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RE: [APD] green water and water changes



I found large water changes did nothing for my green water.  It turns out, I
wasn't dosing enough traces.

I would dose my N and P at 5 to 1 ratios, but without the right amount of
traces, the plants couldn't use it.  And a high nitrate tank is a great
candidate for green water.

Also, I believe I read that large water changes are actually BENEFICIAL to
green water, as you are more than likely to introduce more spores into the
tank.

I, too, resorted to extreme filtering with a diatom filter.  But even after
I filtered the tank crystal clear, the green water would come back the
minute I began dosing N and P again.

Find the deficiency and deal with it.  As far as traces go, I have a medium
light tank (55 watt CF on a 25 gallon tank) and I dose almost 5ml a day of
traces.  Nary a bit of algae.  As long as you have a couple of decent algae
eaters, things like BBA and hair algae should never get a decent foot hold
(at least they don't in my tank with two SAE).

I fought with green water for almost 3 months.  Water changes and filtering
did nothing.  Fixing my nutrients did.

-----Original Message-----
From: aquatic-plants-bounces+kettles=videotron_ca at actwin.com
[mailto:aquatic-plants-bounces+kettles=videotron_ca at actwin.com] On Behalf Of
Rick Engstrom
Sent: Monday, June 07, 2004 11:34 AM
To: aquatic plants digest
Subject: RE: [APD] green water and water changes




-----Original Message-----
From: aquatic-plants-bounces+rick703=mts_net at actwin.com
[mailto:aquatic-plants-bounces+rick703=mts_net at actwin.com]On Behalf Of Kurt
Wiedenhoeft
Sent: Sunday, June 06, 2004 12:26 PM
To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
Subject: [APD] green water and water changes


Yesterday I did a 50-60% water change in my tank, and refilled using only
the carbon filter (no water conditioner). After I refilled the tank, the
water was a bit cloudier than before I drained. This morning the water is
much, much cloudier than yesterday. I was suspecting that perhaps the water
conditioner I was using was contributing to the green water, but now I'm
wondering if there isn't something nasty in the tap water that I should be
worried about?

I checked online, but there are no data sheets available. Should I try to
contact them and ask about any particular nutrients or contaminants? Or am I
barking up the wrong tree here? If this is being caused by something in the
tap water, should I look at an RO unit to clear it up?

Thanks,

Kurt



Kurt
it appear that at least for now my green water problem has cleared up. I did
several large 50-60% water changes however I also did a deep gravel vac. I
had a lot of dirt that had accumulated beneath the gravel at the front and
sides of the tank. This tank has been running for more than 3 years and
although I do gravel vac's biweekly I never did a deep cleaning. Anyway , I
removed as much of the black crud and it was crud, came off in large chunks.
Did a large water change and then ran the Vortex for 2 days. I also did not
dose any ferts at all for 5 days and only yesterday added a 1/2 tsp of KN03.
This is the 2nd day and the tank is still nice and clear so I have my
fingers crossed. I will slowly increase my ferts adding PMDD and some extra
trace and see how it goes but at this point things are looking up. I still
have some BBA which I continue to manually remove but not anything like
beofe. I also did try some Bacti-pur pond clarifier and some Algae remover
chemical however they did not seem to have any effect although I did this
while doing everything else so I'm not sure if they helped or not. I have
also been told by a friend that Seachem makes a product that you add to the
water that causes all the free floating algae to bind together and fall to
the gravel at which point you vacuum it out. He said it worked great in his
tank and almost instantly cleared the water up however on the down side it
completely plugged up his filter so I guess if you get some then unplug the
filter first. Good luck.

Rick


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