# Had green water... added uv sterilizer, tank cleared, but now...



## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

You may have sent your tank into a mini cycle. Feed lightly or skip a day of feeding. Don't clean out your filters. Let the tank run. If it gets too high do a pwc. Monitor closely.


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## Midnighttide102 (Oct 2, 2014)

It has nothing to do with the UV it has to do with the way you washed your filters your tank is cycling again it won't take as long as when first set up just stay on top of your water changes to keep all in check you should be back to normal in a week


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## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

Thanks for the advice coffeegirl and midnighttide. Should I continue dosing as normal?


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## lee739 (Oct 12, 2014)

How much light do you have over the tank?
Cleaning your filters shouldn't really result in green water....


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## Midnighttide102 (Oct 2, 2014)

You can still dose, most likely the greenwater came from a ammonia spike( #1 cause ) which is most likely what happened after you cleaned your filters


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## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

lee739 said:


> How much light do you have over the tank?
> Cleaning your filters shouldn't really result in green water....


I have a BML 48" Dutch on the front portion and 2x 55w VHO PC on the background plants. I rinsed my bio media in tank water so the bio filtration shouldn't have been hurt. I was thinking the green water could have occurred because of the amount of nutrients I am putting in daily and the lack of water changes (25% every other week). I'm in Cali so in light of our drought I am trying to keep water changes to a minimum. Thats why I went PPS instead of EI dosing. Well that and it takes a bit of work to do 50% water changes on a 125g every week. 




Midnighttide102 said:


> You can still dose, most likely the greenwater came from a ammonia spike( #1 cause ) which is most likely what happened after you cleaned your filters


Bump: My ammonia and nitrate levels are a bit elevated at the moment so that would make sense.


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## Xirxes (Aug 18, 2008)

Having cleaned hundreds (!!!) of biofilters over the years, the key is not only to rinse with tank water, but to keep the biomedia submerged.

If water based bacteria is in the air it is dying. Keep it in tank water the whole time.


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## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

I suggest that several water changed back to back is enough to cause a mini cycle- along with rinsing the filters. Soon it will be back to normal. Do you use prime?


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## Raymond S. (Dec 29, 2012)

I wouldn't clean both filters at the same time while running that much light in there.
Had this happen before when I removed about 15% of the bio media one time. I was cleaning it as it collected some gunk on top of it(no pre-filter) and got distracted and forgot to return a portion of the media. Good thing I looked at the tank the next morning.
Had a few dead RCS in there from the Ammonia spike. After removing all of them which I saw I dumped a bottle of Tetra Safe Start directly into the filter(which was turned off)
and let it sit for 30 min. Once it was turned back on I tested the ammonia and it started to go down after 45 min. Small tank(10g) used whole small bottle. But unlike directions say, I used half on the first day and the other half the second day stopping the filter
because I was using it directly into it, for 30 min each time.
I believe that your filter will come back quickly. But I would just monitor the ammonia and do water changes(a 50% WC reduces the ammonia 50%) to keep the ammonia down to a safe level. Prime will take care of a slight bit of the ammonia. I would also nitrate test because with that higher level of ammonia the nitrates
will go up fairly fast as the filter returns to normal.
I usually balance the KNO3 and K2SO4 dosing till I have a lighter Orange on the nitrate test.


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## ChalupaBatman (Feb 12, 2015)

Xirxes said:


> Having cleaned hundreds (!!!) of biofilters over the years, the key is not only to rinse with tank water, but to keep the biomedia submerged.
> 
> If water based bacteria is in the air it is dying. Keep it in tank water the whole time.


I think you may have hit the nail on the head here. They trays were sitting out of water for about 5min, maybe a bit more.

Bump:


amcoffeegirl said:


> I suggest that several water changed back to back is enough to cause a mini cycle- along with rinsing the filters. Soon it will be back to normal. Do you use prime?


I used prime when I first setup the tank but haven't needed it since.

Bump:


Raymond S. said:


> I wouldn't clean both filters at the same time while running that much light in there.
> Had this happen before when I removed about 15% of the bio media one time. I was cleaning it as it collected some gunk on top of it(no pre-filter) and got distracted and forgot to return a portion of the media. Good thing I looked at the tank the next morning.
> Had a few dead RCS in there from the Ammonia spike. After removing all of them which I saw I dumped a bottle of Tetra Safe Start directly into the filter(which was turned off)
> and let it sit for 30 min. Once it was turned back on I tested the ammonia and it started to go down after 45 min. Small tank(10g) used whole small bottle. But unlike directions say, I used half on the first day and the other half the second day stopping the filter
> ...


I actually did one on Sat, then the other on Sun. I normally do them a week apart but i had to head out of town for the following weekend. I'll do a water change to relieve a bit of ammonia but it's been almost 3 weeks since I cleaned the filter so it sound like the bio colonies should be back soon.


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## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

If it has been 3 weeks it might be time to change or rinse one out.
Not cleaning a filter can cause spikes too. I have 2 running on my 46 and I clean one every other week.


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## Xirxes (Aug 18, 2008)

amcoffeegirl said:


> If it has been 3 weeks it might be time to change or rinse one out.
> Not cleaning a filter can cause spikes too. I have 2 running on my 46 and I clean one every other week.



Not cleaning a filter is almost impossible to create spikes. A slow and steady source of nitrates over time can be only potential downside of filter remains in operation.

I did an experiment(laziness) for a full year of no filter maintenance and no water changes on a heavily stocked, heavily planted low tech 125. 

No algae a and no waste of any measurable type.

We only get Algae or spikes in one nutrient or another when we are pushing the ecosystem to an extreme one way or another, and nature finds a way to make use of the system's excess, or it builds up.


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## amcoffeegirl (May 26, 2009)

I guess I was just speculating on this. I think if there is too much debris clogging up the filter that spikes could occur. I guess it may depend also what kind of filter your running. It can't be good not to clean your filter.
I have never really let them go without maintenance but when I have my fish have usually gotten fin rot.


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