Green water

[Rudles]

What would cause green water? Not cloudy, fairly clear but still having a green tint. This is a deep substrate, dirted tank. 

[Mmiller2001]

Too much light and ammonia.

[ARMYVET]

Green water is an algae bloom that is suspended in the water column.  Find the reason for the algae bloom and fix it and the green water will go away. Like @Mmiller2001 said...a combination of excess light and a food source and walla recipe for green water.  

Some people us UV lights to solve their green water problem but I think its better to find the cause and fix it ...it will fix itself naturally.

 

[DaveO]

I get that greenish tint from time to time. Not "green water" as described above. For me it means it's time to scrub the glass.

[tonyjuliano]

On 6/22/2021 at 7:37 AM, ARMYVET said:

it will fix itself naturally

It won’t fix itself if the underlying cause isn’t remedied.  The plant load and level of maturity (low) in that tank, coupled with the huge amount of nutrients available provided by the super deep layer of soil, leaves lots of food for algae propagation.

Add an abundance of light, and - who knows if he is also adding supplemental fertilizer - this becomes an algae factory.

Edited June 22, 2021 by tonyjuliano

[laritheloud]

On 6/22/2021 at 7:50 AM, DaveO said:

I get that greenish tint from time to time. Not "green water" as described above. For me it means it's time to scrub the glass.

I agree, that looks like it's time to take a scrubber to the inside walls. It doesn't look like green water algae bloom to me.

[Patrick_G]

I’ll agree with cleaning the glass😀

[Rudles]

On 6/21/2021 at 4:21 AM, tolstoy21 said:

Trimming is always good as it encourages branching and thickening, as new shoots should come out of the nodes forming in the at the base of leaf pairs. For aquatic stem plants, you can also replant the healthy tips you've pruned to also increase the mass of plants into a nice dense hedge (kind of a double bang for the buck situation).

Many plants (aquatic and terrestrial) want to grow tall rather than 'shrub' out. You can encourage a fuller look through pruning back your plants regularly at points where you want them to branch out depending on the look you're going for.

As others have suggested, removing damaged leaves also helps the plants expend their energy on newer growth rather than using it to cope with damage.  

 

On 6/22/2021 at 3:51 AM, tonyjuliano said:

It won’t fix itself if the underlying cause isn’t remedied.  The plant load and level of maturity (low) in that tank, coupled with the huge amount of nutrients available provided by the super deep layer of soil, leaves lots of food for algae propagation.

Add an abundance of light, and - who knows if he is also adding supplemental fertilizer - this becomes an algae factory.

I have been running my light 10-12 hours a day and I have been adding Easy Green and Easy Iron about 3 times a week. I'm starting to run my light on low and will cut back to once a week with Easy Green and Easy Iron.