# Green Water



## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Hello Guys.

I am getting afraid of the consequences on my tank. The situation is that the water is turning green just by the time my Appistogrammas decided to lay their eggs.

That will be my first spawn of Appistos and I am afraid to mess up the things right at this moment.

What changed in my tank to turn the water green was that I attempt to feed my 5 ottos placing a cucumber for a night in the tank. After 2 days one of my Lamps (Colormax T5 Fluorescent) went down and I was left with only one lamp (_Coralife Colormax - _6700K T5 Fluorescent). I am about to receive new lamps today.

Yesterday I got really depressed with the situation and I did a water change of 20%. I hope be on the right track for fixing this issue.

Do you guys have any idea what can be done, or just the water changes would fix that?

Thanks


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

A UV Sterilizer will clear that up in 48 hours or so.
They're not cheap - you may find a fully submersible one for less than $100. Otherwise, perhaps you can borrow one for a couple of days from someone who has one.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Yeah!

I am still trying something cheaper or zero cost to be honest. The UV Sterilizer from Big Al's Canada would cost me $65 + tx. 

I really would like to have someone from who to borrow that, but no luck 

I don't know what could be my other options on that.

I am receiving the lamps today, I hope that can help.


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## h2oaggie (Feb 28, 2011)

I picked up a Green Killing Machine UV sterilizer from Petco online for under $30 shipped. It is a fully submersible unit with an included powerhead. I love the one I have, it cleared up a case of green water in 2 days.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Would you guys recommend this guy from ebay 2-IN-1 AQUARIUM 5 W WATT UV STERILIZER SUBMERSIBLE PUMP - Seller kool_goods 

I really would like to hear that just the water change and using the proper lamp would work  

Thanks. I will post a picture of the situation right now later on.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Large, frequent water changes will no doubt help somewhat, but won't usually clear it up fully - at least not over a reasonably short time frame - you need a UV to zap it completely, right out of the water column. If you were in Vancouver, I would be glad to lend you mine.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Thanks Paul.

I guess then that I will end up buying something from [Ebay Link Removed]  

That is the picture of the actual situation.









Also, I have uploaded 2 videos at youtube for comparison when I setup the CO2 and one recorded today of my appistos.

CO2 System

Really sad to see that turn this hell right now !!!


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## demonr6 (Mar 14, 2011)

Frequent water changes, about half. That cured an outbreak I had in one of my tanks. I was doing daily water changes which was a pain but it worked for me.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

I have replaced the lamp today, and done a water change 2 days ago.

My plans are to keep this process for a week an see the progress, for better or worst I will take the position of what to do.

Yesterday I spent a lot of hours searching for the cheapest UV sterilizer, but they are all from [Ebay Link Removed] Not sure if an UV Sterilizer from ebay will make the job done. And pay $50 for something which doesn't work will be painful.

Thanks


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

Do you have any better pictures of the problem? From the one you posted above it doesn't really look like green water. There's no green, for one thing.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Here we go, another 2 pictures after 3 days on this issue. It seams to be getting worst.



















Trust on an expensive equipment from Ebay or do not trust, that is the question


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## cardgenius (Mar 27, 2011)

I would buy it from an online retailer. That way if something goes wrong with it, it will be much easier to get replaced. How much money are you saving with ebay?

Your water looks green, but not too bad. Ive been dealing with green water for a few weeks now. Im trying to ride it so I don't have buy another new piece if equipment. But with mine, I can't even see the back of the tank the water is so green and it just a 29g. How long have you had it set up? Any ideas as to why you got the green water?



rj55021 said:


> Here we go, another 2 pictures after 3 days on this issue. It seams to be getting worst.
> 
> 
> Trust on an expensive equipment from Ebay or do not trust, that is the question


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

cardgenius said:


> I would buy it from an online retailer. That way if something goes wrong with it, it will be much easier to get replaced. How much money are you saving with ebay?
> 
> Your water looks green, but not too bad. Ive been dealing with green water for a few weeks now. Im trying to ride it so I don't have buy another new piece if equipment. But with mine, I can't even see the back of the tank the water is so green and it just a 29g. How long have you had it set up? Any ideas as to why you got the green water?


What changed in my tank to turn the water green was that I attempt to feed my 5 ottos placing a cucumber for a night in the tank. After 2 days one of my Lamps (Colormax T5 Fluorescent) went down and I was left with only one lamp (_Coralife Colormax - _6700K T5 Fluorescent)


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

OMG !!!  Babies on my tank!

:help: :bounce:

What to dooooooo! Whatt ttt ttt TOOOOOOOO DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

h2oaggie said:


> I picked up a Green Killing Machine UV sterilizer from Petco online for under $30 shipped. It is a fully submersible unit with an included powerhead. I love the one I have, it cleared up a case of green water in 2 days.


Use the exact same one in my 75 that got green water real bad. The little 9w beast took it out perfectly!


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## jasonpatterson (Apr 15, 2011)

jasonpatterson said:


> Do you have any better pictures of the problem? From the one you posted above it doesn't really look like green water. There's no green, for one thing.


Jeez guy, open your eyes, that tank's green!  Yowser.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Higher Thinking said:


> Use the exact same one in my 75 that got green water real bad. The little 9w beast took it out perfectly!


Thanks Higher Thinking!

That is what I was looking for. Someone who tried before and approved.

I will buy one to eliminate the problem.

Thanks


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

rj55021 said:


> OMG !!!  Babies on my tank!
> 
> :help: :bounce:
> 
> What to dooooooo! Whatt ttt ttt TOOOOOOOO DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

Green water isn't bad for fish, we just hate looking at it. Leave it alone so it can support a good population of tiny critters for your baby fish.

Every time I changed water when my dwarf flag cichlids spawned I lost the whole spawn. Don't mess with the tank right now.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Thanks for the recommendation Kathyy. 

I wont change the water, but I have reduced to quantity of day light to avoid further proliferation of the algae.

What I am afraid to do is to place the UV Sterilizer inside the tank the the fries get sucked by the filter.


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## LucyLoofa (Jan 24, 2011)

Water changes fixed this for me, but I know that during breeding it's best to keep from changing the water for a while....
But when I had green water 100% dailies got rid of it.
I'd wait until after this is over with and try it.
Then maybe see if there's a better way to deal with it?


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## sirhc76 (Jan 8, 2011)

same issue here, you can see my pics on my thread. I picked up the bigger version of the Petco sterilizer yesterday and paid full retail of 69.99 only to just now notice that its on sale for 43.00. I first checked with my LFS and they didn't have one in stock so I opted for Petco. Its been running for 24 hours and I can actually see the middle of the tank. Hmm I wonder if Petco matches their online pricing. There is a nice thick blue piece of sponge media in the intake and the flow is very minimal. Id think that just about anything that can swim would be able to get out of the intake current.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Expected Back in Stock 06/06/11 !!!

I am looking for that too.

But is good news about the flow, I think that won't by a problem.

Thanks


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## daverock1337 (Jan 17, 2011)

i cleared up greenwater by doing a 50% water change, thena 3 day black out, followed by another 50% water change.

i did not run my co2 during the blackout.

i was having green water problems due to an ammonia spike, i upgraded to an eheim 2215 from a whisper hob and have had crystal clear water ever since. (did the 3 day blackout method after correcting the ammonia problem with the new filter)

hope this helps!


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## Betta Maniac (Dec 3, 2010)

When my mom had this same problem the guys at Albany Aquarium said "It's ammonia, it's always ammonia." 

So figure out what's casusing the spike, and use something like ammo chips and water changes to get rid of it.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Thanks for the tips guys.

I will hold for a short period the water change just to avoid lost of the babies, but I will follow your recommendations.

THanks


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## sirhc76 (Jan 8, 2011)

Ive had my water tested several times a week for the last month to validate my testing and have seen zero ammonia or anything else that would cause concern. Not to steal your thread but this is what I've seen happen in the last two days. This is what my tank looked like last week and up until Tuesday prior to the UV sterilizer. This was immediately after a 35 gallon water change on a 65.










My last water change was on Sunday and by now the tank would have been so cloudy that you wouldn't be able to see anything in it. After running the UV sterilizer since Tuesday afternoon it looks like this today.










Those marks on the right hand side are 5 gallon marks and are just about 2 inches apart. My Inclinata grew several inches in a week and my stellatus in the middle of the tank on the first pic is out of the water today. I hope that I'll soon be able to see the tank so I can start trimming.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Wow! 

That is a great picture to show the progress.

Can you tell me which model are you using ???


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## sirhc76 (Jan 8, 2011)

I used the Green Killing Machine from petco, its the larger of the two they offer. Pic from today.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

That is a really good result, I am definitely convinced to buy one. I am not sure if Petco deliver in Canada. 

It really sucks to see the tank all green now, and I can badly see my fishes at the end of the tank, and it is really hard to find the fries.


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## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

Against everyones advice i used algaefix to clear up my green water. dosed one drop for every 2gallons and it was clear in 3hrs. the problem with algae products is it can reduce oxygen levels so if you use it make sure your water is aerated by lowering the water level in your tank or adding an airstone. ttyl


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## Buddha (Feb 22, 2011)

Any suggestions on a 125 gallon tank? Completely green..


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## sirhc76 (Jan 8, 2011)

Well the unit that I bought states it will handle a 120. Here is a pic of the tank today.


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## Buddha (Feb 22, 2011)

Do you have a link for yours?


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Buddha said:


> Do you have a link for yours?


Right here at Petco.com

Here is the manufacture web page


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## ufimych (May 30, 2011)

Put a good power water filter to work. Natural way is also beneficial. Check you substrate and rocks in the tank, they may contain a lot of calcium and magnesium. If so, replace them with rocks and gravel of neutral and stabile in water chemistry. Use fast growing plants, like Elodea, Hygrophila, Ceratophyllum, Limnophila, Cabomba, etc. They take a lot of nutriets out of water outcompeting most of algae. If the grow very fast, periodically remove the excess of plants so they could space to continue to grow and do their job. Betas will like this environment.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

That is it.

Finally I got a Green Killing Machine in hands. It was not the best deal ever, but as I don't like to buy thinks from Ebay, the Petco.com postponed twice the availability on their web site, and I have not seen my fishes for a while due to the green lantern living into my tank. I found it at a local Pet Store in Montreal called Safari and cost me $80 (tax included).

So, hands in the dust.

11:00 PM in Montreal, more excited about the F1 just on the corner than anything else  Here is my tank as for to now.


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## wootlaws (Feb 25, 2011)

Very nice, I have been waiting for Petco for weeks too. Bit the bullet on the 3W from Amazon and should come within a week. Looks like it's cleaning the algae up real quick.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

Before installing the Green Killing Machine - UV Sterilizer










11 hours later 










24 Hours! It is working 










36 Hours !










48 Hours - Almost there  










60 Hours 










72 Hours










84 Hours










96 Hours 










108 Hours


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## wootlaws (Feb 25, 2011)

awesome!


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## Higher Thinking (Mar 16, 2011)

ufimych said:


> Put a good power water filter to work. Natural way is also beneficial. Check you substrate and rocks in the tank, they may contain a lot of calcium and magnesium. If so, replace them with rocks and gravel of neutral and stabile in water chemistry. Use fast growing plants, like Elodea, Hygrophila, Ceratophyllum, Limnophila, Cabomba, etc. They take a lot of nutriets out of water outcompeting most of algae. If the grow very fast, periodically remove the excess of plants so they could space to continue to grow and do their job. Betas will like this environment.


The idea if out competing algae for nutrients isn't really accurate in that it is not the way algae is removed. Examine EI dosing and you realize that the whole premise is built on the concept of an over abundance of nutrients. This yields a beautiful tank with no algae.

Also, I used the green killing machine 9w for my heavily green watered 75 and it took a solid week to completely clear up. But it status on 24/7 and hasn't returned yet. Petsmart will price match your petco prices btw. Petco was selling theirs online on sale for 21 bucks and I got petsmart to match that inline price in store.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

It is really nice to see improvements to the tank at this point as I was really sad to do not keep the fries for longer than a week. I don't know what cause their death, but I can assume that the difficulty to locate the food was the most reasonable cause for that .

I guess that the couple is trying again as the female is hidden almost all day long and comes out just when is feeding time.

I will keep posting more pictures of the development until water is 100% clear.

Thanks all


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## Texifornia (Apr 19, 2011)

Check your phosphate levels if they are high that definitely contributes to rapid growth of algae. If it is high buy Seachem Phosguard and change it in your filter every 4 days til the levels come down and it will certainly help


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

I have updated the pictures on post #39 where we can see that the green killing machine has been working amazingly well. 

Now is just the matter of have a crystal water. I hope to see that happening on the next 3 or 4 days.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I bought some phosphate resin because my phosphates read high about 10 years ago. The resin did a great job pulling it out but didn't solve the problem. My phosphate read high because the nitrates were zero. Put some nitrate in daily and my green water was gone in a few days, was wonderful seeing the tank clear up each day. Sold the nearly full tub of resin. Unfortunately that hasn't worked since. Reducing light did last time, I let the floaters completely cover the tank for a couple weeks.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

sirhc76 said:


> Well the unit that I bought states it will handle a 120. Here is a pic of the tank today.



How long did it take to crystal the water ? Did you do any water change ?


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

wootlaws said:


> Very nice, I have been waiting for Petco for weeks too. Bit the bullet on the 3W from Amazon and should come within a week. Looks like it's cleaning the algae up real quick.


Today the sent an e-mail saying that they have the Green Killing Machine available. 

But, after calculating international shipment the cost goes to 70$.


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## wootlaws (Feb 25, 2011)

Green Killing Machine 3W Mini

















How bad the algae got. Can't see more than 1in" into the water. Pictures are taken around 6hr intervals. Setting set to low at night and high in the day. Overall took about 5 days to clear up from start to finish. Could not be any more happier with the results for the price and size of this unit.









































































After fifth day, one happy family. :smile:


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## labgeek (May 16, 2011)

Shouldn't the green water be extremely beneficial for fry? If not eaten directly by the fry, it would support things the fry would be eating..

That is assuming that whatever is causing the green water isn't also harming the fry...


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

labgeek said:


> Shouldn't the green water be extremely beneficial for fry? If not eaten directly by the fry, it would support things the fry would be eating..
> 
> That is assuming that whatever is causing the green water isn't also harming the fry...


I don't think that the fry would survive eating algae, specially Apistos.




wootlaws said:


> Green Killing Machine 3W Mini


I search a lot for the 3W but could not find.

My water is still cloudy, I don't know how long it will take to be crystal like yours.
I love Bettas Female.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Those are great results for both tanks, right now I have the same problem and don't know why so I'm not going to reduce light, black out, or anything else, but I have a couple of circulation pumps on the way via UPS and want to see if poor O2 is my problem. I have Aqua UltraViolet 8w UV sterilizer plumbed into my system but the bulbs out and I think the transformer is gone too, so this is about $120.00 to repair my current gear. If the new circulation pumps don't work I'm going to buy a Green Killing Machine for 100 gallon tanks (43.99) and it will be under sized but I'm just going to put it in the tank as needed and remove my old UV to help with flow and cost. 

After searching a bit on green water the cures are all over the place with UV & WC's winning the most hits, but I'm real courious about the circulation because it mostly comes along with a surface scum in addition to the GW but very few have mentioned anything about CO2 or O2.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Well I bought one of these today, a 24w for $53 after S&H, and I'm going to use it one week every six months to keep my water clean. I'm going to get rid of the Aqua UltraViolet unit that's plumbed in and get a little more flow out of my canister. I really like this idea and it's a cheap little unit that should last a while when used like this and I never did like all the bends and 90 degree turns in the other unit, it really puts a drag on flow.

Now lets see if it can clear a 150 with 24 watts, my old unit was only 8 watts and worked fine but the light chamber was much larger.


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## diyer3984 (Jun 9, 2008)

Not a quick fix but an inexpensive and a more permanent one. Buy Daphnia from WARD's Science Supply. 15$ and you get 2 things. Green water destroyers and the best fresh food for your fish. (But how do we keep the daphnia and fish together in the same tank?) Well I made a simple box from a strawberry container and nylon stocking material you could use a material net breeder box too. Use your imagination and just keep the daphnia separate from the fish in the tank. The daphnia should decimate the algae in about a month and multiply 
exponentially. Feed your fish half of the daphna batch when the green water is gone and learn to culture daphnia as a live food.
I do agree with the UV sterilizer having used one myself but this was far before I learned to culture other useful organisms.


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## SBPyro (Dec 15, 2009)

+1 I would suggest setting up a refugium  




diyer3984 said:


> Not a quick fix but a permanent one. Buy Daphnia from WARD's Science Supply. 15$ and you get 2 things. Green water destroyers and the best fresh food for your fish. (But how do we keep the daphnia and fish together in the same tank?) Well I made a simple box from a strawberry container and nylon stocking material you could use a material net breeder box too. Use your imagination and just keep the daphnia separate form the fish in the tank. The daphnia should decimate the algae in about a month and multiply
> exponentially. Feed your fish half of the daphna batch when the green water is gone and learn to culture daphnia as a live food.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Well my GKM won't be her until the 29th but my JBJ circulation pumps and wavemaker arrived late this past Thursday, so installed them, turned the CO2 off, and have been only using 2 lights out of 8 for a couple of hours in the morning and evening and my GW is almost gone on Saturday morn 9:30 am. I really amazed that I was right about my problem, I never had high nitrates or trites, nor an ammonia spike, but had gotten my dosing way out of balance.


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## rj55021 (Apr 4, 2011)

a Last update.

After 2 weeks, the first problem is resolved.  Now I have to see a resolution to hair algae growing all over the plants. I am not sure if that was caused by the usage of the system but I am not sure, just brain storming.


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## Kathyy (Feb 22, 2010)

I bought some daphnia at the local planted tank club meeting and they are in a strawberry basket+nylon mesh cage right now! Love it, fish food and possibly GW destroyer in one package. They will go into the sump in that cage when I get tired of watching them.

While GW can be an indication of an ammonia spike low CO2 and too much light are also aiding the algae over the vascular plants. Shade the tank and make sure there is good circulation so CO2 is available to the plants and do as much harassing of the hair algae as possible by removing it often. If you aren't feeding the plants you need to be doing so as well.

Any baby fish that survive in my tank are eating the biofilm on the surfaces and plankton in the water column. I don't target feed baby fish as that would make them a target for the mini piranhas aka tetras plus do I really want to raise 20 instead of 2. GW feeds zooplankton and even if GW is rampant there are zooplankton eating it, they just haven't caught up yet. If you watched your baby fish you would see them darting and eating something invisible to our eyes.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

I didn't read the whe thread but I'm sure my feelings about ridding yourself of GW has been said. Get a UV sterilizer and call it a day. 

I traded for a Chinese built intank unit and it has my tank crystal clear in 3-4 days.


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