# Algae Bloom?



## Titan17 (Oct 27, 2011)

I think I may be going through an algae bloom. Can you all tell me what is going on? Water parameters are all normal. My tank is a 40 breeder. My lighting is a Current USA Nova Extreme 2x39 watt T5HO. My tank is planted and I only dose Seachem Fourish and Seachem Flourish Excel. Thanks in advance for all of your help.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

How old is the tank or when did you set it up, how often and how much fertilizer, what filter are you using?

So far I see you have high light, no CO2, a somewhat low plant load, with an inert substrate.


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

Cant see for sure is that yellow white or green water that ur seeing?

Top looks like a bacterial bloom... the bottom looks like green water...

If you have a UV sterilizer, it should clear it up within 24 hours.. :X


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## Titan17 (Oct 27, 2011)

150EH said:


> How old is the tank or when did you set it up, how often and how much fertilizer, what filter are you using?
> 
> So far I see you have high light, no CO2, a somewhat low plant load, with an inert substrate.


The tank has been fully cycled and had fish and plants in it for about 2.5 months now. I only used Flourish, Flourish Excel, and Flourish tabs. I dose Excel daily per the instructions and Flourish 1-2x's a week per instructions. My filter is a Fluval 305.


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## Titan17 (Oct 27, 2011)

Naekuh said:


> Cant see for sure is that yellow white or green water that ur seeing?
> 
> Top looks like a bacterial bloom... the bottom looks like green water...
> 
> If you have a UV sterilizer, it should clear it up within 24 hours.. :X


The water looks yellow white if you look at the tank head on, but green if you look through the sides. Unfortunately I don't have a UV sterilizer


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

A UV will work and it takes a week or 10 days, but I've cleared bad green water in 2 days with flow, I added to circulation pumps to clear this to look like yors after only 24 hours and crystal clear on the second day.










That's a 150 and it got worse than shown in the photo.

Have you ever cleaned your filter yet?


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## Titan17 (Oct 27, 2011)

150EH said:


> A UV will work and it takes a week or 10 days, but I've cleared bad green water in 2 days with flow, I added to circulation pumps to clear this to look like yors after only 24 hours and crystal clear on the second day.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah cleaned filter. Guess I need more flow. I really don't have much at all just my Fluval 305.


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## discuspaul (Jul 27, 2010)

Titan - your tank looks like the beginnings of green water to me - an algae bloom.
Buy, beg, or borrow (won't say steal) a UV sterilizer for a couple of days.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

You should check your filter and replace any fine filter media, rinse out any coarse filter media, and lightly rinse any bio media with tank water or dechlorinated water that is close to 75 degrees. You can also try raising your spray bar so it has a water fall effect to introduce oxygen into the water or break out a bubble wand and a air pump might also help. The good news is it will pass with no damage to your fish or tank, so you don't have to run out and buy a UV sterilizer, I don't use one.

Your tank is fairly new and if you went out and bought more plants it would help, your plant load is very light and you might fare better using root tabs and forget about dosing the water column, except with Swords you may need extra K or Fe. You can also do some small water changes according to algae blogs but I did a 50% to help and it worked just fine, and if your going to run out and buy something, get plants or a circulation pump to get better flow in the tank. You have plenty of filter but spraybar layout can make a huge difference, good luck.


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

Click on my journal and look at my spray bar, the inlet is just behind it in the right rear corner, but the flow is from top to bottom and all in one direction and my CO2 comes from the spray bar too so plants low in the tank get just as much as the rest. Some people would say I don't want a spraybar up front like that but have Hydor Korillas all over the tank but I was able to remove them after I installed this plumbing.

Don't sweat the GW after it's gone you'll never know it happened, it's just one of those new tank things.

Oh, look nearer to the last pages of my journal.


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## Naekuh (Oct 19, 2011)

or i think he could dump a ton of daphnia? 

and then that would give his fishes AAA buffet, while the daphnia pigged out on the green water. 

is it daphna? or some other bug?


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## Titan17 (Oct 27, 2011)

Thanks for all the advice everyone


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## touch of sky (Nov 1, 2011)

Maybe add some floating plants, to soak up nutrients & shade the water..


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## Titan17 (Oct 27, 2011)

So now I am not even sure that this is green water. I tried a blackout. When I originally made this post it was on day two of a blackout. I added a large airstone to aid in water circulation and nothing has changed at all. Could it just be a bacterial bloom and looks slightly green because of the light reflecting off the plants or something?


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