# Why is there green water without......



## jas1w124 (Dec 18, 2009)

I have a 55 gallon tank with pressurized co2 that I ended up with pea soup green water after a large rescape, where i neglected to change the water soon enough afterward, 4 watts per gallon but since the outbreak have only been running 2 watts per gallon HO t5's 8 hour photo period, no indirect lighting, the tank has been up and running for almost 8 months, I haven't dosed anything for almost 2 weeks since it seemed to be making it worse quicker.there is no detectable ammonia , nitrate, phosphate and the co2 is in the green. The plants are all growing fine and there is no build up of organic material because I pick it out daily. 2 hang on the back filters both 200 gallons per hour, plus 2 koralia for a nice even current throughout the tank. This is the only noticeable algae in the tank, in other words there is probably minute amounts somewhere of something else but I haven't seen any sign of it. I can't figure this out, I would assume it would starve out since the plants are still growing well. I tried a 3 day black out but it didn't fix it, just made it a little better for a day and turned some of my glosso and hair grass yellow that I newly replanted but I trimmed out the bad so nothing is melting. I was dosing EI and doing the 50 percent water change every monday like clockwork. any other information I forgot? Any ideas?


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## tbonedeluxe (Jun 29, 2009)

I did the same thing about three months ago on my 55g also.I did everything you did,blackout,fert reduction,etc.
I added some willow branches in the tank and i did 20% water changes every 3 days for two weeks.I ended up taking out the willow leaves just because they didnt look so good in my tank,although i believe they were working.
I just continued the water changes without the blackouts and the water slowly cleared up.Your plants can suffer while you are using a B.O routine,so i try not to use that method in ridding algae.My final water change was a 50%
change that did the trick.
Hope this helps some.Oh, by the way, the willow branches are "suppose" to suck out the extra nutrients that may be causing the green water.Extra ammonia and pathogens are released when you stir up alot of your aquascape.


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## jas1w124 (Dec 18, 2009)

Ya, I would try the willow except everything is dormant here right now and covered in snow so I doubt it would work.?.? I put a few starts of houseplants in there but nothing has changed yet, I also tried about 20 to 30 percent water changes for 3 days about every other day and it looked about 30% better in the morning but by the afternoon became cloudy again. I am about to go for a UV but I am really trying to be patient and let nature remedy it. What scares me is hearing people talk about having it for 6+ months.


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## flashbang009 (Aug 6, 2009)

I had it pretty bad before in my 75 gallon tank. The problem may not be helped by changing so many parameters so quickly. My advice would be no more water changes until it clears up or if your nitrates get high. Unless you have to, don't. It doesn't do anything to remedy the problem. Also, UV filters help tremendously. They won't fix the problem, just the symptom.

I just had to wait mine out. Didn't want to do blackout, so i just bought a uv sterilizer. I found a $50 one at petsmart, and it works great.


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## Karebear (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi jas1w124, 

Just a quick question, how heavly planted are you?


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## jas1w124 (Dec 18, 2009)

Karebear said:


> Hi jas1w124,
> 
> Just a quick question, how heavly planted are you?


Until things grow in fuller probably about 45 percent plants to 55 percent open with almost all the open being above shorter plants. In other words, I don't have room for any more plants, they just have a ways to grow before reaching the surface in some cases, some are near the surface like D. Diandra and Hygro corymbosa, Rotala nasanjin, ludwigia ovalis and narrow leaf. (probably some spelling issues there) Did I answer the question?


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## Karebear (Oct 6, 2008)

I am sorry about not getting back sooner.

There are several easy things you can try to get the pea soup under control. I would shorten the light period by another hour and put a rest period in the center of your photo period of 1 to 2 hours. 

I hope this helps and that others will chime in on suggestions also


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## jas1w124 (Dec 18, 2009)

I really wanted to get it under control naturally but the more I got to thinking about it, not being able to see in there can just add to the problem. If a fish or shrimp dies, I won't notice it which would lead to more ammonia and more algae. Also it is hard to tell if there are any plant's that need to be cleaned up which could lead to more ammonia and more algae. So I just bit the bullet and bought a UV sterilizer. 24 hours later and I can almost see the back of the fish tank, immediately I noticed some rotting plants that had come uprooted. So to anyone who disagrees with using UV sterilizers, I think I can make a strong argument. I will still fix the problem this just makes it easier.


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

Often the first part of fixing the problem is to get rid of the green water just like you are doing: Kill it and water change it away. Clean the filters, too. They are trapping a lot of the dead stuff. 

Then start worrying about what things to alter to keep it from coming back. If your system worked before, and it was simply the mess from the re-scape that triggered the green water it might not return, once you get rid of it and return to your original maintenance schedule. 

The original method (EI) did not involve shorting the tank of nutrients, so stopping the dosing may have made it worse while it was growing, but probably did not trigger it to begin with. Get the tank back on the EI dosing so the plants are not deficient in anything.


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## houseofcards (Feb 16, 2005)

There is no shame in using a UV. Yeah, I know your tank isn't balanced if you solve the problem with a UV. Believe me none of our tanks are balanced. GW is just another from of algae so if someone doesn't use a UV but gets some other algae is their tank not balanced as well. 

A UV is a win-win, I have never seen any deficiencies in my plants including Iron and I ran one on my 72g for over a year. It also makes your water so clear you won't see it even from the sides. Also if the flow is within a certain range through the UV you will kill parasites that can kill your fish. I used to lose a certain percentage of cardinal tetras when they were first introduced. The stress would open them open to infection, but with the UV the lose rate went down dramatically. A tank with a UV is in certain ways better than a QT tank. 

Enjoy your tank, If you have GW get a UV.


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