# Fighting green water for months now...



## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

I need some help. My established tank ( 3yrs + ) developed green water in April of this year. Had a UV sterilizer that didn't do much, have done 60%+ WC 3-4 times weekly, cleaned filter sometimes EO week, without haveing any success.

I recently got a HOT magnum and used diatom powder. That was 2 weeks ago. Overnight my water became crystal clear. Ran the filter after re-charging again the next day just to make sure all was eliminated. Tank looked great!!

Fast forward 2 weeks to today. Tank has become murky and cloudy with green water again. Any advice? Tank is 75g tank heated to room temp ( about 70 degrees ). Using an eheim 2217 for filtration. Doing PPS Pro ferts with 7ml of TMG for trace every day. CO2 is at about25-30ppm via drop checker.

Need some advice on things to change or try!

Jeremy


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## howie (Jan 5, 2007)

I just finished fighting green water in two tanks, myself. A ten gallon and a 90 gallon. I used a total blackout on the 10 gallon. It killed all my HC. After a week, green water was coming back. This time I just didn't turn on the lights and CO2 for about a week. After that I did a 90% water change and started the CO2, lighting, and dosed again. I haven't replaced the HC yet but no green water.
For my 90 gallon I used a HOT Magnum with diatom powder and didn't turn on the lights for about a week as well. It disappeared but I didn't start dosing right away and it was starting to cloud up again. I started dosing right away and it just cleared up.
I don't recommend total blackouts if you have very light sensitive plants. Do the the diatom again and don't turn on the lights and check on it everyday. Turn on the lights as soon as you see that it cleared up.


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## bencozzy (Jun 2, 2006)

water are your water parameters? might be Old Tank Syndrome.

i had the same problem for a long time and tested like crazy think it might be ammonia but ammonia never showed up on the test, possibly due to the algea using it up?? not sure. but i added zeolite and it was gone in a few days and hasnt come back.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Green water typically starts when a small surge in ammonia hits the tank. For example, when you uproot a plant and pull up some substrate fertilizer with the roots. Or, when you mistakenly add terrestrial plant food stakes in the substrate, and let one reach the surface. The amount of ammonia isn't so great that you will notice it on an ammonia test, but it is enough to signal the algae spores to start growing. If you keep getting repeat episodes of green water you probably have something in the upper part of the substrate that is rotting or has urea in it. When I ran into that problem I had been cutting up terrestrial plant food stakes and pushing them under my sword plants. Later some of them worked their way to the surface.


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

I too thought it was substrate related. I have tahitian moon sand as my substrate. I "fluffed" it throughly twice during this endeavor hoping that would help, and even went as far to take out 75% of the sand and re-washed it hoping to remove any decaying material from it....to no avail. At this point I am almost considering taking out all the sand and replacing it with SMS or oil dri. Also i have never done anything in regards to substrate ferts...have only ever dosed the water column. Maybe I am at the point where the tank needs to be broke down and redone...

Quick question but probably wrong forum...can I replace the sand with SMS without total breakdown and fish removal? Have heard of KH crashes with it. BTw KH is 10-11 degrees from the tap, GH is 0 from culligan water softener.

Thanks!


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Does your water softener use table salt or potassium chloride in it? If it is table salt - sodium chloride - that is bad for plants. Try to use water from before it goes thru the softener, and most softeners are hooked up only to the hot water. Also, outside hose bibs are almost always unsoftened water, since softened water is so bad for lawn sprinkling. If the sodium laced water is preventing good plant growth that alone will give you algae problems. Good healthy plant growth is the defense that prevents algae growth.

SMS doesn't cause KH "crash". I haven't heard of KH "crash" from any cause. KH may drop a bit with SMS, for reasons I am unaware of, but it doesn't crash. Furthermore, you don't need KH to grow plants. Some plants do much better with very low KH than normal KH.

The problem I see with trying to replace the substrate with SMS without tearing down the tank entirely is that you will have very cloudy water from the "dirt" in SMS, and whatever is in the bottom of the existing substrate will be stirred into the water as you do the change. Sometimes the hard way to do things is the right way.


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

Hoppy,

Thanks for the advice! I have learned the hard way in other endeavors that the easy way rarely ends up working out as "easy" as one thought. The hard way, though more daunting, ends up with the least aggrivation!

BTW, I use potasssium chloride for the water softener to limit plant issues as well.


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## galettojm (Oct 4, 2007)

Artemism,

Did you eventually get rid of the GW ?
I am not saying is a solution for your problem, but: Did you try the willow method? Just for testing the method.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/aquarium-algae-control-specific-problems/7212-fighting-green-water-simple-cheap-method.html

Bye,

Juan


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

no..it came back. gonna try the willow idea today and see what happens otherwise I am going to get a coralife 9watt uv or start over..


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Vortex diatom filters or UV filters work wonders on GW, and you can leave them running constantly.

hoppy I was wondering how would you go about testing for salt levels in the tank? I have city water, in Hartford CT so I'm not sure if it is softened by the city or the building in which I live.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

Zapins said:


> hoppy I was wondering how would you go about testing for salt levels in the tank? I have city water, in Hartford CT so I'm not sure if it is softened by the city or the building in which I live.


Not being a chemist, nor even very adept at DIY chemistry, I have no idea beyond testing for sodium. But, I'm not sure how you would do that. Do municipal water companies ever use softeners? My understanding is that they don't since it would make watering plants very difficult.


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## galettojm (Oct 4, 2007)

artemism,

if you try the willow method please let me know how it works. In my case it got rid the gw in six days. .

also it would be great if you can take a photo before and after the treatment.

thanks !

Juan


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## galettojm (Oct 4, 2007)

artemism,

Did you try the willow method ? If you did: Do you see any improvement ?? Did you take any photograph ??

Bye !

Juan


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

i forgot on saturday to trim my grandmothers willows for some branches, but will be out there again in a few days and will take before and after pics. i'll report back!


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## galettojm (Oct 4, 2007)

ok, good !!!

don´t make your grandmother angry !!!

I am trying the same method with other types of algea. I´ll will also report back !!!

thanks,

Juan


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