When The Green Water Is Too Green Options

[void]

Dear all green water users...

When to tell whether the green water is too green and need to be change? I've read somewhere that too much green means it contain too many protein which is bad for the lungs or something like that... is this true? thanks...

[Allan]

A good rule of thumb is change the green water after one week. From there you can learn from your own experience how intensely green it should get before you need to change it. Lately with the cloudy weather, I am changing once a week while previously I need to change once every five days.

As a guide, you can select the "RafflesGold Intense Green" skin and look at the background colour; the dark green is about how green it should be. Heh.

[cktan]

I just changed my green water tonight and notice some red streaks on 2 out of 3 of the goldfish tail fins. True enough the ammonia in the water measured 0.5mg/l.

There is only three 2 inch goldfish in the 3ft guppy tub filled with 130 liters of water. Light is MH (4200Lum) and switch on for 11 hours (7.30am - 6.30pm). Feeding is 4 times a day (only 1 click on the food timer each time) and all feeds done before 12 noon. Water changes 90% every week.

The water is usually intense green on the 6 and 7 day. Any idea why ammonia can be present despite no overloading nor overfeeding. I will be going for a overseas trip for 10 days and wonder what might happen if i dont change water for 10 days. 7 days i already see 0.5mg/l of ammonia and intense green water. Wah, 10 days really cannot imagine what might happen. Any suggestions to tackle this problem?

[desireless]

I just changed my green water tonight and notice some red streaks on 2 out of 3 of the goldfish tail fins. True enough the ammonia in the water measured 0.5mg/l.

You need to know that green water algae is also a type of plant. It will tend to compete DO with goldfish when there is no light (at night). And like plants, algae produces Carbon Dioxide at night. . This is why air stones are needed to ensure enough DO in green water at all time. The algae will also do nothing to the waste produced by your fishes in the absence of light too

Yo Void, long time no see...
I supposed you mean "too much oxygen" when it is too green. It will cause oxygen burn. I must admit I have never seen what oxygen burn is.

You can go to a poll started by HB quite some time back to read more on the green intensity.

[HappyBuddha]

I just changed my green water tonight and notice some red streaks on 2 out of 3 of the goldfish tail fins. True enough the ammonia in the water measured 0.5mg/l.

There is only three 2 inch goldfish in the 3ft guppy tub filled with 130 liters of water. Light is MH (4200Lum) and switch on for 11 hours (7.30am - 6.30pm). Feeding is 4 times a day (only 1 click on the food timer each time) and all feeds done before 12 noon. Water changes 90% every week.

The water is usually intense green on the 6 and 7 day. Any idea why ammonia can be present despite no overloading nor overfeeding.  I will be going for a overseas trip for 10 days and wonder what might happen if i dont change water for 10 days. 7 days i already see 0.5mg/l of ammonia and intense green water. Wah, 10 days really cannot imagine what might happen. Any suggestions to tackle this problem?

Although some bros claim it's okay to use a bulb with a color temperature of less than 6500 Kelvin, I suggest you change yours to day light. 4,200 lum (I presume that's 4,200 Kelvin) is nothing like natural day light. We are not looking for brightness (defined by the output wattage of the bulb) but an emulation of day light, ie, whiteness of 6,500 kelvin. To comprehend this, many bros are cultivating green water with (not very bright) 36 watts PL lamp because the PL lamp is of the correct colour temperature 6,500 kelvin. Your setup's environment thus is not ideal to promote algae's growth due to the wrong type of lighting. You thus is recording a high ammonia level and water turning green only on the 6th and 7th day onwards. As you can see, the long hours doesn't help.

Hope that helps.

[HappyBuddha]

Yo Void, long time no see... 
I supposed you mean "too much oxygen" when it is too green. It will cause oxygen burn. I must admit I have never seen what oxygen burn is. 

Kekeke. Maybe you have mistaken bro void "coming back"; this is an old topic started in Feb. Anyway, bro void is around but a change in his work schedule means having less time for him to login.

[mrchoco]

I just changed my green water tonight and notice some red streaks on 2 out of 3 of the goldfish tail fins. True enough the ammonia in the water measured 0.5mg/l.

There is only three 2 inch goldfish in the 3ft guppy tub filled with 130 liters of water. Light is MH (4200Lum) and switch on for 11 hours (7.30am - 6.30pm). Feeding is 4 times a day (only 1 click on the food timer each time) and all feeds done before 12 noon. Water changes 90% every week.

The water is usually intense green on the 6 and 7 day. Any idea why ammonia can be present despite no overloading nor overfeeding.  I will be going for a overseas trip for 10 days and wonder what might happen if i dont change water for 10 days. 7 days i already see 0.5mg/l of ammonia and intense green water. Wah, 10 days really cannot imagine what might happen. Any suggestions to tackle this problem?

Anyway fish release ammonia through their gills and they also urine. yes they do just that we cannot see it.

[mountain]

The water is usually intense green on the 6 and 7 day. Any idea why ammonia can be present despite no overloading nor overfeeding.  I will be going for a overseas trip for 10 days and wonder what might happen if i dont change water for 10 days. 7 days i already see 0.5mg/l of ammonia and intense green water. Wah, 10 days really cannot imagine what might happen. Any suggestions to tackle this problem?

Since leaving greeen water on for 10 days while away poses considerable risk to you, why not consider leaving your fish in blue water for 10 days?? We have folks here who left the fish home for more then 13 days...

[goldie]

Hi, I'm new here. Since u guys talk about oxygen burn. May I ask if one of the fish has this, what remedy to cure it?

Thanks.

[Allan]

Hi, I'm new here. Since u guys talk about oxygen burn. May I ask if one of the fish has this, what remedy to cure it?

Thanks.

Discard the excessively intense green water and make sure it doesn't happen again. Meanwhile, there's no need to apply medication (if that's what was on your mind) as the fish will heal itself.

[goldie]

Thanks and duly noted.

[cktan]

Although some bros claim it's okay to use a bulb with a color temperature of less than 6500 Kelvin, I suggest you change yours to day light.  4,200 lum (I presume that's 4,200 Kelvin) is nothing like natural day light.    We are not looking for brightness (defined by the output wattage of the bulb) but an emulation of day light, ie, whiteness of 6,500 kelvin.  To comprehend this, many bros are cultivating green water with (not very bright) 36 watts PL lamp because the PL lamp is of the correct colour temperature 6,500 kelvin.  Your setup's environment thus is not ideal to promote algae's growth due to the wrong type of lighting.  You thus is recording a high ammonia level and water turning green only on the 6th and 7th day onwards.  As you can see, the long hours doesn't help. 

Hope that helps.

HB, i bought the OSRAM double ended MH light bulb on recommendation by Alvin. He himself is using that bulb in his home. I think he misunderstood that the bulb is a 6500K until i told me as what the seller relate to me.

The water turns intense green on the 6 or 7th day. Not green but intense green. It usually turns green on the 2nd or 3rd day after a water change.

[cktan]

Anyway fish release ammonia through their gills and they also urine. yes they do just that we cannot see it.

I understand that. goldfish produce ammonia 24/7 and even till the day they died. Problem is without overfeeding or overloading the tub, the green water is still unable to effectively lower or remove the ammonia. 0.5mg/l is quite high and can be damaging to fish over the long term if PH is > 7.5

The red streaks on the goldfish tail is evident of high enough ammonia.

[cktan]

Since leaving greeen water on for 10 days while away poses considerable risk to you, why not consider leaving your fish in blue water for 10 days?? We have folks here who left the fish home for more then 13 days...

What is blue water? Are u refering to adding medication to the water or normal clear tap water?

[HappyBuddha]

HB, i bought the OSRAM double ended MH light bulb on recommendation by Alvin. He himself is using that bulb in his home. I think he misunderstood that the bulb is a 6500K until i told me as what the seller relate to me.

The water turns intense green on the 6 or 7th day. Not green but intense green. It usually turns green on the 2nd or 3rd day after a water change.

Sorry I'm a bit lost over what was your question, so I re-read it.

Okay... firstly 0.5mg/l of ammonia in green water is not an alarming level. Goldfish is hardy (despite what some bros have written about their fishes). Fact is algae does not take in ammonia when there's no light. Fortunately green water still works for goldfish because when there's no light our fish go to a less active state and hence produces less ammonia. It implies it's quite a disaster if you keep your green water tub in the living room where there's enough light to keep the fishes awake yet not enough to get the algae to do their work.

Pleas re-run your test during the day and you will probably get a different reading. Don't forget to test the pH level as ammonia is lethal at pH> 7.5 (there's a FAQ on this) while green water's pH usually hoovers above 8 and close to 9! But do you see any problem with anyone's fishes in green water? I'm trying to say your test was flawed. Also... if you test intense green water, do use the JBL's pH kit mentioned elsewhere.