Hi everyone.

First the specs of my tank:

Size: 200lt (approx 50gal) 3ft tank
Lighting: 6 x 30w T8 fluros of mixed color (5000k, 6500k, 10 000k) =
180W
Filter: Eheim Professional 2224
CO2: Dupla system injecting through diffuser into filter
Substrate: 2mm natural gravel with laterite in the bottom 1/4
Fertiliser: Water coloumn none so far, susbtrate Jobes deep under root
feeders
Fish: None
Plants: Fast growing stem plants

This tank has been setup for 3 weeks now (it has no fish) and was clear for
about a week and now has a greenwater bloom in for about the past 2 weeks it
so its definately out of balance. I have it heavily planted with fast
growing stem species and during the day they are bubbling non stop.

A few days ago I added some column fertiliser (pmdd) and some calcium
chloride to buffer the water. These are the measurements I took this
morning:

pH: 6.2
kH: 2.8 or 50ppm
gH: 90ppm
CO2: 53ppm !!!

Ooops I check the bubble counter and it was dosing at about 2 bubbles per
second. I promptly turned it down a lil.

My natural tapwater is:

pH: 7.4
kH: 40ppm
gH: 50ppm

I just need some advice from you guys as what you would suggest to do to get
rid of the greenwater and in general how I should go about dosing my tank.
I have all the pmdd chemicals as well as flourish and flourish iron.

I look foward to hearing your suggestions and dosing reigemes so I can get a
better understanding on what I should be doing to keep the tank in balance.

Cheers,
Jon

2 Words -

UV STERALIZER

I had the same thing foor 3 1/2 weeks - even with 3/4 water change twice a
day for 3 days straight.. no help..

Added the steralizer... ran it for 3 days, did a 3/4 water change and im
back to crystal clear water... plants are pearling more since the light can
get to them now..


Dustin

"J. H." wrote in message
...
Hi everyone.

First the specs of my tank:

Size: 200lt (approx 50gal) 3ft tank
Lighting: 6 x 30w T8 fluros of mixed color (5000k, 6500k, 10 000k)
=
180W
Filter: Eheim Professional 2224
CO2: Dupla system injecting through diffuser into filter
Substrate: 2mm natural gravel with laterite in the bottom 1/4
Fertiliser: Water coloumn none so far, susbtrate Jobes deep under
root
feeders
Fish: None
Plants: Fast growing stem plants

This tank has been setup for 3 weeks now (it has no fish) and was clear
for
about a week and now has a greenwater bloom in for about the past 2 weeks
it
so its definately out of balance. I have it heavily planted with fast
growing stem species and during the day they are bubbling non stop.

A few days ago I added some column fertiliser (pmdd) and some calcium
chloride to buffer the water. These are the measurements I took this
morning:

pH: 6.2
kH: 2.8 or 50ppm
gH: 90ppm
CO2: 53ppm !!!

Ooops I check the bubble counter and it was dosing at about 2 bubbles per
second. I promptly turned it down a lil.

My natural tapwater is:

pH: 7.4
kH: 40ppm
gH: 50ppm

I just need some advice from you guys as what you would suggest to do to
get
rid of the greenwater and in general how I should go about dosing my tank.
I have all the pmdd chemicals as well as flourish and flourish iron.

I look foward to hearing your suggestions and dosing reigemes so I can get
a
better understanding on what I should be doing to keep the tank in
balance.

Cheers,
Jon

I just need some advice from you guys as what you would suggest to do to
get
rid of the greenwater and in general how I should go about dosing my tank.
I have all the pmdd chemicals as well as flourish and flourish iron.

Before investing on any equipments, Try adding 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3
every other day and add 1/4 teaspoon of MgSO4 and 1/16 teaspoon of KH2PO4
every third day. 1/2 to 3/4 K2SO4 once a week. 5 to 10ml of flourish every
other day.
That is what I did on my 55 Gal. Now its crystal clear.

--
Thank You

Dominic
http://www.dlink.org/aqua

Hi Dustin,

Thanks for the reply - are UV sterilisers really only a temporary solution ?
Does the greenwater eventually come back ?

Cheers
Jon

"DWS" wrote in message
...
2 Words -

UV STERALIZER

I had the same thing foor 3 1/2 weeks - even with 3/4 water change twice a
day for 3 days straight.. no help..

Added the steralizer... ran it for 3 days, did a 3/4 water change and im
back to crystal clear water... plants are pearling more since the light
can
get to them now..


Dustin

"J. H." wrote in message
...
Hi everyone.

First the specs of my tank:

Size: 200lt (approx 50gal) 3ft tank
Lighting: 6 x 30w T8 fluros of mixed color (5000k, 6500k, 10
000k)
=
180W
Filter: Eheim Professional 2224
CO2: Dupla system injecting through diffuser into filter
Substrate: 2mm natural gravel with laterite in the bottom 1/4
Fertiliser: Water coloumn none so far, susbtrate Jobes deep under
root
feeders
Fish: None
Plants: Fast growing stem plants

This tank has been setup for 3 weeks now (it has no fish) and was clear
for
about a week and now has a greenwater bloom in for about the past 2
weeks
it
so its definately out of balance. I have it heavily planted with fast
growing stem species and during the day they are bubbling non stop.

A few days ago I added some column fertiliser (pmdd) and some calcium
chloride to buffer the water. These are the measurements I took this
morning:

pH: 6.2
kH: 2.8 or 50ppm
gH: 90ppm
CO2: 53ppm !!!

Ooops I check the bubble counter and it was dosing at about 2 bubbles
per
second. I promptly turned it down a lil.

My natural tapwater is:

pH: 7.4
kH: 40ppm
gH: 50ppm

I just need some advice from you guys as what you would suggest to do to
get
rid of the greenwater and in general how I should go about dosing my
tank.
I have all the pmdd chemicals as well as flourish and flourish iron.

I look foward to hearing your suggestions and dosing reigemes so I can
get
a
better understanding on what I should be doing to keep the tank in
balance.

Cheers,
Jon

Thanks for the suggestion Dominic.. I think this may be a more viable
solution to solving the problem. Are these amounts from calculations or
just pure observation of what worked for you ?

Cheers
Jon

"Aqua" wrote in message
...
I just need some advice from you guys as what you would suggest to do to
get
rid of the greenwater and in general how I should go about dosing my
tank.
I have all the pmdd chemicals as well as flourish and flourish iron.

Before investing on any equipments, Try adding 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of KNO3
every other day and add 1/4 teaspoon of MgSO4 and 1/16 teaspoon of KH2PO4
every third day. 1/2 to 3/4 K2SO4 once a week. 5 to 10ml of flourish every
other day.
That is what I did on my 55 Gal. Now its crystal clear.

--
Thank You

Dominic
http://www.dlink.org/aqua

Thanks for the suggestion Dominic.. I think this may be a more viable
solution to solving the problem. Are these amounts from calculations or
just pure observation of what worked for you ?

This is from Tom's Estimative Index. I do not have a link to that
article. Search this group or fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants for more
information on that.
Also my water parameters are almost similar to yours.

--
Thank You

Dominic
http://www.dlink.org/aqua

Jon,

I just went through the same thing you did about 6 months ago. I set
up a 46 gallon tank with high light.

Here is my tank discription:
46 gallon (174 liter)
2 compact flourecent bulbs, 98 watts each
DIY CO2 at about 20ppm
Seachem Flourish, 1mL every other day
4 moderate size goldfish (Comets)
Ehimen ProII 2026
Substrate is gavel of varing sizes
Bottom half of substrate is 2-3mm gavel with laterite
Medium planted

As I said, I went through the same greeen water that you went through.
I think it is pretty common, and espically so with beginners with
high light tanks. There are ways to avoid it when setting up a tank,
but you may not be willing to start over.

I purchased a UV sterilizer. It worked pretty well, although it took
about a week to clear up. I think I had a pretty large bloom because
I got a 25W sterilizer which is quite large for 46 gallons. With
regards to your question about green water coming back, it usually
doesn't. At least it hasn't with me. I think once a tank has cycled
it is less like to have green water.

I would recommend cutting back on the lights until the tank cycles for
a while. The lights that I have have an independent switch for each
bulb, this makes it easy to reduce the wattage over the tank.

I agree with what others have posted, which is your tank is out of
balance. High light tanks require special attention, more of it.
You'll need to measure your phosphates, nitrates, ammonia, nitrites
until your tank becomes more stable. Search the web and read some of
the older postings here, there is a lot to learn to balance a tank
with high light.

Keep at it, high light tanks can be an adventure.

Later,
Tony

I purchased a UV sterilizer. It worked pretty well, although it took
about a week to clear up. I think I had a pretty large bloom because
I got a 25W sterilizer which is quite large for 46 gallons.

It might clear up faster if you use a flocculant. Something like Mardel's
Brite N Clear, that causes particles to clump together so they can be removed
by the filter. IME, the combination of UV sterilizer + flocculant can clear
greenwater over night.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

Thanks for the reply Tony.

I thought I set the tank up properly for no algae problems I heavily
planted the whole bottom with fast growin stem species from my previous
planted tank and they are growing like crazy. I have pressurised CO2
keeping the levels high and high light. On others reccomendations I was not
going to dose any nutrients till week 3 or 4 but the greenwater still
happened. I have no fishload in the tank at all at the moment and have been
trying Dominics methods but its just getting greener.. currently in the
process of dumping 3/4 of the water

Cheers
Jon

"Tony" wrote in message
om...
Jon,

I just went through the same thing you did about 6 months ago. I set
up a 46 gallon tank with high light.

Here is my tank discription:
46 gallon (174 liter)
2 compact flourecent bulbs, 98 watts each
DIY CO2 at about 20ppm
Seachem Flourish, 1mL every other day
4 moderate size goldfish (Comets)
Ehimen ProII 2026
Substrate is gavel of varing sizes
Bottom half of substrate is 2-3mm gavel with laterite
Medium planted

As I said, I went through the same greeen water that you went through.
I think it is pretty common, and espically so with beginners with
high light tanks. There are ways to avoid it when setting up a tank,
but you may not be willing to start over.

I purchased a UV sterilizer. It worked pretty well, although it took
about a week to clear up. I think I had a pretty large bloom because
I got a 25W sterilizer which is quite large for 46 gallons. With
regards to your question about green water coming back, it usually
doesn't. At least it hasn't with me. I think once a tank has cycled
it is less like to have green water.

I would recommend cutting back on the lights until the tank cycles for
a while. The lights that I have have an independent switch for each
bulb, this makes it easy to reduce the wattage over the tank.

I agree with what others have posted, which is your tank is out of
balance. High light tanks require special attention, more of it.
You'll need to measure your phosphates, nitrates, ammonia, nitrites
until your tank becomes more stable. Search the web and read some of
the older postings here, there is a lot to learn to balance a tank
with high light.

Keep at it, high light tanks can be an adventure.

Later,
Tony

tose (LeighMo) wrote in message ...
It might clear up faster if you use a flocculant. Something like Mardel's
Brite N Clear, that causes particles to clump together so they can be removed
by the filter. IME, the combination of UV sterilizer + flocculant can clear
greenwater over night.

Leigh,

I think I'm a bit confused, what is focculant?

Thanks,
Tony

It might clear up faster if you use a flocculant. Something like Mardel's
Brite N Clear, that causes particles to clump together so they can be
removed
by the filter. IME, the combination of UV sterilizer + flocculant can
clear
greenwater over night.

Leigh,

I think I'm a bit confused, what is focculant?

A flocculant is something makes small particles clump together into bigger
particles. There are several brands on the market. I usually use Mardel Lab's
"Brite N Clear." Flocculants help clear the water, because large particles are
more easily removed by your filter.






Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

I think I'm a bit confused, what is focculant?

also called floss... filter floss... looks like a mile of dental floss all
wrapped up in a handful sized ball, mat, or section....

I think I'm a bit confused, what is focculant?

also called floss... filter floss... looks like a mile of dental floss all
wrapped up in a handful sized ball, mat, or section....

No, that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about chemicals like
Brite N Clear. Usually liquid. You add them to your tank to clear the water.
They work by causing fine particles to clump together, so your filter can
remove them.






Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

"J. H." wrote in message ...
Thanks for the reply Tony.

I thought I set the tank up properly for no algae problems I heavily
planted the whole bottom with fast growin stem species from my previous
planted tank and they are growing like crazy. I have pressurised CO2
keeping the levels high and high light. On others reccomendations I was not
going to dose any nutrients till week 3 or 4 but the greenwater still
happened. I have no fishload in the tank at all at the moment and have been
trying Dominics methods but its just getting greener.. currently in the
process of dumping 3/4 of the water

Cheers
Jon


Jon,

I'm not sure that I can be of much help. It would be interesting to
see if you could clear it up without a UV sterilizer. It sounds like
you've done some research before getting started. The only think I
can recommend is cutting back on the lights and working up to higher
wattage. You may not be able to do that. Also at this point, cutting
back on lights may not help in the long run. Have you checked your
phospates, nitrites, nitrates and iron? It could be that when you
added water you stirred up the substrate enough to suspend material
that is causing the algae bloom.

I got one because of two reasons. One, to clear the green water. I
figured with almost 200 watts over 46 gallons it would difficult to
clear the green water. Two, because I thought it would help prevent
diseases. I intended to use it when I added new plants or fish to the
tank to help clear any floating bacteria or algae that might have
gotten in. I'm not clear that this would help significantly. I'm not
using mine now, but I'm thinking of creating a secondary filtration
system and including the UV sterilzer on that. I'd like to be able to
suck up crud on the bottom of the tank without having to do a water
change. I figure I could get a pump and a some kind of mechanical
filter. I could also just leave this second system running when I add
new fish/plants to the tank, it won't hurt anything.

On Thu, 27 Mar 2003 22:02:25 -0800, "DWS" wrote:

Sure a UV will work. But you are treating the symptom and not the
problem.

2 Words -

UV STERALIZER

I had the same thing foor 3 1/2 weeks - even with 3/4 water change twice a
day for 3 days straight.. no help..

Added the steralizer... ran it for 3 days, did a 3/4 water change and im
back to crystal clear water... plants are pearling more since the light can
get to them now..


Dustin




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