically you cover the tank with garbage bags and towels or blankets. Thekey here is to not let any light into the tank for three days. No need to feed the fish they will be fine and the plants will be fine too. After all, people ship plants in total darkness for three days all the time 

Make sure to turn off your CO2 if you are using it or you may kill your fish!


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## jon_the_newb (Dec 30, 2006)

I've had green water in two of my tanks now, I tried the black out method, which lightened the green color but didn't kill it off completely. I tried a diatom filter, which did make the water 110% clear. You'd have sworn there wasn't any water in the tank, if it wasn't for them pesky fish swimming around in it. The down side.. the green water came back, slowly at first, but it rebounded well.

I decided I'd had it with the green water and wanted a more permanent solution: UV Sterilizer. I put a Turbo-Twist one on my 29 Gallon and it killed the GW dead. After a month, I turned it off, and I haven't seen a spec of GW since (going on 8 months now.) Same thing with my 10 Gallon. I picked up one of the new intank JBJ Submariner UV sterilizers and it did the trick. I took a little longer to clear up than my 29G though I'm guessing thats because the filter on the 29G + the turbo twist kills off alot more per hour than the little JBJ.

I'm not sure you'd have good luck fitting one of these Submariners in a 5.5G though, and an external UV Sterilizer, I think, would add way to much current to a 5.5G tank.

Jon
My 2 cents.


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

They do make a UV sterilizer in the $30-35 range, I have one. It's a Jebo 9W that you can find on eBay or Aquabid. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have an iwagumi that gets green water if I so much as look at it wrong, so to keep the water crystal clear, I hook up the Jebo UV at the first hint of cloudyness. It's clear again in less than a day. You can also leave it running 24/7 but it will burn out the bulb faster. I've reviewed it on my blog, Aquatic Eden.

Blackouts can work, if you don't have to keep doing them every other week. Water changes in my experience just fuel the green water. It will get better temporarily, but the GW seems to thrive and come back worse shortly after a water change. I've never been able to rid a tank of GW this way. And don't change all of your water. While this may work in a tiny betta tank, it will destroy the bacterial filter in a regular tank and your tank will have to re-cycle.


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## Fome (Oct 29, 2006)

Uncovered my tank today from a 3-day blackout... voila! I can actually see the back!

The water color was a light green, not the intense dark green that it was before, hopefully thats just dead algae. Anyways, tank is looking good after a 50% water change and hopefully it'll keep so I don't have to buy a UV system.

Thanks for the advice!


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

If it's still light green, I'd say keep doing the blackout. I had to blackout my tank for 5 days. The water should be crystal clear if not a little hazy, but not green at all. You may get lucky, but chances are it'll come back if the water is still green.


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## yoink (Aug 31, 2005)

DJKronik57 said:


> And don't change all of your water. While this may work in a tiny betta tank, it will destroy the bacterial filter in a regular tank and your tank will have to re-cycle.


If the new water has no chlorine or chloramine in it, how will the bacterial colony be harmed? I've moved filters to new tanks with new water and didn't notice any bacteria reduction.

You can get a magnum hot 250 for less than $50 that will clear your water with a little help from diatom powder. It really is a great utility filter to have around.


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

Just moving a filter won't harm anything, unless you leave the filter unplugged for a long time.

However, even without chlorine, removing all water then replacing it will put water back that is different than the water that was there. It may not completely destroy your bacteria, but it may knock a lot of them out and cause a nitrite spike. Also, bacteria lives on all sorts of surfaces. While changing water, many of these surfaces (plant leaves, driftwood) dry out. This can also dent your bacterial population. According to what I've read around here, the some beneficial bacteria also need a constant current which they rely on for food (hence their existence in filter media). If without this for more than an hour, the colonies will start to die off.

Think of bacteria like any other living thing, except with a much lower tolerance. They exist in a simulated ecosystem. If you radically disturb that system (say by doing a 100% water change) you risk unbalancing it. Doing a 100% water change will not only stress out your bacteria, it'll stress out any fish as well. It's the same reason that people save water when moving tanks or making any other radical changes to the tank.


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## pepperonihead (Nov 25, 2004)

*Agree with not changing water*

It will make it worse! I have never been able to clear GW by changing the water. A black out has never worked for me either although I have a 72 Gallon tank so it may work better for a really small tank like yours. The only thing that has ever worked for me is a UV (have not used in a while due to bulb costing like $40, rediculous!) sterilizer which worked like a charm almost immediately. Now if I see an outbreak coming I use my Magnum with diatom powder to clear it. I also have a Vortex diatom filter that i used to use and it would clear the water in like 1/2 hour right before my eyes. Unfortunately it is broken so now I use the 250. It takes a lot longer to clear but it usually works. There has got to be a reason why GW appears. Some lack of or too much of some nutrient. Some people say it is due to a Amonia spike but when I test for Amonia there is ZERO amonia in my tank! So I wish I knew what really caused it so I could get rid of it once and for all!


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## DJKronik57 (Apr 17, 2006)

That's another thing...when did you test pepperonihead? I find a GW outbreak tends to give me very odd test results in terms of pH and other water parameters. Some say it raises the pH. Either way, testing after the GW outbreak occurs may not give you the actual cause. However, predicting a GW outbreak is almost impossible, so testing beforehand isn't really practical. 

One sure-fire way I've found to induce a GW outbreak is to disturb the substrate or to stirr up a lot of drebris (cleaning out moss did it for me), unless you do a water change right afterwards. So it is probably related to a sudden burst of nutrients in the water column (ammonia does make sense, since if there is a sudden burst of it, plants will be limited by other requirements and algae will step in). So anytime you're rescaping, moving around hardscape, or just stirring up the substrate in general, do a preventative water change afterwards.


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