# What causes green water ???



## rickyt (May 5, 2005)

What causes green water ??? I can not seem to get rid of it. Please HELP!


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## Jason Baliban (Mar 3, 2005)

Green water is one of those easy to get (especially in new tanks) hard to get rid of things. Most people are accepting that it is excess ammonia that is causing GW. That is why it is common in new tanks.....you almost always find excess ammonia in tanks that arent fully cycled. Even if you Co2 and ferts are in good order, you can still get it. For light cases a lot of people or using black outs to cure it. For heavy cases I have personally used a UVS and a diatom filter and it clears it up within a couple days.

Some people swear if you balance your tank, it will go away. I dont have the ptatience for that.

If it comes back shortly after it is all gone then there is something that is truly out of wack.

jB


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## SlugJabba (Aug 15, 2005)

Get some kind of floating plant, that's how I always get rid of it. The floating plants compete with the algae for light as well as nutrients instead of just nutrients. Do everything normally and just let the floating plant populate the entire surface. As far as the plant itself, I would say skip a messy plant like duckweed or azolla unless it is all you can find in your area. Better ones are salvinia and frog bit because you can just pull the whole mat off of the tank. So you don't have to track the plant down each time you get a problem, leave some small amount in your tank always as a buffer and if a problem should arise, let go of the reins and let it take over.
These plants can usually be found at nurseries in their aquatic plant section, and a lot of the time they won't charge you for the small amount you need because of the size of it and also because these plants usually hitchhike in and take over their holding tubs, and these people don't want them.
Watch out for algae and dead roots on these plants before you plop them in, and if you are a gastropodaphobe(did I make that up?) then snails too.


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## plantbrain (Dec 15, 2003)

I've never had green wateer till adding NH4 to the water column occured.

I started up tanks for many years and still have never had it happen.

Why?
Adding mulm(the dirt from vacuuming an established tank's gravel) or the filter sponge squeezings and adding this to the bottom of the new substrate and the filter intake.

Instantly cycled, fish go in that same day or the new set up.

I add lots of plants from the start, not wait for them to grow it.
They have lots of bacteria on them and remove more NH4, with the more biomass added of plants. 

Those two things will prevent green water forever pretty much. Be smart, never start, add enough weeds from day one, add mulm.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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## Kyle V (May 17, 2005)

GW is driving me crazy too....I have read everything I can find on the subject, but it just keeps coming back. I don't have a UV or diatom filter, but have been able to get rid of it with 72 hr blackouts. It goes away for a few weeks, then comes right back…slowly but surely the green fog rolls in and turns to pea soup. Once it’s there, I CAN’T get rid of it either….until I do a blackout. I practice/follow EI, but no matter whether I up the ferts or lower them, and no matter whether I do 50% water changes twice a week or once a week, the GW always comes back. My tank is heavily planted, everything is growing extremely well, there is no NH3, and I have limited the photoperiod to about 9 hrs a day…but it keeps coming back. The tank has been ‘hi-tech’ since April, and I have battled GW almost constantly ever since. I dose KNO3, K2SO4, KH2PO4, and CSM+B. I follow Tom’s index. I keep up with WCs, I keep up with tank maintenance…and I just don’t know how to get rid of the stuff once and for all…

I wish you good luck rickyt. Let me know how you get rid of it…anyone who’s battled it have any other ideas???

Kyle


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