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Cloudiness/Green Water

Miss Pennyapple

Miss Pennyapple

Member
Joined
1 Jan 2016
Messages
50
Location
Scotland
Hi All, looking for a wee bit of advice please regarding a new issue that's come up in my established tropical tank.

I've been a bit lax with changing the T8 lights regularly and I think this has caused a bit of green water algae in the tank. I hadn't changed the lights for about 18 months and for about a week now the tank has looked a bit cloudy and like it has a bit of green water starting. I've tested for ammonia and it's 0 so I know it's not a bacterial bloom. I dose NPK, liquid carbon and microferts over the course of a 9 day period and the lights are on a timer for 5 1/2 hours a day.

The tank has been stable for a good while now in terms of keeping on top of the BBA algae issue I was having a few months back, so this cloudiness/slight green water is new and I can only assume it's down to the lights not being bright enough as they were old tubes. BBA is also starting to reappear.

I"ve changed the lights yesterday to all new tubes but I'm just wondering if I should continue to dose the usual ferts and see if things right themselves, or if I should stop dosing for now to see if the water clears? What do you think? It's not bad enough to have to do a black out just now, the water just looks like it's got a green tinge and it's not got the usual crystal clear look.

Should I keep dosing ferts as usual and see how it goes? Anyone else experienced this? Thanks!
 
Hi all,
Miss Pennyapple said:
I've been a bit lax with changing the T8 lights regularly and I think this has caused a bit of green water algae in the tank. I hadn't changed the lights for about 18 months and for about a week now the tank has looked a bit cloudy and like it has a bit of green water starting.
Click to expand...
It isn't the lamps. Green water algae have the same chlorophylls and photo-systems as all the higher plants, and use the same light spectrum for photosynthesis.

fig_2_original.jpg

cheers Darrel
 
Hi Darrel, I assumed it was the poor lighting causing the issue as nothing else has changed in the tank and it doesn't receive any direct sunlight. What else could have caused the water to go cloudy/slightly green in colour and the BBA to suddenly take hold again? Any ideas at all? Would a large water change help or make the situation worse do you think?
 
Hi all,
Miss Pennyapple said:
What else could have caused the water to go cloudy/slightly green in colour and the BBA to suddenly take hold again? Any ideas at all?
Click to expand...
Not really, unfortunately the exact causes of algal outbreaks are still unknown.

We have a long <"What exactly causes BBA thread?">.

The green algae (both filamentous and plankton) need similar conditions to higher plants to grow, and in ponds etc. green water algae are often associated with high levels of light, phosphates and ammonia.

I try and grow green water algae for my Daphnia cultures, and adding a dead slug, and some hay, to a bucket of water works fantastically well.

You could see what <"Dusko says">.

cheers Darrel
 
I just had a major green water outbreak caused by my lack of maintenance. I got rid of it by doing 2 x 50% water changes per week, adding extra fertz, started adding 2 x excel dose and as much pressurized co2 as I could. A few weeks of this treatment and it went away.
 
Miss Pennyapple said:
Hi Darrel, I assumed it was the poor lighting causing the issue as nothing else has changed in the tank and it doesn't receive any direct sunlight. What else could have caused the water to go cloudy/slightly green in colour and the BBA to suddenly take hold again? Any ideas at all? Would a large water change help or makehe situation worse do you think?
Click to expand...
As summer takes off indirect light levels may be higher now than previous?
 
One could hypothesize that the lower light levels are causing the plants to suffer an algae to take hold? Is that even possible???
 
Hi all,
rebel said:
One could hypothesize that the lower light levels are causing the plants to suffer an algae to take hold? Is that even possible???
Click to expand...
It is usually the other way around in ponds and rivers etc.

The planktonic algal bloom is <"caused by eutrophication"> and it reduces the light to submerged macrophytes which then die, meaning that there are more nutrients available for algal growth and then you end up in a positive feedback loop and permanently degraded water quality. Orthophosphate (PO4---) availability is strongly linked with eutrophication in the environment, but the dynamics are not fully understood and usually high PO4--- levels go hand in hand with increased nitrate (NO3-) levels.

s216_1_042i.jpg

Figure 3.5 Probability plot of two stable states in shallow freshwater ecosystems. Over a broad range of phosphorus concentrations in the eutrophic-hypertrophic range, either state may potentially occur. However, once established, that state promotes processes that result in it becoming stabilized, and switches between the two states are only rarely observed.
Click to expand...
cheers Darrel
 
A while back Nathan Hill did a planted set up in Practical Fishkeeping I think the purpose was trying out EI,soil substrate,high lighting and co2 by his own admission it was too much to soon,quickly a huge "pathegon cloud" covered the tank followed by pea green water,plants covered in algae.He stopped the pressurised co2,reduced lighting and fertiliser suddenly days later the water cleared was crystal clear and amazingly except for one species the plants had taken hold and were healthier than ever
 
I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do now. I assumed it was the low light levels coupled with the high ferts/CO2 I add each week, as nothing else had changed. The new lights have been on the tank for three days now and I've continued with the usual doses of ferts/CO2 but the water is still looking green/cloudy.....

Big Clown - thanks for this - interesting that you did extra water changes. I know usually green water isn't affected by water changes but I'm going to do a large water change today ahead of the usual schedule and see if that combined with the new lights has any effect. I might add an extra dose of liquid carbon this week too since the new lights should encourage the plants to uptake more ferts etc (have I got that right??).

Will see how it goes but I think a tank black out might be next! It's just so depressing seeing the tank look like this as its been so clear and healthy looking up until this outbreak. :(
 
Do you guys think reducing the lighting period and/or intensity would help? Lights are currently on for 51/2 hours a day - was thinking about reducing this to 4 1/2 - would that help? Or, the lighting unit has 2 x 25w and 1 x 20w bulbs - should I maybe switch one off??
 
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