[pirayaman]

So confused. Ok I had a ton of crap lights and a hob filter 440 emp and a fluval power head.
Fluval co2 88g
Flourish fert
Fluorite gravel


I have green water but no alge
I have 4 Otto catfish
26 or so cherry and alge eater shrimp

Today i went and bought bc of green water 4 clamp on shop lights and got 4 /23 watt /6500k CFl
And a Xp filter

I have Heard More co2 and more fert gets rid of alge
I have heard . Less ferts gets rid of it
I have heard it all. But I don't have a spot of alge only green water idk what gives

 

[Kathyy]

Green water counts as algae too! When I had it so bad I couldn't see an inch into the tank all the other algae vanished and the plants flourished. Too bad I wanted to see the fish and all, otherwise things were going great.

Flourish doesn't have all the nutrients plants need. Perhaps your lights and CO2 are creating a bigger demand for nitrogen and phosphorus than the fish poop can provide. That first massive case of GW was eliminated in four days when I very cautiously dosed the tank with potassium nitrate.

Alas that trick worked one time only. I was plagued with GW for years every time I disturbed anything in the tank and only when I bought new biological filter media did the GW blooms stop.

So check the nitrate and phosphate levels in the tank. Zero is not a good amount for a planted tank.

Use as much biological media in that new canister as you can. I suspect the little bit of ammonia released when I mess around in the tank is better dealt with a two fisted approach, bacteria and plants.

Before the new biological media was installed I could get rid of algae by allowing floating plants to cover the surface. I did keep debris and dead leaves picked out but put all that mass back on the surface. Doesn't have to be duckweed or water lettuce, you can float any fast growing stem like Anacharis or pennywort or hornwort.

Are you sure you need all those bulbs over the tank? Have you checked out Hoppy's information on this thread? Maybe 2 would be enough considering the tank hasn't a lot of plant mass yet.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=184368

And you can filter GW out by using either a UV filter to kill the organisms or a diatom filter to get them out mechanically.