Nitrites in green water question.

[Joshua14]

My first attempt at making green water started about 19 days ago. I put in an old decaying catappa leaf and a few squirts of easy green. I've left the light on almost 24/7 and the water did start to turn green about 3 days ago. 

The whole purpose of culturing the green water was because I wanted it to feed to various fry.

Something in my gut told me to test the water before I fed them. I used a test strip to test the water and the nitrites where very high. A solid dark pink, indicating 10ppm. 

It can't be safe to feed to my fish correct? Should I wait and let it balance out longer? 

How does one know when exactly green water is safe to feed to your young fry?

[Cory]

That doesn't look like green water to me. it looks like algae on the glass. Green water will be very green water. Also it replicates so fast it typically scrubs water clean of any nitrite/nitrate/ammonia.

[GardenStateGoldfish]

Hey Josh! it doesn't look like green water, what is possible also is that at one point was green water and ran out of nutrients and died and is back to clear water with the dead green water on the glass. 

[Marc]

I can't see 4 inches into my green water tank, that water looks very clear from above.

[Joshua14]

Thank you all. 

[Daniel]

One the best ways to determine the tint of your water is to view the water against a white background.

In the ramekin on the left is 1" of clear water and in the ramekin on the right is 1" of green water.

The photo below is from the same green water source as in the photo above. Viewed through several inches of water you can see just how green it really is.

I use this as my green water source for feeding my smallest fry.

I never thought about measuring the water chemistry in the green water aquarium, but now you have got me thinking, so I might do that later today.

[Joshua14]

Thank you for the info. I took some of the water out of the tank a viewed it in a clear container and sure enough it was completely clear. 

Do you have any tips for starting green water? I've had a light on it for around 20 days. Maybe I should just wait it out longer?

[Daniel]

I can't reliably make green water every time I want to, but here's what usually works for me.

• Aged water like from an aquarium
• Weeds, dried will give green water, fresh still green weeds will give mosquito larva. Exact choice of organic matter not critical.
• Fertilizer, can be artificial but natural works too. The green water fish tank I have has lots of hungry swordtails that poop a lot.
• Somehow being outside works better. I am not sure why. Maybe sunlight is stronger, or stuff just blows in on the wind?

 

[Joshua14]

Thank you for your input @Daniel 

I think I'll add more organics. 

Something is telling me to switch from a cfl bulb to an led. I'm gonna give that a try as well. 🤷