Making Green Water

[Zodiak246]

Can I leave grow lights on 24/7 to make green water? will leaving it on 24/7 kill the green water? 

[T. Payne]

Yes, you can leave the lights on and no, it will not kill the green water. I would start off with aquarium water in the container to make sure there is nutrients in there, maybe even some water from a water change.

[modified lung]

You can leave the lights on 24/7. There aren't any negative effects as far as I know but you don't get much more growth leaving them on for 24 hours compared to 12 hours. I still leave mine on 24/7 because I forget to turn them on some mornings otherwise.

[rockfisher]

I would not leave them on 24/7. Algae still need rest time to regenerate. So a short break of 3-5 hours would probably be beneficial. That said if you have to leave it on it won’t hurt that much.

[nabokovfan87]

On 10/21/2022 at 7:22 PM, modified lung said:

You can leave the lights on 24/7. There aren't any negative effects as far as I know but you don't get much more growth leaving them on for 24 hours compared to 12 hours. I still leave mine on 24/7 because I forget to turn them on some mornings otherwise.

Would it be easier / quicker by using the bottle like that in the sun?

Direct or indirect, maybe a windowsill or something.... That what it made me think of.

[modified lung]

On 10/21/2022 at 7:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Would it be easier / quicker by using the bottle like that in the sun?

Direct or indirect, maybe a windowsill or something.... That what it made me think of.

Yeah. I don't have any good windows that get enough direct sunlight though. Except for that weird closet with the big windows but it gets over 90°F in there. 

[TheSwissAquarist]

@KittenFishMomand @TOtrees might have something to add.

[KittenFishMom]

I accidentally grew green water in one of the cut off clear gallon jugs I had under a plant light I was using to grow out water plants. Because the containers were so small, I didn't want to burn the plants with fertilizer, so every so often I would give them 1 or 2 betta beads or a tiny pinch of fish food. I took the plants out of a container to put in a tank. I just left the jug of plant water in the jug. Without the plant to take up the nutrients, the water went green. 

[Dkshadowwolf]

I have successfully grown green water with just having the light on for 10 hrs ( on a timer). I started culturing daphnia out side in 5 gallon buckets and was using the green water to feed them. I quickly learned that the 3 soda bottle size cultures of green was growing inside wasn’t close to being enough. Now I have a 30 gallon plastic garbage can near my garden. I just use the waste water from water changes and add few garden scraps. Much easier than growing it inside and I have more then I need to feed six 5 gallon bucket’s of daphnia spread throughout my backyard.