Green water

[Sundew]

What would cause continuous green water in a planted tank. I have several tanks, they all are heavily planted, they have CO2 injection, and there is only a modest fish load. But one tank has a problem with green water (euglena?), it is a 150 (24" x 48" x 32") it contains about a dozen Congo Tetras, 8 Neon Rainbowfish, 2 Geophagus surinamensis, a few ottos, a few small Siamese Algae Eaters (a.k.a Siamese Flying Foxes) and 2 Bushy Nosed Ancistras. So its not overstocked, I don't overfeed, it has about the same lighting and filtration as my other tanks, but the water is always green. I could reduce the light (6 4' flour daylight bulbs) but it is a deep tank and I have about the same illumination in the other tanks. I do fairly regular water changes every few weeks(which seems to make the problem worse). Have an outside Aqua Clear 110 and a large sponge filter.

Any suggestion? More filtration, less light, UV sterilizer?

The fish seem fine, its just rather unsightly.

 

[AnDr3w]

Fish will be affected if the airation isnt boosted up. I had an algae bloom in my tank and it deprived the tank of oxygen. All my fish died. So buy Algae Destroyer Advanced by API. I used it, and I have a planted tank. I just bought algae wafers, and my fish love them. C02 will cause some algae but not a full blown bloom.

 

[evercl92]

Algae cannot deprive fish of O2. Algae, being a simple plant form, will consume CO2 and give off O2. Don't buy chemicals to treat the issue, it will come back. Find the source, eliminate it, and it won't come back. CO2 cannot cause some algae to grow, fluctuating levels of CO2 will though.

Read here.

I started that thread a while back, but it does have good info.

Your choices:
1) 4-5 day total blackout, followed by a massive WC to clean up dead algae
2) Diatom filter - I've been told they work great, expensive, and need to replace media
3) UV sterilizer - expensive, but works wonders
I bought an 18wt one for mine, and my tank was clear in 3 days. Green water started to reappear about a month later, tossed on the UV and clear again in 2 days. Nothing since.

As I was doing that, I replaced a lot of the fast growers that I had removed. Replaced them with stargrass and ammania gracilis.

If you want/need some stargrass, I cut plenty of it off every week, just let me know.

What kind of CO2 injection? pressurized or DIY? Is it stable/consistent?
How is it diffused?
Your light bulbs, I assume regular fluorescents?
Do you use any fertilizer?
Happen to know your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate levels by chance?

Hopefully Wildfya will post, he's about the only other person on this particular forum that I fully trust for plant advice (not saying there aren't others, I'm just not aware of them).

A little off subject but siamese algae eaters are not siamese flying foxes. Flying foxes are a different fish, and virtually worthless to the aquarium. If I can find the exact page for info on the difference, I'll post it.

 

[gomezladdams]

I double the filtration and do two 90% waterchanges a day apart.Only had green water 3 times but it worked every time.

 

[ChrisG23]

I had a similar problem in my 55G tank, all i did was put the micron filter in my mag 350 pro, and the problem was solved hours later.

 

[wildbubbadew]

I had a bad case of green water in my 120.U V cleared it up overnight.

 

[Volenti]

Algae cannot deprive fish of O2. Algae, being a simple plant form, will consume CO2 and give off O2.

Only while the lights are on, in the dark the fish, the plants and the algae all consume O2 and give off CO2, that's how algal blooms kill fish.

 

[Sundew]

Algae cannot deprive fish of O2. Algae, being a simple plant form, will consume CO2 and give off O2. Don't buy chemicals to treat the issue, it will come back. Find the source, eliminate it, and it won't come back. CO2 cannot cause some algae to grow, fluctuating levels of CO2 will though.

Read here.

I started that thread a while back, but it does have good info.

Your choices:
1) 4-5 day total blackout, followed by a massive WC to clean up dead algae
2) Diatom filter - I've been told they work great, expensive, and need to replace media
3) UV sterilizer - expensive, but works wonders
I bought an 18wt one for mine, and my tank was clear in 3 days. Green water started to reappear about a month later, tossed on the UV and clear again in 2 days. Nothing since.

As I was doing that, I replaced a lot of the fast growers that I had removed. Replaced them with stargrass and ammania gracilis.

If you want/need some stargrass, I cut plenty of it off every week, just let me know.

Thanks I have Ammania (really like it) and someone just gave me some stargrass, which seems to be doing fine.

What kind of CO2 injection? pressurized or DIY? Is it stable/consistent?
How is it diffused?
Your light bulbs, I assume regular fluorescents?
Do you use any fertilizer?
Happen to know your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/phosphate levels by chance?

CO2 is presssurized system, it runs 9 tanks, only this one is green.
I have one of those glass, spiral diffusers.
Lighting are daylight fluorecencts (6 four foot bulbs).
Use a nitrogen liquid fertilizer sparingly, and a minor element solution, also sparingly.
Don't know the other parameters, but the tank has been set up for over a year and has a relatively small fish load, and I do water changes about every two weeks. I did have some give me some 'phospate sponge' but have not used it yet. I do have a spare UV sterilizer that I can hook up to the tank. I had it on the tank and the tank was clear, however I took it off because it was hooked to a filter that seemed to be imcompatable with the plants (removed too much CO2?), because the plants grew much better without it. It was a pond type canister filter available at Lowes.
For what it's worth the pH is about 6.5.

Hopefully Wildfya will post, he's about the only other person on this particular forum that I fully trust for plant advice (not saying there aren't others, I'm just not aware of them).

A little off subject but siamese algae eaters are not siamese flying foxes. Flying foxes are a different fish, and virtually worthless to the aquarium. If I can find the exact page for info on the difference, I'll post it.

The fish in question are Siamese Algae Eaters, they are sometimes sold locally as Siamese Flying Foxes, I guess this is the danger of common names: when I ask the LFS to order some they said, "Oh we have both (Chinese) Algae Eaters and Flying Foxes, but we never heard of these!" They are in the tank to handle any filimentous algae.

 

[Aaronhil]

What would cause continuous green water in a planted tank. I have several tanks, they all are heavily planted, they have CO2 injection, and there is only a modest fish load. But one tank has a problem with green water (euglena?), it is a 150 (24" x 48" x 32") it contains about a dozen Congo Tetras, 8 Neon Rainbowfish, 2 Geophagus surinamensis, a few ottos, a few small Siamese Algae Eaters (a.k.a Siamese Flying Foxes) and 2 Bushy Nosed Ancistras. So its not overstocked, I don't overfeed, it has about the same lighting and filtration as my other tanks, but the water is always green. I could reduce the light (6 4' flour daylight bulbs) but it is a deep tank and I have about the same illumination in the other tanks. I do fairly regular water changes every few weeks(which seems to make the problem worse). Have an outside Aqua Clear 110 and a large sponge filter.

Any suggestion? More filtration, less light, UV sterilizer?

The fish seem fine, its just rather unsightly.

I have the exact same tank, with the exact same problems. I used a UV sterilizer with great success until it started leaking and had to be removed. What I finally did was a complete tear down, removed the old substrate (sand with flourite) and then rebuilt with a complete flourite substrate. It was more expensive, but the substrate allowed the plants the nutrients they needed so they could outcompete the algae.

I have 550W PC light also.

My stock list is excessive, with alot of overgrown plants also. I use CO2 injection, and after changing the substrate, I have not had a single instace of green water, even when the tank was first cycling.

 

[WyldFya]

Fish will be affected if the airation isnt boosted up. I had an algae bloom in my tank and it deprived the tank of oxygen. All my fish died. So buy Algae Destroyer Advanced by API. I used it, and I have a planted tank. I just bought algae wafers, and my fish love them. C02 will cause some algae but not a full blown bloom.

Plants (even algae) will respire at night, but they do not deprive a tank of oxygen on their own. In a properly setup, and planned planted aquarium, the factor that plants respire should be prepared for. I highly advise against the use of algacides in planted aquariums. Many plants are very sensitive to these chemicals, and can easily be killed off.

Algae cannot deprive fish of O2. Algae, being a simple plant form, will consume CO2 and give off O2. Don't buy chemicals to treat the issue, it will come back. Find the source, eliminate it, and it won't come back. CO2 cannot cause some algae to grow, fluctuating levels of CO2 will though.

This is very good advice, and should be used. Too many people want the quick solution without solving the original problem, which will cause a return in the problem.

I had a bad case of green water in my 120.U V cleared it up overnight.

UV sterilizers are not a recommended piece of hardware for high-tech planted tanks. They can deprive a tank of useful nutrients. Depending on the stocking of this tank, that will be up to the owner.

What would cause continuous green water in a planted tank. I have several tanks, they all are heavily planted, they have CO2 injection, and there is only a modest fish load. But one tank has a problem with green water (euglena?), it is a 150 (24" x 48" x 32") it contains about a dozen Congo Tetras, 8 Neon Rainbowfish, 2 Geophagus surinamensis, a few ottos, a few small Siamese Algae Eaters (a.k.a Siamese Flying Foxes) and 2 Bushy Nosed Ancistras. So its not overstocked, I don't overfeed, it has about the same lighting and filtration as my other tanks, but the water is always green. I could reduce the light (6 4' flour daylight bulbs) but it is a deep tank and I have about the same illumination in the other tanks. I do fairly regular water changes every few weeks(which seems to make the problem worse). Have an outside Aqua Clear 110 and a large sponge filter.

Any suggestion? More filtration, less light, UV sterilizer?

The fish seem fine, its just rather unsightly.

Alright, to help you out with this problem, there is some information that I need before I can really make a good assessment of the situation. First, what is the actual stock list of plants in the tank? Second, how many hours of light, and what type of light do you have on the tank? Third, does this tank get direct sunlight? Fourth, do you use fertilizers at all, and if so, what is your dosing regime? Fifth, what type of CO2 injection are you utilizing (pressurized, reaction, or electronic)? Finally, what are the parameters of the basics, and some others (pH, GH, KH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and iron)?

I am going to make a few suggestions off the top. First thing, is that the HOB filter is going to gas off much of the CO2 you inject. I would consider moving this filter off the tank, and adding a canister if this is a medium to high-light aquarium. Next, the fact that water changes seem to increase the growth of the algae, I would say it is safe to assume that the problem lies partially in nutrient imbalance. The addition of the new water is replacing several minerals that have been removed by the various types of plants (both higher order, and algaes). Fill me in on the info from above, and I should be able to help you out with a good solution to your problem.