# Last chance before i go for it..



## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

I have green water and want it gone.

Now for some details. The tank has only been running for two months. So yes it's very new but the water is killing me and i need it fixed. I did a 2 day blackout and it seemed to fix it a little bit, i also changed the lights from 14hr/day to 8hr/day. That was done 5 weeks ago. The water cleared up a lot but it's still bad.. very bad.
4 day's ago i also added a filter pad to apparently remove phosphates and "control algae" and so far no difference. Brown di-atoms have finally died down after thriving for the first 4 weeks that the tank was up.
Now i am too irritated with this and feel that a UV sterilizer is what i need to get. However as you all know, the price SUCKS! 

So if anybody has an idea of how to clear this out please say something now before i spend $200

specs
140gallon tank
filtration 2x XP3 and AC110
water temp 78F
Ammonia/nitrite 0
nitrate 20ppm before w/c, 5ppm after w/c
Lights: 6500K; 10,000K; Powerglo --- on for 8hr daily
no direct sunlight gets to tank.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

get an UV unit. your problem will solve in a couple of days.


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## Jonney_boy (Apr 28, 2010)

yeah.. UV is the easiest solution.

You can also black out for a few more days.. then cut your lights back even more... say 4-6 hours.. then work your way up instead of down......... I run 6 hours on my low light planted tank (co2 injected and ei dosed tho).


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. a uv light is worth the money, not only does it get rid of green water. your water will be crystal clear. 150 to 200 bucks will get you a nice inline unit. i got a lugana 28 watt new for 150. Cheers


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

Today I went to Roger's and got a Submariner 13watt UV unit. The reason I chose this one is because it works just like a submersible powerhead. No tubes or pumps needed. Check it out if you have the time. 

Anyways. It's day one and I've taken a short video of the "before" tank. Hopefully in a week or so it'll be better.


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## Jasonator (Jul 12, 2011)

Borrow my diatom filter. It has worked in a permant way in several of my tanks without fail. PM me and we will eliminate that green water!


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

Jasonator said:


> Borrow my diatom filter. It has worked in a permant way in several of my tanks without fail. PM me and we will eliminate that green water!


Thanks Jason(?), However I grabbed a UV yesterday and it's already making a noticeable difference. I couldn't be happier with my tank.

..well, if my sal's could breed that would make me happy.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. just wait a few more days and you will really like your uv when your water is crystal clear. Cheers


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

So just for something to do I'm going post a daily update on how the water is progressing.

Day 1: April 23 @ 1300
[video]http://s1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/dereksouthworth/UV%20Steriliser/?action=view&current=April231300.mp4[/video]

Day 2: April 23 @ 1100
[video]http://s1095.photobucket.com/albums/i469/dereksouthworth/UV%20Steriliser/?action=view&current=April241100.mp4[/video]


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## SeaHorse_Fanatic (Apr 22, 2010)

Yup, I have to set up my UV on my koi pond outside otherwise the water goes really green and nasty looking.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. a Betta in a gumball machine, sounds cool you got a pic ? Cheers


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

Scherb said:


> Hello. a Betta in a gumball machine, sounds cool you got a pic ? Cheers


Betta is out of the gumball and into my girlfriends 10 gallon (i swear this hobby is contagious, she's loving it).
Anyways. I still have the gumball machine. Here's a pic









It was a gift from an uncle to me and my brother. We both got a gumball machine. This must have been 10+ years ago. When I got into the hobby a few years back I saw the gumball machine and actually tried to waterproof the bowl using pure silicone.. well hah. learned the hard way that silicone wont stick to silicone. 
So i threw it out and gave up on the idea. Few months later i found a SECOND gumball machine that must have been my brothers. So i did it the right way. grabbed a yogourt lib and siliconed a bead between the lid and glass.

It only holds 3/4 of a gallon but it looks great imo. the round bowl makes seeing the fish difficult but it was still pretty cool. I thought about putting an LED into the lid but the fish was taken out before I acted on that. 
But it holds water fine. I just left it bare bottom to show off my DIY skills (not really skills) and as a conversation starter. 









Really it's just a great decorative piece. there's a restaurant somewhere (really can't remember where it was, maybe in langley) that has an petrol stand. with a ~30gallon bowl on top of it. I believed its filled with Fancy goldfish. It looks awesome and i'd love to get my hands on something like that!


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## sunshine_1965 (Aug 16, 2011)

That gas pump you are talking about is @ the old spaghetti factory in Abbotsford. There might be more of them around though. I think it is really cool. It must be hard to work on as it is so tall.


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

sunshine_1965 said:


> That gas pump you are talking about is @ the old spaghetti factory in Abbotsford. There might be more of them around though. I think it is really cool. It must be hard to work on as it is so tall.


Would make a nice (yet extremely hard to maintain) planted tank. Something like Angels with small dithers.


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. nice betta tank. i was hoping it was a older looking machine. very cool. and the gas pump sounds sweet, but i would not want to change that water, one would need a ladder just to get it done. Cheers


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## noodles11114 (May 21, 2010)

i have sold thousands of uvs over the years most for outdoor ponds reason
water is normaly on the alkaline side for koi and goldfish
people usually over feed which raises phosphates check the food you feed
check ph water on the acid side normally stays clear 
diatoms were excellent for quick clearity try and find one
what you have is a algae bloom right water conditions, and light you got it
also check the gallons an hour you need to pump through your unit 
i find the slower the better everyone wants the water clear now so the run them to fast

hope this will help
good luck and i will watch your pictures


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello. I forgot to add with my uv i run the tank lights 14 hrs a day. and i have crystal clear water. i just thought i would add that cause i always see people talking about less light time to control algae. Cheers


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

The great thing about the UV unit i got, is that it's like an internal filter. So I it suctions onto the back of my tank and has it's own built in pump. It also has an option to slow down water movement for longer exposure. Once the water clears up, I'll restrict the water movement to help with parasites and such. 
I'll post another video tomorrow morning. The water is getting so nice!


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

Scherb said:


> Hello. I forgot to add with my uv i run the tank lights 14 hrs a day. and i have crystal clear water. i just thought i would add that cause i always see people talking about less light time to control algae. Cheers


I haven't thought about that yet but it's a great idea. Maybe ill start turning on 2 of my 5 bulbs earlier on in the day. 
Again, this will only happen once my water is crystal clear!


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

Hello, sounds good. just to be clear i have a T5 ho with a 6500k for the plants and a 10,000k i think, the bulb for fish color. in a 55g. Cheers


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## BaoBeiZhu (Apr 24, 2010)

I had it once, bought these really crappy UV sterlizer that didnt do much, so intead i just had the tank off for a couple of days and 50% wc everyday.
it was cleared within days.


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## dsouthworth (Nov 21, 2011)

So for those of you who have heard about the floods going on in the interior, guess where I just spent the last 3 days? that's right. my place was flooded so wednesday morning we got a call and my dad and I got up there to try and fix it. well 3.5ft of water in the basement was impossible to deal with. anyways i'm back home. 
The first thing i did when i get here was (obviously) check on the tank! So I did and I am absolutely amazed. 
so not only is the tank as clear as drinking water, the black sand looks amazing. the fish have colours that i have never seen before. The black BG stands out like a mirror. The rocks have tints of green that I didn't think existed! And to top it off, the LED moonlights looks amazing. they now penetrate thru the water and give off an amazing shimmering effect. Here is a video of the tank right now. 
I could not be any happier with the UV investment.

sorry about ALL the fish hiding. It's 1am and the light's have been tuned off since 6. So when i turned them on for the video they all hid on us!

So here it is. April 27 @ 1:00am


















And if it can get any clearer, I'll probably throw a picture up here again just to show off my tank..


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## Scherb (Feb 10, 2011)

dsouthworth said:


> So for those of you who have heard about the floods going on in the interior, guess where I just spent the last 3 days? that's right. my place was flooded so wednesday morning we got a call and my dad and I got up there to try and fix it. well 3.5ft of water in the basement was impossible to deal with. anyways i'm back home.
> 
> Yikes 3.5 feet of water in a basement. that sucks. hope you got it all dried up. Cheers


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