Algae Bloom / Green water

Cool, let us know how it worked for you

 

I am stuck doing daily water changes, or leaving the tank to turn a delightful dark emerald green, as the UV Sterilser should only be arriving next week Wednesday.
As soon as it is installed I will take daily pics to compare the tank as it hopefully heals and turns into a jewel.

 

@Pezulu that is awesome man, do you also get the 8w in the professional series sure it would have been enough for our 4 foots. Yeah for sure it will heal and turn back into a jewel holding thumbs bud.

NB why dont you get the probiotics so long maybe it can help in the interim Bio-Vital

 

There is an 8W available in the Professional series.
The manufacturer however suggested a 30W for a 300L tank, with 15W as the minimum.
My budget only allowed a 15W however.

Size wise, the 8W is about 30cm, the 15W is about 45cm, and the 30W and 55W units being about 1m.
The 15W will fit in my cabinet, while the longer units will necessitate longer hoses, taking up more room under the cabinet.

 

Good news to hear from a supplier but like I would think they will obviously inform us that bigger is always better and in the case of aquariums this is true, will be shopping around for price on the 15w pro series always like shopping and phoning around for prices why pay more Please open a new thread when you do start with the UV sterilizer so we all can see if it is really worth it once again get yourself some Bio-Vital in the mean time. Go read the article @Jwh posted it is a worth while read and sounds awesome as I mentioned I always used it years ago with good results.

 

PM Sent

 

Little late to the thread, read the entire thing - yeah UV is a possible fixer but the cause is not clear, and you are by no way over stocked or feeding BIG meals by the sound of things.


Have you considered that the rocks might be leaching into the tank and that the green water even with WC are being fed by the leach and the long light period?

Do the acid test on the rocks just to make sure you are not going to keep feeding the green monster. I have had rocks in some outside tanks ... green with in days of putting them in, could not figureout why the one tank that was getting less sun had more green water than the others, mystery was solved when I ditched the rock and funny enough wood.

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks Ferdie

We tested the rocks (normal granite) using vinegar for the acid test.
Everything looked normal before adding the rocks to the tank.

The wood has been in a pond for about 10 years, so it is doubtful that it is a cause of the green water.
Anything is possible though.

What I do find strange is how some pieces of the same type of wood are more susceptible to algae growth than others.
In another tank I have 2 pieces of wood next to each other, with algae growing on the one piece of wood, while the other has absolutely nothing on it.
The algae isn't a bother in that tank though, as it has quite a few Otocinclus and shrimp in it, and the shrimp in particular love feeding off that piece of wood.

 

Yeah wood is totally different story .. depending on the wood source in the tree it might be more or less prone to allowing algae to grow. If memory serves this relates to the silica content, gums and resins in different parts of the tree. Things like flexibility required (think a branch that gets whipped by the wind) vs rigidity (base of the tree) etc all play its part. I have not read on this topic in 20 years so I might have some details a bit or totally wrong :blushing:.

Glad you did the acid test, btw only problem with the test it is usually on small sample of the rock - but if you have no funny mineral deposits then yeah the hunt continues.

BTW you have done a black-out for 3 days or so right?

Later Ferdie

 

Black-out was done.
Daily water changes were done.
Light times were shortened.
More water changes were done.
No ambient light sources were permitted.
Water changes were done.
Tank hara-kiri was contemplated.
A water change was done.
CO2 was switched off.
Another water change was done.
CO2 flow was increased.
Water change was done.

Did I mention that I did a few water changes?

The water was tested.
All the parameters were acceptable.
Ph - 7.2
KH - 6
GH - 2.5
NO2 - 0
NO3 <25
NH3 - 0
CL - 0

 

So then the only conclusion - if it is not something you are adding to the tank, it is something already in the tank.

Any chance you running charcoal in the filter?

Later Ferdie

 

Oh and what about stopping the WC's ..

I have seen before that a tank flip green for a few days after a WC .. just left it and it sorted itself out. (Green water is food - danger for fish is oxygen depletion when it starts to die)

Later Ferdie

 

No charcoal in the filter.
Only sponge, matrix, filter wool and purigen.
Left the tank for 3 days without changing the water.
The water was so dark green that shinging a torch in it had no effect.
Fishes were all but invisible, and plants were suffering.

My last hope is the UV steriliser.
Until then I will be doing water changes every 2 days.

 

UV will sort it out, and may the "reset" your tank needs, IME too much light and nutrients (phosphates) can result in an algae bloom, especially in ponds, although you seem to have this covered. Let us know how thing progress once you install the UV unit.

 

Yeah - agree UV should clear it up, but unless you know the source you are bound to using that plaster still the cause stops. If it was warmer I do a massive water swop, use the green water to feed daphnia (actually - if one wanted that could still be an otion - having a return pump dumping the water in a floating daphnia enclosure), but hey if you have not see you fish for weeks - UV should be the tipping tool.

Seconded = would love to see the progress on how long it takes the UV to clean this up, just add extra aeration.

Later Ferdie

 

I am using the green water to feed daphnia.
Just dumped some Daphnia in my Glowlight Danio tank, and the Danio are feeding like pigs.

The Daphnia get fed green water, and they clear up the water in about 12 hours.
The green water is supplemented with dried instant yeast.

 

Lol ... was just wondering what to feed my guys also .. .thanks.

Later Ferdie

 

The way I do it seems to work...
Take about 100ml of water from the Daphnia tank/pond.
Depending on the size of your tank, you need to adjust the amount of yeast.
On a 10L container I use 2 scoops from the Ocean Nutrition shrimp pellets. (Tiny amount i.o.w.)
You want to get the water just cloudy.

I use a battery operated cocktail mixer to stir the yeast for about 30 seconds, then let the mixture stand about a minute until if forms big foamy bubbles on the surface.
The bubbles show that the yeast has activated.
Pour into the Daphnia tank evenly, so that all the water is slightly milky.
Repeat once a day, or when the water is clear again.

This works out cheaper than buying spirulina powder at Dischem.

I have an old 40L tank outside, with Hornwort and some duckweed in.
The bulk of the Daphnia are kept in there, and they get fed green water from the display tank.
When I want more Daphnia in my holding containers (2 x plastic 10L containers) I net them from outside, and transfer indoors.

I net Daphnia from the indoor containers every 2 days.
This leaves enough Daphnia in the containers to breed and multiply.

 

Very good, thanks for the detail on the feeding and what you have running with your daphnia , green water tanks. I have nothing elaborate, tried live foods once - the entire house was full of wingless flies. Decided beginning of July to try my hand at daphnia (by that I mean get some and see what happens) got stock from AE - Derek sorted me out. Small bag - did not look like much. Dumped it into my outside bare bottom that had some well aged green water in it. Poked my head out the other day and saw that the green water was all cleared. Added some dry ferts and left it at that thinking, I probably killed anything that survived the winter now.



When I checked now before reading your post and dumping some dry yeast into the tank ... I think this is a good crop. I like the idea of an inside "quarantine" tank before you just dump them into your fish tanks, might have to do something similar.



Think the leave are the primary food source now.

Next time I will do the dissolve yeast thing.

Later Ferdie

 

I have spoken to a number of people, and they all tell me the same thing....
Get rid of the granite rocks in the tank.

Apparently granite can change the Ph of the tank water up, and also raise the Kh levels of the water.
For some reason it can also cause algae blooms.

I will be installing the UV Steriliser as soon as I get it, and will also be performing a total rescape of the tank,
If anyone in the Centurion area has inert stone/rock they can donate, I will be grateful.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can assist with the rescape.
I can have some cold beers or hot coffee ready, depending on preference.