Green water??

[Duker]

Originally Posted by ckmullin

The reason why I ask is that it will never go away unless the root causes are looked at.

Does this tank have any sunshine?
How long is your photoperiod? (what lights?)
What sort of substrate do you have?
How much do you feed?
What is your filter?
How much for plant do you have...and what kind of plants?
How often and how much do you do for a water change?
Do you have any other algae growing? GSA, BBA etc.
Do you vacuum your gravel?

1. sunlight: yes some light in morning, but i have blocked out the sun hitting the tank with some background taped to the side(where sun hits).
2. photo period: 830-9pm 12-12.5 hours, 2x24watt 10k T5HO
3. substrate:black flourite
4. filter: rena xp2
5. plants: HC (hemianthus callitrichoides), dwarf 4 leaf clover(marsilea hirsuta)
6. water changes: 30% every 2 weeks. (~10gallons)
7. no other algae growing
8. I only vacume the very top bit, i do not push the siphon hose down into the substrate (as it disturbs my plants).
Does this help?

[syncro]

I've got a similar tank.

I found reducing the photoperiod cleared it up in about 2 weeks.

I currently have it at 5 hours / day. Any more and I get too much algae in one form or another.

Livestock: 5 guppies, 3 zebra snails.

[Reef Puffer]

Suspended algae in my reef was gone after a 100% block out of light for 3 full days. 100% dark! Dont even peek. Than a large water change. Idk what caused it but the black out worked and never had a problem since.

[HaZRaTTy]

Green Water:

To clear this up I have found the best way to do that is as follows.

1: Do a bigger then normal water change
2: Complete black out. (No light, No peaking, No feeding) 3-4days
3: As soon as you introduce light after the blackout, Do another huge WC
4: Reduce your initial Photoperiod
5: Add some fast growing plants, I can't remember the names but when I had a Fresh water Planted tank I had plants that grew upwards to 1-1.5 inches a day!

This should all help reduce nutrients and green water algae suspended in your water column.

I remember reading many articles about the effects on Co2 on your planted ecosystems and how they effect all your current levels and help balance everything.

You should look at adding a Co2 system into your tank DIY, or Tank if you want to get a little more technical in your system.

[Duker]

Thanks hazratty, the green water has since lightened up. I can actually see the back wall.....yay! I've thought of uv, but I'm dragging my feet I really wanted this tank to be ultra low maintenance. Co2 would be ok but again more crap to tinker with. I will leave all the tinkering for my reef. Reducing my photo period has helped I think. It's the only thing I have done to the tank since the pea soup outbreak. Thanks for the advice. Once this water is crystal clear I will post on pic....at least my plants are filling in nicely.

[Duker]

Finally the green water is 100% gone....only took two months. But wow my little planted tank is cool again, i almost shut it down. Sure glad i didn't. like watching all the lil shrimp and the plants fill in. Thanks to all for their advice!

[pinkreef]

now that its straightened itself out it should be easy to keep up. i used ceramic beads and filter sheets and carbon wc once a week. good luck