Fishless Green Water Cultivation Options

[HappyBuddha]

One of the pet peeve of cultivating green water from scratch is subjecting the fishes to stress associated with high ammonia level.

Sis Kingyoo once mentioned that she cultivates her green water outdoor using just pellets and no fish.

I've been wanting to try the fishless method but a previous attempt failed misery when I didn't aerate the small tub and the pellets fermented! Puke.

This time with the sunny days, I decide to try again.

First, I use liquid fertilizer meant for planted tanks. It was probably the wrong type of fertilizer. The water kept getting browner and browner. I gave it up after a week.

Next, I use poos. One day worth of poos from 4 ranchus (that were fed mainly bloodworms and some pellets the day before). I setup a small bottle (which is actually my BBS hatchery setup). Filled it with freshly dechlorinated tap water. Aerate it and placed it on my window's ledge with morning sun (9 am to around noon.)

The classic green water cultivation cycle happened except significantly faster; day 2 the water turned cloudy. Day 3 slightly green. Day 4... as shown below. Yup... 4 days instead of up to 2-3 weeks if I had cultivated from scratch using the old way.



I should remind you that you probably should not attempt this unless you know your setup, whether artificially lit or placed outdoor, can sustain green water. You may cultivate green water from scratch this way easily, but unless you want to keep guppy in that small bottle, you better make sure your intended setup can continue to cultivate green water after you use these virgin green water as seed.

Finally... why did I use poo instead of pellets? I want speed... and I figured poos can produce ammonia faster than slowly decomposing pellets.

Cheers.

[HappyBuddha]

I am reminded that I should start using the virgin green water asap before the ammonia is depleted, and the green water collapse.

I should add that on day 3, I added another day's worth of poo into the bottle.

Also, the pic was shot under very bright sunlight, and the bottle is a mere 3 inches in diameter -- the green water thus appeared in the pic much lighter than it really is. If you look closely, the dark blue coloured air-stone, suspended in the middle of the bottle, cannot be seen.

[desireless]

Oh yeah! The days of stressing fishes for green water cultivation are finally over!!!

Wonder if it works indoor...
Let me try once I get another PL light set

[HappyBuddha]

   
Oh yeah! The days of stressing fishes for green water cultivation are finally over!!!

Wonder if it works indoor...
Let me try once I get another PL light set

Doing it indoors? It should work too but perhaps not as quickly.

But then, I'm sure you can put that bottle somewhere around your apt with direct sunlight and save yourself some trouble doing it artificially.

Just make sure you find a way to aerate it for two reasons I could think of: you need the nutrient to flow around, and algae takes in DO at night.

[nobnoba]

i am currently doing a similar project. but no aeration.
i just put a jar of water added with fish poos (2 fish worth of poos) and just leave it in the sun.
the poos start to dissolved and turn into 'green smoke-like shape' in the jar . the algae does not dispersed. is it the same or not with greenwater? i tried to swirl and shake the jar so that the smoke-like shape dispersed evenly, but it wont. Could the smoke-like is actually greenwater in another form? perhaps because of no aeration, it is having a hard time dissolving in water? i need experts opinion on this, since this is my first attempt on greenwater

i agree that using aeration is faster . because i am doing another project with my unused fish tank. i put 2 healthy ranchus there and using aeration 24 hours and direct afternoon sunlight (about 4-5 hours direct sunlight). both projects start the same time, but the one with aeration experienced no trouble at all.

[Seacucumber]

i know it may sound gross, but a little bit of our own urine might be the fastest....

[HappyBuddha]

i am currently doing a similar project. but no aeration....

I'm no expert in any way...

Like I mentioned earlier, I used pellets but without aeration they fermented.

Aeration is important as bro laser told me that nutrient must flow around the container for the algae to feed on. Without aeration, they sink to the bottom in the stagnant water.

Even more important is the fact all living things (well, I'm not quite sure if this is true) need oxygen or dissolved oxygen. Algae gives out DO during day time but don't forget that during nite time they reverse the process and release carbon dioxide when they take in DO. Without DO, they die. It's really as simple as that.

Hence I suggest you throw away that bottle and start afresh making sure you provide aeration.

[Amos]

Hello Happybuddha

After reading about green water in the forum, I cultivated some using the method outlined here. I am surprised and proud to say now I have a small bottle of green water after just two days.

I'm writing to ask if it's okay for me to pour the green water into my filtered tank? I gathered that real green water does not require filtration but would it be okay nevertheless?

Regards
Amos

[desireless]

Hello Happybuddha

After reading about green water in the forum, I cultivated some using the method outlined here.  I am surprised and proud to say now I have a small bottle of green water after just two days.

I'm writing to ask if it's okay for me to pour the green water into my filtered tank?  I gathered that real green water does not require filtration but would it be okay nevertheless?

Regards
Amos

No. Fishless Green Water Cultivation is a advance level of green water cultivation from the orginal article written here:

How To Cultivate Green Water From Scratch

Your green water algae will not likely survive the Filtered system in your current tank.

So just follow that article above to set up the tub for normal green water cultivation. Since you already have the green water seed in that bottle, you can skip the KICK START stage where your fishes are usually stressed.

[mrchoco]

anyway I heard that BB dies when exposed to light. So green water still have BB? if no filter is used. If filter is some how used, maybe add some JYP to kill off the BB so that the green water can survive?

Just some suggestions to experiment with.

[CyberET]

wouldn't JYP affect green water as well?

[mrchoco]

hmm..
true hor.
some algae classified as cyno bacteria.
or some similar term.
hmm..
can try lor.
pour JYP into greenwater see will collapse or not.
i haven't try yet. cos i dun want to reset my filter.

[desireless]

Fishless green water Project #2:

Following same method as bro HB, this is a similar project for indoor, using PL light.

Very simple and small setup. I started out using very small amount of de-chlorined water, in a 1 litre guppy tank. With just air stone, drop a few Hikari sinking pellets. Then let the PL light run for 24hr non-stop. The whole projects took about 8 before I see green.





Pic 1& 2: Day 0. The setup requires very small space.



Pic 3: Day 3. The pellets "dissolved". No green yet.



Pic 4: Day 5. I added new dose of Hikari pellets. Can already see green algae collect by the sides of tank. This is wall algae which is to be removed. Just use hand to rub away the algae. I used net to scoop away the pieces of wall algae.



Pic 5: Day 7. By this time, I can already see the water turning pale green. The algae is still not riped but I have decided to end the project here. I poured the water into another tank with 30litre of water. Threw a fish inside and continue to shine the water with same PL light for another 3 days non-stop to see full green. After that I added more de-chlorined water into that tank to my desired amount.

WHY THIS?
For these 2 fishless projects, you need not stress your fish in the 8-day kick-start period where ammonia level is usually high.

[CyberET]

does the water clear up partly if u turn off the aeration for an hour?

[desireless]

I didn't try. Does it matter?