# Algae bloom help



## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

I have a 46g planted tank with Eco complete, an aquaclear 50 filter, planted+ light and it's about two months old. I'm assuming I'm going through a pretty big algae bloom right now. My water use to be clear, and now it is a cloudy green. I do 20% water changes about every 2 days, since the bloom I have been doing daily changes. And even did a 50% water change today still no luck on clearing up the water. 

I tried waiting it out for about 5 days before I gave in to the chemical route and tried Clarity, and that didn't work either. 

Any advice on how to clear this up?

















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## rexlinkfishguy (Aug 15, 2012)

I think you should try a much larger water change. Maybe take out between 50-75% of the water, and fill er back up. You may have to do it a couple times, but I think it should clear it up.


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## sohankpatel (Jul 10, 2015)

Looks like green water, you should get a UV sterilizer, people have great success with curing green water with them. Also, is that a discus I see?


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## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

50-75% changes back to back? I was under the impression you should avoid doing multiple large water changes in the same day... This could be completely false though


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## plantetra (May 17, 2014)

green water algae. UV sterilizer do wonders with this.

Watch this, atleast for the music 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsftitZ_8cQ

:laugh2:


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## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

I looked into the uv sterilizer but I saw a lot of mixed reviews about them, that was gonna be a last resort option but I might go that route if the water changes don't yield results. 

And yes it is a discus 


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## plantetra (May 17, 2014)

It is an expensive option but it will clear. I have heard that running UV few times a week will keep fungus and fish diseases at bay.


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## Axelrodi202 (Jul 29, 2008)

In my experience green water is one of the easier algaes to deal with; a blackout for two days or so should kill it off.


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## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

Cool video, catchy music too . Looks like petco has a uv sterilizer for $40. I might go pick one up, if it doesn't clear up in a couple days after water changes


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## plantetra (May 17, 2014)

tdurham19 said:


> Cool video, catchy music too . Looks like petco has a uv sterilizer for $40. I might go pick one up, if it doesn't clear up in a couple days after water changes
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Yup it is a good music isnt it?? He he ya Petco has one. Green Machine. Thats what I bought for myself. If you check online, it will show cheaper but the shop will have a higher price. You can show them the website and they will price match. 

Good luck.


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## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

I have limited the light from 10hrs to 5hrs, I'll leave them off to see if it helps


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plantetra said:


> Yup it is a good music isnt it?? He he ya Petco has one. Green Machine. Thats what I bought for myself. If you check online, it will show cheaper but the shop will have a higher price. You can show them the website and they will price match.
> 
> 
> 
> Good luck.



Thanks for the tip!


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## essabee (Oct 7, 2006)

The green water algae bloom is a symptom that indicates that your lights are high and you have ammonia in the tank. Clearing green-water will not make the actual problem go away. Before getting gadgets rich - try cutting down on fish feeding, and dim your lights if possible (you have already cut your photo-period), and also add excel dosing to your routine. The higher intake by plants will remove the ammonia.

At present your green water is doing you a service by scrubbing off the ammonia in tank water.


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## rexlinkfishguy (Aug 15, 2012)

tdurham19 said:


> 50-75% changes back to back? I was under the impression you should avoid doing multiple large water changes in the same day... This could be completely false though
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I wasn't meaning to do them back to back. I was saying instead of doing 20% water changes every 2 days or something, do a single 50% water change every couple of days...


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## randym (Sep 20, 2015)

Essabee is right. You need to fix the problem, not just treat the symptoms.

I suspect you have too much light for a low tech tank. And you don't have a lot of plants in that tank, which means algae will make use of the extra light and nutrients.


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## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

Of course I want the problem fixed not just remedied. I just check ammonia levels before a water change and there is some present. Under .25 ppm but above .00. I'll try less feedings, and leave the light off. 

The light is strong for a low tech tank but my tank is deep and fluorescent bulbs didn't cut it


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## houseofcards (Mar 21, 2009)

You could try the blackout or playing around with your parameters, but if it doesn't clear I wouldn't hesitate getting a UV. 

GW could also occur if you simply stirred up the substrate and released ammonia into the water column. If you have a cansister you could just plumb it inline and use it when you need it or leave it on 24/7. Many professionals use them on setups because they don't want to take a chance of a client getting GW. If the flow parameters are good they also kill parasites, etc so you'll never have to worry about things like ICH, etc. 

There is no 'real' effect on fertilizers, I never noticed any change in my plants since I was dosing on a regular basis.


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## tdurham19 (Sep 21, 2015)

Update: So after leaving the lights off for two days, and a 75% water change the water cleared up drastically. We also got a uv sterilizer and over the last few days the water is looking almost crystal clear, and the plants are getting lots of new growth. Thanks for the help guys!


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