# Will pea soup Algae hurt my cherries?



## Olvar (Nov 21, 2006)

Ok, I've had this tank set up for about a month when I got some cherries from John N. About a week after I started to get a bit of green on the glass that my Apple snails and Cherries seemed to enjoy, so I didn't think much of it. 

Now my tank glows a bright neon green color from all of the algae floating around in the tank. Is this going to hurt the cherries? Should I just leave it be, try to find some filter shrimp, or maybe get some daphinia to help clear it up?

Oh, yah, just an FYI this is a planted El Natural tank, it has a filter on it, but only for water movement, not for filtration, no media or anything in it.


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## fish newb (May 10, 2006)

Green water will not hurt you cherries, maybe it will help them if anything... All Big goldfish breeders only breed fish in GW because of a few reasons... 

But then again you won't be able to see your shrimp in a while so I personally would let it get really bad then add a filter feeding shrimp or two.

-Andrew


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## Purrbox (Jun 1, 2006)

My RCS breeding tank finally beat the green water that had been hanging on for months. I had decided to keep the tank in balance and let it fix itself instead of doing a blackout, or using a uv filter, diatom filter, or daphnia to fix the problem quickly. As a result it took several months for the GW to clear up, but the shrimp were happily growing and breeding the entire time. Now that I finally get to sit back and actually watch my shrimp again, I appreciate them even more.


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## Olvar (Nov 21, 2006)

*Talks to self, "patience, patience....."*

Anyway I guess I'll try to be patient and wait this out. This tank is seriously green right now, can't see more than 1-2 inches inside the tank, so I haven't seen any of my shrimp since Sunday and only see the Ottos when they have their full bulging stomachs pressed against the front glass. They are definately happy and thriving in all this. 

Before this I could sit at my computer and watch my shrimp foraging thru the Java Moss and around the Baby's Tears. I'm hoping my plants don't suffer too much with this much light filtering going on.


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## Kenshin (Feb 26, 2007)

Why don't you try to use a sponge filter as well. It will benefit your shrimps, plants, and increase more water flow without any filter media. More water flow will decrease the amount of algae growing in your tank.


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## fish newb (May 10, 2006)

Olvar said:


> *Talks to self, "patience, patience....."*
> 
> Before this I could sit at my computer and watch my shrimp foraging thru the Java Moss and around the Baby's Tears. I'm hoping my plants don't suffer too much with this much light filtering going on.


Patience is the best thing to have in this hobby!!

It shouldn't hurt the plants... And for bad GW, I couldn't see 1/2 CM into my 55g at it's worst point

So just chill for now lol.

-andrew


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## ihooklow (Sep 20, 2006)

The only concern that you MIGHT have is lack of oxygen. As with any plant, when they are not photosynthesizing they are actually respiring (taking in O2, putting out CO2). Much algae = much O2 stripped from the water. Heavy pea soup blooms in ponds have been known to suffocate fish.

Inverts, requiring much less O2, probably won't be affected, but an airstone or other surface aggitation 24/7 until it clears would probably add a measure of probably unnecessary safety.


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## fish newb (May 10, 2006)

ihooklow said:


> The only concern that you MIGHT have is lack of oxygen. As with any plant, when they are not photosynthesizing they are actually respiring (taking in O2, putting out CO2). Much algae = much O2 stripped from the water. Heavy pea soup blooms in ponds have been known to suffocate fish.
> 
> Inverts, requiring much less O2, probably won't be affected, but an airstone or other surface aggitation 24/7 until it clears would probably add a measure of probably unnecessary safety.


I wouldn't worry too much about this. I never had problems and never have heard of anyone having problems and I've read quite a bit on this algae. So do what you like, but I wouldn't worry about it.

-Andrew


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## Kelley (Aug 27, 2006)

ihooklow said:


> The only concern that you MIGHT have is lack of oxygen. As with any plant, when they are not photosynthesizing they are actually respiring (taking in O2, putting out CO2). Much algae = much O2 stripped from the water. Heavy pea soup blooms in ponds have been known to suffocate fish.
> QUOTE]
> 
> Could you clarify this for me? Green water algae (euglena), while aesthetically undesirable, ARE photosynthetic organisms, just like plants. They are taking in CO2 and generating O2. I suspect that the only algae blooms that could smother a pond are the ones that are the ones that are choking of all gas exchange from the surface, like huge mats of BGA would. Of course, this would also kill the algae.....
> ...


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

At night the process is reversed. Also, algae live very fast life cycles. When they die, their decomposition could take up a lot of O2.


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## Olvar (Nov 21, 2006)

Well just an update. The green water isn't as violently green as it was, i can see about 6 inches into the tank now. I've cut the photo period from 10 hours down to 8 and that seems to be helping. The tank itself seems healthy enough, my baby's tears are spreading everywhere, the hornwort is needing weekly trimmings to keep in check. The only thing is with the 10 cherries in there that I've had for almost 2 months now, not a single once has berried. Really wishing I could get little shrimplets going, I've got another 55 gallon and 180 gallon tank waiting for shrimps.


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