# green water



## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

i set up a 110 g tank last weekend.the second day the water was green.i did a 50 % water change 5 of the last 8 days.the water stays clear for a day but when i wake up its green again.i have a eheim 2280,tek t5 6 bulb 324 w lights,run four bulbs 8 h, all 6 bulbs for the last 2 hours and rexs co2 system.will the green water clear up once the tank is cycled?this is my first planted tank ,so im new at this,and not doing to good.


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## epicfish (Sep 11, 2006)

No plants, right? Do a planted cycle. Toss a ton of plants in there to soak up the nutrients before the green water comes back again. Use media from an established tank to get the cycle going.

324W over 110 gallons with 0 plants is a recipe for disaster.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

i bought 5 or 6 packages from people on here ,and planted last fri.there is all kinds of plants in there and i can see growth and pearling.just cant seem to get rid of green water


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

It's really going to take a lot of plants to fill up a tank as big as yours. 5 or 6 packages probably won't be enough. Until you get the tank totally planted, I'd cut back on the light's intensity and photoperiod.


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

Agreed. Add as many cheap plants as you can until your aquarium gets past this stage.


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## caoboy (Apr 22, 2007)

Turn ur lighting down a bit, less light / less exposure. Is there a window nearby that's adding to the light in your tank at all? You may want to cover that up also.

You can also do a black out, but I don't know how bad that would be for the plants.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

*my 110 g*

I think I put enough plants, here it is:


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

do you think i should put in more plants or is tha a good enough start?


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

While it may seem like a lot, your plants are not yet established, and until they are they'll need some extra help until everything settles down on your cycle. I would try a ton of the cheapest plant you can find and even if you just float it at the top. That will help soak up all the excess nutrients that are part of the cycle until your plants get acclimated.


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

I never had to do a blackout on my tank, I just added a ton of extra plants initially and then waited it out. It took a couple of weeks for me but, you may have better luck!


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

thats how it looked w/o the floating plants.i have at least 30 -40 stems of different types of plants floating.they are already starting to show growth.how long would it take for a 110 to get cycled,im using brand new filter media and a new filter,new everything


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## Digsy (Mar 4, 2006)

How long have you had the floating plants in? How long has the tank been setup now? If you've added them all fairly recently, give it some time, it can take up to a few weeks for green water to go away. In my experience, a full cycle typically takes about 4-6 weeks.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

its been about 10 days,is it a waste of time to do 50 water change every other day,im going through a lot of water and prime.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

FWIW, I've found that water changes will extend GW. 

IME 2 things will put a definite end to it: UV or Diatom filter.

I've had mixed results with a blackout, and with waiting it out (worked 1 time after 5 days, didn't the next waiting 12 days).


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

wow i guess mine is not that bad, after seeing that.lol.this morning the water was pretty clear, the best it has been.i tried using pro clear, and stuffing my eheim with filter floss .it seems to bo working,what effect does it have on plants? i know its not the best for fish,but still none in the tank.


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## zomac (May 2, 2006)

I just got over green water in my 150 gallon. I dont think it has much to do with your cycle at all. I did a fishless cycle with pure ammonia in a bare tank over a 2.5 week period to get it fully cycled and I still had green water afterwards. I got green water after adding more wattage and moving alot of plants around in the tank all on the same day. I also think I was dosing a little to much. I didnt do a water change directly afterwards and then I was hit with the green stuff. 

I think its all about dosing, lights, and plant load. If decreased the first two and increased my plant load. I added a gang of water sprite/wisteria as they are easy to find and very fast growers. I only left my lights on between 3-4 hours a day as I didnt want to shock my new plants so much. The rest of the time I blacked out the tank. 

I added a HOT Magnum to clear the water and I had an old in-tank UV sterilizer to break down the green water. You can choose one or the other but for my large tank I hooked up both to speed up the process. I did one large water change, hooked up the extra filters, and started the short light time period. After about 8 hrs I could see half of my plants and then after 3 days it was crystal clear. 

After all that I slowly bumped my light hours back up to 8 per day and went to my every other day of dosing instead of daily. I plan on taking the HOT down and adding a permanent Aquaclear. I will then just run the HOT Magnum post water changes and adding/removing/trimming plants.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

dafoghorn said:


> wow i guess mine is not that bad, after seeing that.lol.


LOL, well some times experiments go bad, that is a result. It was a holding tank, so I didn't mind.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

YESSSSS,i just got home from work and my water is just slightly green,nothing like before.hopefully now it will stay that way.


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## Geobelle (Feb 28, 2004)

With that aquarium size, you must have at least minimum of 3 canister filters.


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

I don't know about three, or why you must have three filters, but you probably are a little under-filtered right now. However, I doubt this is causing the GW.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

that new eheim is a monster,its rated for 300g,so i think that would be ok for a 110.could it be from nrw aqua soil.its brand new.my friend said new aqua soil with release a lot of ammonia.


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

dafoghorn said:


> that new eheim is a monster,its rated for 300g,so i think that would be ok for a 110.could it be from nrw aqua soil.its brand new.my friend said new aqua soil with release a lot of ammonia.


I think you're on to something there. With a good plant load and keeping your lights in check, you should beat this in a week or two.


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## mpodolan (Mar 27, 2007)

eyebeatbadgers said:


> I think you're on to something there. With a good plant load and keeping your lights in check, you should beat this in a week or two.


I would be inclined to agree


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## Geobelle (Feb 28, 2004)

eyebeatbadgers said:


> I don't know about three, or why you must have three filters, but you probably are a little under-filtered right now. However, I doubt this is causing the GW.


No need to explain why I recommended 3 canister filters for obvious reasons. It's one of the secret of having & maintaining an algae free aquarium + crystal clear water.


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## rasetsu (Oct 11, 2007)

Installed this in my 75 gallon and my green water was gone in less than 24 hours. Best $75 I've spent. Water changes doesn't get rid of the green water, just slows it down because the algae is still in there. I found that too frequent water changes is no good for the livestock because it changes the water parameters. I'm convinced that was the reason why my ottos died off.

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4393+16748&pcatid=16748


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

Geobelle said:


> No need to explain why I recommended 3 canister filters for obvious reasons. It's one of the secret of having & maintaining an algae free aquarium + crystal clear water.


I've never had a tank this size, so maybe there's some magical reason you'd need three filters.

I have had a 55 gallon aquarium, and had a stock puny HOB filter on it, and maintained a pretty large fish load on it. I never once had green water. Keeping clean water, and avoiding greenwater outbreaks is about balance, not having 300 or more dollars tied up in your filtration. I've had tanks with no filtration, and water so clear you'd swear the fish were floating in air. Granted, over-filtering a tank gives you more wiggle room to screw up your water parameters, but with a good plan and some common sense, it's simply overkill. The only reason I'd have additional filtration on the OP's tank is for circulation. His filter with a couple of power heads or other means of water circulation will be sufficient. There is no need for 3 canisters worth of biological media in a planted tank, unless your dog is doing his dirty business in your tank while you're not looking.

I have a Rena XP2 filter on my 29 gallon tank and can grow any kind of algae you want. Maybe it needs 3 filters too? Big filters do not equal algae free, or clear water for that matter.

Please explain why you need three filters. Maybe I am missing something simple here.


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

rasetsu said:


> Installed this in my 75 gallon and my green water was gone in less than 24 hours. Best $75 I've spent. Water changes doesn't get rid of the green water, just slows it down because the algae is still in there. I found that too frequent water changes is no good for the livestock because it changes the water parameters. I'm convinced that was the reason why my ottos died off.
> 
> http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4393+16748&pcatid=16748


UV's are great for GW. A friend of mine had similar luck with one too, and swears by them now. I induced GW on my tank a couple of weeks ago, inadvertently, by not hooking my CO2 back up into my tank after a water change. I came home to a very green tank (29 gallon tank, 130 watts of light, no co2 !!!) After hooking it back up, cranking it up a bit, and cutting the light in half for the next day's cycle, it was completely gone.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

its been another week now,i think the tank is cycled now, all parameters good,no fish deaths.the water still has a slight green tint to it.i do water change about every 5 days now.will the tint go away after a while?is that still considered gw.


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

What are you doing with your lights? If you still have a green tint or a foggyness to your water, you still have some GW algae in there. If you haven't already, or even if you have really, do a 4 or 5 day blackout. Cover the tank completely the day after a water change. Do not turn on lights or feed fish for the entirety of the blackout. After this time, your water should be clear. This has always worked for me.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

water is totally clear, just a slight green tint.hopeing can do something besides a blackout.plants are just starting to really thrive.dont want to mess them up:icon_cry:


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

It wont, unless you're growing HC or something really delicate.


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## dafoghorn (Sep 22, 2007)

whats to prevent gw to come back?or is it normal to get gw when first setting up a tank.everything was new,when i set this up.


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## eyebeatbadgers (Aug 6, 2007)

A balanced system prevents it from coming back. If your conditions are favorable for your more complex plants, they will outcompete the GW. 

It is common for new setups to get GW outbreaks.


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