Pea soup that won’t budge

[Fishymom64]

Hello everyone! I have a 36 gallon tank that I currently can’t see through because of pea soup green algae. I have tried everything; I got a new more powerful filter, used polishing pads, done regular and drastic water changes, and the problem still persists. I’ve had the tank running for a year and it only started being a problem a month ago when I came back from vacation and someone else was taking care of the tank for me. I also tried doing a blackout for three days but it didn’t help and I was worried about my plants. Does anyone have any idea what I should do? I thought about a uv sterilizer but those are really expensive. Thanks for any help guys!

 

[kallililly1973]

Our 10 gallon went through that same issue a couple years ago when it was set up. Had to do deep gravel vacs cause all the food n waste was getting into the gravel. Worked for a while but ultimately changed it over to pool filter sand so I think if was just from not doing good gravel vacs and just skimming the surface. That’s all I can really come up with. Also if it’s near a window it might b a good idea to cover the window wit a piece of poster board so it’s not letting any extra light in.

 

[Fishymom64]

Our 10 gallon went through that same issue a couple years ago when it was set up. Had to do deep gravel vacs cause all the food n waste was getting into the gravel. Worked for a while but ultimately changed it over to pool filter sand so I think if was just from not doing good gravel vacs and just skimming the surface. That’s all I can really come up with. Also if it’s near a window it might b a good idea to cover the window wit a piece of poster board so it’s not letting any extra light in.

I have a gravel vac and I clean the gravel every week. The window is pretty far away too. I mean, I could up the frequency of the gravel cleanings? Would they help?

 

[kallililly1973]

I have a gravel vac and I clean the gravel every week. The window is pretty far away too. I mean, I could up the frequency of the gravel cleanings? Would they help?

I wouldn’t go too crazy but going deeper into the gravel wit the vac will pull a lotta waste out I’m sure. Also being an algae bloom I would only have the lights on a couple hours a day at the most. Like I said We ultimately switched over to PFS for the substrate. But the gravel vacs were working.

 

[Cody]

Surprised that a blackout wouldn’t help. I would worry about the plants having several days without light. Dustins Fishtanks has a video about doing blackouts for algae issues and he made the good point that when he’s importing plants that they often spent 1-2 weeks in a box without any light. And that’s with bouncing on a plane, not submersed in water, or temp control.

So a 5 day blackout is less harm to your plants then the journey they took to get to the store for you to buy them.

 

[RayClem]

One of the 8 watt UV sterilizers should take care of the issue. They are not inexpensive.

I got the larger 24 watt Green Killing Machine when I had a similar problem in my 55 gallon tank. I had previously added a 1 micron water polishing filter canister and a 5 gpm pump.. It removed a lot of algae, but it never cleared the tank. Once I added the GKM, green color was gone in 48 hours and a day later, the water was crystal clear. I now run the unit on a timer for 4 hours per day to keep the water crystal clear.

Since your tank is smaller than mine, the 24 watt unit is probably too large. The 8 watt unit should work. There is also a smaller, less expensive 3 watt unit, but for your tank, that is likely to be too small. It is designed for aquariums up to 20 gallons.

 

[Flyfisha]

A UV light is the answer to stopping the algae from growing.

Understanding what the algae needs to grow in the first place may help limit its growth in the future.


To grow green water deliberately you need lots of nutrients and lots of sunlight. If the sunlight entering the room has not changed in two years Fishymom64 then the green water has started with more nutrients from the feeding by the other person.

Just water changes and less light along with vacuuming to remove nutrients is enough to limit the algae. Floating plants are also a big help in limiting the algae.
From personal experience with tanks that are deliberately run as green water soup for tiny fry it is possible to kill the green water without UV .
Note theses tanks have no plants to suck nutrients.
I don’t recommend duckweed to anyone,but when duckweed gets a hold on this green water supply tank it starves the algae.

 

[86 ssinit]

Well if a polishing pad isn’t working than the next step is the uv steralizer. They are a great add on anyway for your tank. Kills anything that goes through it. I run 2 of mine 24/7 on my discus tanks and the one on the community is on for 8hrs a day. All 3 are crystal clear.