# Question Regarding Green Water



## pepperonihead (Nov 25, 2004)

I have green water again. Just put in a new 9 WT UV Sterilizer. I can't wait for it to get clear but I cannot remember how long it usually takes for it to get clear. What has been the experiance of you guys? I have a 72 gallon Bow Front. I plumbed the UV through my Ecco 2235 Which circulates about 600 Liters or 158 gallons per hour. I think it's running a little slowly but it worked well with my other UV sterilizer (it broke!!!) so I know it will work I just can't remmeber how long it takes.


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## anonapersona (Mar 11, 2004)

*source of ammonia?*

You need to figure out what is causing this green water.

Did you put fertilizers under the gravel and then disturb them? Adding a thin layer of new gravel may seal that.

Does it get worse with more water changes? You may have chloramines in your water, they may not notify you if they change from chlorine to chloramine, but when you use a dechlor that only breaks the chloramine bond it will release ammonia. Green water is a great scavenger of ammonia.

Are you feeding too much or not cleaning waste left in the gravel? Feed less or clean more.

Maybe you have too much light. Light drives the plants hard and when one nutrient runs out, the plants stall out. That leaves all the remaining nutrients and all that light for the algaes to dsispose of. turn back the lighting hours and turn down the wattage until the plants are able to process the BTUs you are giving them.


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

I cut the PC lights for 3 days on my tank, that put a huge dent in the Eug. population. I added a dish rag to the top of my Eheim stack - that culled the remainders out. More ferts (PO4, especially) are keeping them down as far as I can tell.


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## pepperonihead (Nov 25, 2004)

*I did a major filter clean*

And I also disturbed the substrate moving things around,plus I changed to RO water a little at a time. The green water started immediately after this. My plants are going bonkers!!! They grow like crazy. There is absolutely no ammonia in my tank but I think the filter clean and the substrate disturbing made the conditions just right for an outbreak. I still want to know how long I can expect the UV to clear it up??? It was so long ago that I had this problem I forgot how long it took.


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## Minsc (May 7, 2006)

It can take a good handfull of days. It took 4 days to clear up the pea soup in my 2.5 gallon with the crappy Petsmart 9 watt internal UV unit.

It did work though, whereas blackouts hadn't.

In my experience, any good disturbance of the substrate puts you at high risk for a green water outbreak, and it is a good idea to do a big water change and run a UV unit for a few hours afterword.


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## pepperonihead (Nov 25, 2004)

*Thanks Every one*

I am going to run my Magnum with Diotom powder tommorrow to speed things up a bit.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

A diatom filter will clear up your tank in a few hours. The UV light should take a bit longer.


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