Green water.

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Finthusiast

Finthusiast

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Sep 2, 2019
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Hello I have a newly set up 14 gallon cube freshwater aquarium its been about a month since I added fish and plants. The water has started turning green. My question is how bad is this for the fish if at all? Because I kinda like the look lol but if it is harmful I want to know how to stop this from getting worse. Any advice is appreciated! A link to my other post is at bottom so you can look at how I started out if you need more info please let me know!

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/14-gallon-cube-freshwater-ideas.754740/
 
I suspect too much excess nutrient and/or light. It won't harm your fish, in fact it'll do more good than bad, it just looks unsightly, to some.

Is your light too bright for such a small tank, and is it on too long? Is the tank near a window so it is bathed in light? Do you feed regularly, and are you maybe feeding a little on the heavy side when you do feed?

All these are aspects you can look at and maybe "tweak".
 
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Hi and thanks for the quick response! I left the light on 24 hours for a few days when I first put plants in not thinking of the algae side effect as I have heard if you have enough plants algae cannot grow as they absorb all the nutrient in the water specifically the hornwart in my tank is what I read can do that so I didnt expect the algae.
 
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I turned the light off 24 hours then started doing 6 hours of light per day. Will this kill the current algae or just slow its growth but it will remain?
 
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esoxlucius said:
I suspect too much excess nutrient and/or light. It won't harm your fish, in fact it'll do more good than bad, it just looks unsightly, to some.

Is your light too bright for such a small tank, and is it on too long? Is the tank near a window so it is bathed in light? Do you feed regularly, and are you maybe feeding a little on the heavy side when you do feed?
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Agree with the above.

And leaving a light on for 24 hours, is a definite problem.
Higher plants can't use that long photo period, they have evolved for a day/night phase.
Lower plants, like planktonic algae thrive, and dominate in a 24 hour light period.

As esoxlucius said, that algae won't harm the fish, it is probably using excess nutrients that could in the end, harm them.
But finding a balance between feeding, light, and water changes to maintain the tanks equilibrium should be the goal.
 
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Finthusiast said:
Hello I have a newly set up 14 gallon cube freshwater aquarium its been about a month since I added fish and plants. The water has started turning green. My question is how bad is this for the fish if at all? Because I kinda like the look lol but if it is harmful I want to know how to stop this from getting worse. Any advice is appreciated! A link to my other post is at bottom so you can look at how I started out if you need more info please let me know!

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/14-gallon-cube-freshwater-ideas.754740/
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t worry about it harming your fish, you can cut back on the light or if you want it gone immediately you can run a UV sterilizer for a day or two. But if you like the look, don’t worry about it
 
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A free floating algae bloom in your tank isn't hurting anything now.

It's normally a precursor though of what could be an explosive growth of algae very soon.

I'd use a UV sterilizer and I leave them on all the time. Yeah, it might not be necessary all the time but sized properly they'll kill tank nasties right down to viral levels such that parasites and the like have one heck of a time trying to figure out how to survive when I keep irradiating them every hour or two. Better living through chemistry or something like that.
 
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Screw chemistry; better living through radiation! :)
 
Mmmmm both threads are an interesting read.
Not very often do I come across a thread where the op is keeping plants and advised to go the undergravel filter route!
something I have not tried for over ten years but ug filters used to be all the rage and folks used to keep plants, ok how successfully is questionable but I may give it a go for a laugh to see. Bit of a concern that the person advising ug filter then admits they don’t know much about plants generally.
imo water doesn’t look much green and tank looks well. 6-7 hrs a day should be good for the plants and imo in small tanks the cryptocorne species are a great choice as they don’t go wild fast and give a steady, always the same, looking tank. Vallis spirillis are good as they tend to either stay steady or go nuts.
Hornwort is good if you want some interest mid to top and does a good job at diffusing light to the crypts. I personally would consider a uv as overkill or unnecessary extra spend on a 14g cube tank and I like the natural look you have.
if you have not already found a plec I highly recommend keeping an eye out for something like L471- L201 may get a little large, although finding some will be a challenge and making sure they are not L201 will be fun.
A pair of the smaller dwarf apistogramma would also look really nice.
 
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