[KenfromLATech]

Hi all, new to the forums. I'm Aquaken from the AC boards and fresh_lynney gave me the link (this place rocks my socks).

I have a 29g planted tank that has been planted for about 3 years. Two months ago I upgraded the lights, added CO2, and started adding more needy plants. My fiancee recently made me change the curtains next to the tank.

I had some blackout drapes over closed blinds and they were replaced with plain black curtains over closed blinds. She also left the blinds up/open so there would be more light in the room for a couple days.

Yesterday I noticed the water looked less clear and today I can tell it's full blown green water.

If I replace the blackout drapes will this problem go away on its own? I stopped fertilizing altogether, will excel affect anything? I also cut down on the feeding.

The nitrates have been very low, my macro ferts are in the mail from GW.

Tank specs:

Ammonia/nitrite 0
Nitrates being completely used by plants/algae (undetectable) 0

130w CF lighting by Current USA Satellite dual 10 hours a day
Pressurized CO2 (25-30ppm)
Eco Complete
Eheim Ecco
77 degrees

4 dwarf neon rainbows
4 corydoras ornatus
1 corydoras schwartzi

Moneywart
A. reineckii
Dwarf hairgrass
Glosso
anubias petite
Crypt balansae, wentii green and brown, willisi
stargrass - small amount

 

[KenfromLATech]

Shoot, should have put this in the algae forum, Mods please move it if you want, don't want to double post but anybody feel free to comment here

 

[KenfromLATech]

I have read that green water can be cured by a blackout, uv, diatom but I wanted to know if it acts like BGA.

BGA won't go away even if you fix the symptoms, but will green water?

 

[dogg76]

Some say it will go away on it's own, when I had it, I couldn't get it to go away so I ended up getting a UV.....No more green water. I have heard blackouts work well too...

 

[KenfromLATech]

What conditions did the tank have that had green water? Was it near a window or just spontaneous?

 

[triple red]

yes green water will go away on its own ...after it has used up all its food and "burns out"
how long will this take? it depends on your tank
i had a couple of bouts with green water, the second and last (knock on wood) time, i decided to see how long it would last
well........
i finally got sick of looking at a green cube (almost a month)
so i ordered a 9 watt uv and have never looked back
as for the causes of gw...you can do a seach of the site for more indepth info but this is what i gather
ammonia and a nutrient inbalance are the root cause .... not excess sunlight

i know you reported that you have no ammonia in you tank...but you might have some in minute quantity...and test kits can be innacurate

as for getting rid of it....diatom filter, uv ,blackout,wait it out.....your choice
me? i did a 3 day blackout while using a uv...worked for great for me

good luck....:icon_lol:

 

[styxx]

UV will clear it up...the UV will kill the algae and I use a Vortex Diatom Filter to clean it up after the mandatory blackout...crystal clear water...btw- I'm an LSU alumni go Tigers!

 

[KenfromLATech]

UV will clear it up...the UV will kill the algae and I use a Vortex Diatom Filter to clean it up after the mandatory blackout...crystal clear water...btw- I'm an LSU alumni go Tigers!

At least you are an alum, I can't stand all the bandwaggoners who didn't graduate from there.

You are going down November 10th!

But seriously....why would this problem pop up after three years and conspicuously after letting sunlight into the tank for a couple days?

I have another tank not near the window that was actually cycling not too long ago and stayed crystal clear. In fact in over 20 years I've never had green water in a tank before. For the last eight years I have been monitoring the water chemistry and it has been constant so I don't see why it would so suddenly rear it's head.

I know I should get a UV but they are too expensive right now.

 

[styxx]

well gw occurs whenever their is both light (which apparently was in generous supply) and nutrients to support its growth. The past, perhaps there were factors which affected the availability of nutrient uptake despite the light source and therefore it didn't occur. Whereas, at this particular point, both factors were in sufficient supply and so, BAM! GW...I usually only go back to Baton Rouge for Mardi Gras and Christmas but I love how I can still get great software for free as an alumnus, Windows Vista Ultimate, Office 2007, etc. Great perk to being a LSU graduate!

 

[Wasserpest]

Hi Ken, welcome to the Planted Tank! Green water is discussed here regularly, did you have a look at some recent threads?

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/39685-green-water.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/18882-i-have-green-water.html

 

[KenfromLATech]

Hi Ken, welcome to the Planted Tank! Green water is discussed here regularly, did you have a look at some recent threads?

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/39685-green-water.html
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/algae/18882-i-have-green-water.html

Thanks wasserpest. I did run a search after I noticed the algae forum but I still had some q's.

Lack of phosphate causes gw? How is this? Why would the problem wait so long to pop up (7 or 8 years on this water supply).

I just don't think I had an ammonium problem either. I haven't had a fish die in there in......2 years I think. It's pretty full of plants with many stems, I thought they were supposed to outcompete this stuff. I rinse the filter pad every month or so to keep the flow of the filter at full speed. I wasn't even adding ferts to the tank, they just arrived in the mail when the problem was already begun. Could adding new plants a month or two ago affect gw?

I suppose a mass die off of MTS, which I have, could spike ammonia but there wasn't a catalyst that would have caused this and the pops weren't too high as two months ago I housed a Botia modesta who kept them down.

But say that something wacky happened and ammonium got into my tank.....surely it's not coming from a constant source? Will the gw die down without the sunlight and mystery source of ammonium? How long would it take for a MTS to convert fully to water pollutants? Shouldn't plants soak up some ammonium if present?