# i'm so proud ...



## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

my first case of green algae:








i'm so proud ...

but, hey!!! my plants are pearling nicely:








doesn't that count for something?!?!

i've got the tank in blackout as we speak ... i just thought i would share.


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## Buck (Oct 13, 2002)

My what a lovely hue it has... :lol: 

Dont ya just love surprises !


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## Tonyd (Jan 22, 2004)

Wow, that's impressive. I'd like to see a pic right when your blackout ends if you have time to post one.

Tony


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

Whoa! How kewl is that!?!


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## cruizer (Jan 8, 2004)

yegh!


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

Buck said:


> My what a lovely hue it has... :lol:
> 
> Dont ya just love surprises !


well ... i watched that develop over a few days but was too busy to do the thourogh cleaning. besides, i'll be out of town this weekend so i do not have worry about itching to take a quick peek.



Tonyd said:


> Wow, that's impressive. I'd like to see a pic right when your blackout ends if you have time to post one.
> 
> Tony


that is a sure will do!!!


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

Some people think those 5000K bulbs are way too green




Nice algae


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

at least green always has been my favorite color.


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## Urkevitz (Jan 12, 2004)

Are you sure its algae and not bacteria? directly under the light it seems white. Maybe the green color is coming from the green light reflecting off of the plants.


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

Yeah, I wondered about that, too! Is the green from floating algae in the water, or is there a scum of green covering the glass. If the glass is scummy, then you've got a bad case of cyanobacteria (aka, blue-green algae).




Urkevitz said:


> Are you sure its algae and not bacteria? directly under the light it seems white. Maybe the green color is coming from the green light reflecting off of the plants.


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## Fat Guy (Nov 19, 2003)

looks like green algae to me


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Awesome green water, nothing else. If it is a new tank, just skipping water changes and ignoring it for a week can do wonders. Let it run its course.


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

Reason I ask is because I had a tank once that looked like that because of blue-greens. Nasty, smelly, blue-green scum all over everything! My pleco tried to eat the stuff and croaked, but all of my flake-fed fish did fine.





Wasserpest said:


> Awesome green water, nothing else. If it is a new tank, just skipping water changes and ignoring it for a week can do wonders. Let it run its course.


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## EvilKen (Oct 22, 2003)

Yup, listen to Wasserpest and just leave it along for a week. When I had greenwater there were a lot of suggestions to do a blackout or get a UV filter, but what worked for me (and a friend who is just gettingi over GW) is to just leave it along and dont do any water changes. Patience is the key here! =)


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

it's free floating ... very green.

i took those pics, cleaned the tank, covered it up and then did the post ... so, it has already been covered for a day now. 

the tank is pretty new ... month or two ... but i just added lights, co2 and have been trying to get the ferts in order. had problems with ferts and then my co2 regulator started leaking so the tank got way out of balance and the algae took over.

i also had quite a bit of bba going on ... can't find any sae's in the area.

everything i had run across from just casual reading here and now more recently on the APD list indicated the blackout would get me reset and moving forward ... i did not actually search out information on it though ... just went on what i had recalled reading.

Wasserpest, EvilKen... i do not doubt you but, it's been 1 day already so i think i should just follow through. thanks for the information though ... i will definitly keep it in mind just in case i have to go through this again.

i do not have very many fast growing plants in there either. so, i have put some on order. they should get here to coincide with the end of the blackout.


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## Splash (Feb 18, 2004)

Ah...free floating. Good.

BTW, what's with the little tiny face or mask at the bottom of the lower picture? Or am I just hallucinat'n?


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

i'll take some of whatever you ate for dinner


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## Tres (Jan 27, 2004)

This may be acardinal sin.. I am no expert on planted aquariums.

However i found an INSTANT cure for green water.

Any water clarifying agent.. such as Acurel F, when used as directed, will quickly clump up the algae, wich will then be sucked into your filter.

A few hours later you can clean your filter, and poof, problem solved.


If there is anything wrong with this approach, I'd like to know, because it worked wonders for me, didn't kill any fish, and a month later the plants are still doing well....

The green water never came back either...
Now if i could ust figure out how to get rid of this brown algae!!!


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## CharlesP (Feb 29, 2004)

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and the only plants that I grow in my tanks are a couple of swords and some grass in my 10 gallon turtle tank, and a sword in a 1.5 gallon Rosey Red minnow tank. I also have a 300 gallon Koi Rubbermaid stock tank pond outside and a 20 gal half whiskey barrel water garden. 

But I am very interested in making my 10 gallon turtle tank into a planted tank when I move my turtle to a much larger tank. I don't have specific lighting, gravel, fertilizers or CO2 system but will be looking at it differently since coming to this forum. I do have a 10 Watt coil fluorescent over my 1.5 gal and the same 10 watt coil fluorescent over the plant section of my 10 gal along with a 20 watt basking light on the other end for the turtle...so at the present, the plants in both tanks seem to be doing well in both.

I wanted to introduce myself but I also wanted to comment on the green water problems. I go along with all those that say when you get green water...leave the tank alone with very minimal partical water changes if needed, during the course of having green water. Experiments have shown that conducting water changes over 50% will actually cause the problem to get worse. Here is a link to a project that was conducted by a Koi enthusiast dealing with pond water...but same principle would apply to tank/aquarium water.

http://www.koiclubsandiego.org/GRENH2O.html

Charles


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

well ... no sense it posting an after pic ... the blackout did not work. so, this ceases to be a "share" thread and becomes a question thread.

Wasserpest ... so i should let this just run it's course? are there any certain parameters i should pay close attention to? do i increase my water changes? basically ... any tips that would help my tank along??


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

DON'T do water changes for a few days, until it clears up.

Measure NO3 and PO4. High levels of PO4 while NO3 being zero is a sure recipe for green water. Let us know what you get. Do you add any fertilizers?

Continue normally with everything, like lighting and feeding. Except don't do any water changes. Check on your fishies in the morning, to make sure they are not running low on oxygen over night. If so, you might need some aeration during the night time.

IF that doesn't work, your nutrient levels N and P are alright, and after 8 days there is no improvement, you might want to try what Charles suggested.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

i checked my no3 this morning ... it came in at 10. i just checked my po4 and it came in at .2 or .5 (having trouble getting used to reading the color by looking down the tube).

i have the ferts but i have not yet started adding any ... i have KNO3, K2SO4, monopotassium phosphate, plantex csm, and some "Pant Gro" stuff from hagen (came with some plant order). I swaer i had some florish, too, but i cannot seem to figure out where i put it. i planned to do some dosing tonite. should i wait??

other information that i have not disclosed:
55 gallon
2 55W CF 9355K lamps
2 32W T8 10,000K lamps
pressurized CO2

i will take the full range of tests when i get home this evening and let you know.

thanks.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Yeah, I would wait with dosing ferts until that green water episode is over. With 10 ppm of NO3, you don't need to dose that anyway.

Looks like the nutrients are in a good relation, so with some patience, I think you might get it all resolved soon.

"Pant Gro"? Sounds like good stuff 

One thing that always helps in battling algae: Lots of plants! Without it, lights and fertilizers and CO2 are all for nothing.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

i do not have enough plants currently but, i have a bunch of fast growers on order:
 3 Mexican Oak Leaf (Shinnersia rivularis).
3 Moneywort (Bacopa Monnieri).
1 Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides)
1 Wisteria (Hygrophila difformis)
1 Green Temple Narrow (Hygro Corombosa)
they should be here tonite or tomorrow.

hey, Rex ... does that list look slightly familiar ... thanks for a really great FAQ ...







... it's helped me a lot.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

test results:
NO3 = 10
PO4 = .5
KH = 2.8
PH = 7

i'm having a hard time accepting those KH / PH readings ... they are not where they would normally be ... something to watch, i guess.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

[note to self] CO2 cannot difuse into the water colum unless you plug in the reactor [/note to self]


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## Momotaro (Feb 21, 2003)

> If there is anything wrong with this approach, I'd like to know


The only thing wrong with your approach is that you are clearing up the GW, of this there is no doubt, however you are not addressing the cause of the problem. :wink: 

ie. nutrient imbalance, improper dosage of fertilizer, lack of CO2, etc.

Mike


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## Tres (Jan 27, 2004)

Strange that it didnt come back then....
Perhaps the majority of those nutrients were bound in the algae itself, and once I cleaned the filter those excess nutrients were gone forever?

I dunno... Im just very, very happy that the green water disapeared.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

i think more of the point is the lack of attempted discovery of the root problem. a fix that gets one back on track is a good fix if they know where they went off track ... otherwise ... it's just a fix that will probably have to be utilized again.

in my case, i am pretty sure i know what went wrong. it's really a tale of unfortunate incidences that led to an extreme imbalance of fertilizers and CO2. 

so, i feel i could safely employ your idea but i'm trying an excessive in patience to see if the tank will come back around on its own.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Advantage of the "patience" method is -- besides that there is no cost to it -- it seems to make tanks immune to future greenwater outbreaks. 

This doesn't seem the case with the other methods that fight the results, like flocculating, diatom, UV, blackout, water changes...


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

why does everything "right" have to be so damn hard, though?!?!


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

quilaho said:


> it's really a tale of unfortunate incidences that led to an extreme imbalance of fertilizers and CO2.


Do you want to talk about it? 8)


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

i donno ... how comfy's your couch there, doc?? it probably would not do me much good but ... part of it is here ... the rest of it involves the co2 regulator going tits up.

anyhow ... you previously mentioned keeping the filter clean ... should i be cleaning that weekly? it's an eheim 2026.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

Hope you got your test kit woes resolved...

Filter maintenance really depends on your situation, I guess reduced flow would be a good indicator that it is time to clean. I used to clean my xp3 weekly, until I got tired of it, and bought a second one. Now I clean them monthly.

If there is a lot of poop in it when cleaning weekly, it is probably not sufficient for the tank... or the inlet strainer is placed too low... dunno. If it plugs up quicker due to green water, I guess cleaning it more often until things clear up would be good.


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## Tres (Jan 27, 2004)

I respect you desire to know the root cause of the problem.. I too would like to know a lot more about what is going on in my aquarium...
I guess only time and a LOT of reading will get me there..
Oh and 500$ worth of test kits lol.


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

day 4 of "let it run it's course" methodology and i see no change ... i'm getting impatient.

for those of you who have experienced this and used this methodology, how long till you started to see improvement?


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

You should see things improving after 6 to 8 days (4 more days!!!), and 2 more days to clear it back up to full beauty. I know it seems like forever


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## quilaho (Dec 21, 2003)

all righty then ... wait some more i will.


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## SueNH (Feb 25, 2004)

Water your houseplants with that nice green water they will love it. 
May as well get something positive out of it.


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## Wasserpest (Jun 12, 2003)

SueNH said:


> Water your houseplants with that nice green water they will love it.
> May as well get something positive out of it.


But... remember... no waterchanges... that's the trick :wink:


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## scoach1999 (Mar 20, 2004)

I have read recently that cleaning all of your filters at once reduces the beneficial bacteria that are helping keep the tank in balance. It was suggested that one clean one of 2 filters at a time, and stagger them, so that one can remain seeded and help get the newly added water back up to par. This seemed particularly reasonable if one was making a large water change, i.e., 30% or 50% at a time. 

Any thoughts on this issue?

Earnest Steve


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## Tres (Jan 27, 2004)

I think unless you have some other method of quickly replenishing the beneficial bateria, this is true.


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