Green water

[Stasher]

Would a uv sterilizer be a good investment for a freshwater tank? I know there is good and bad on reef tanks but am curious for his fw tank?

[Richer]

I'm lean towards the "not bad... but definately not needed" side of the arguement. If you do have a uv sterilizer, I don't see the harm in using it. In all honestly, I cannot see myself investing money in a UV sterilizer for my fw tanks. A good water changing and feeding routine, plus a low-moderate stock goes a long way in keeping water quality good in an average fw tank.

-Rich

[Fish Breath]

My opinion is Not woth the money for fresh water as you would hardly ever use it (only with a green water outbreak and that shouldn't happen very often) a better investment would be a magnum filter as you can use it for a regular filter and as a diatom filter. The diatom use will cure Ick too
But thats just my opinion

[Rikko]

I've found algal blooms are usually just when something goes out of balance in the system. It WILL clear up on its own, but some people I've told to wait came back after 3 months rather annoyed and said it finally cleared. (Hey, I never told them it would happen overnight!)
I had the same problem with my 77 gallon last summer after doing an enormous cleaning and nothing seemed to help.. Water changes just aggrivated it (influx of fresh trace minerals and massive export of this "balance" I keep referring to but can't scientifically define). Reduced photoperiod had no effect. I didn't try blackout simply because the way the tank is set up in the room it would be an absolute nightmare to cover, and the neighbouring reptile tank wouldn't be impressed with me.

I finally broke down and bought a flocculant. A bottle of Green Water Clarifier (Laguna/Hagen pond liquid - I think it's just a more concentrated and cheaper version of P Clear) and I was set. Green algae comes.. Throw some poly floss in the filter (I didn't even do that) and the correct dosage of flocculant and the algae will clump and get drawn into the filter. I ended up having to add it 3 times over a week and the algae was gone. I even did a hefty water change after that and no algae blooms.

[Stasher]

I got him to email a picture of his tank for you to see...

[Rikko]

Man, can't even see the cherubs...

[meltdownaverted]

Had the same problem a year back. Before going to the trouble of the other methods try using filter floss (looks like cotten batting). My algea looked exactly the same, put the coten in and a day later the water was clear. Good luck