# culturing greenwater (in tank)



## Flear

does anyone else have intentional experience with this ?

-i had greenwater (intentionally, i wanted it in the tank - first part of many ideas to follow)
-the greenwater crashed (unintentional)
-i could not get greenwater started again (i would add additional cultured greenwater directly to the tank and it would die within a couple days - clear water again)
-i eventually gave up adding additional greenwater to the tank for a few months (2-3 months)

i added some greenwater to the tank again a few days ago, it died off too, but instead of clearing up within a few days it took it near a week this time.

i could try an 80% water change in the tank (near the entire thing) and likely only remove 80% of whatever it is that is killing the greenwater culture i add to the tank. to me this doesn't sound like a solution. only 80% of a solution, so keeping 20% of the problem

does anyone have any other ideas on what to do to solve the problem so i could have greenwater in the main tank again ?

---

there are all kinds of things i could have in a tank that had it's own greenwater culture

-clams
-freshwater sponges
-daphnia (or other zooplankton)

without greenwater these are going to starve to death.

Edit:
i know where to get freshwater sponges for our aquariums (canada & US both)


----------



## beaslbob

I have cultured marine green water to help feed corals.

Florida aqua farms has supplies and even a book.

my .02


----------



## Flear

culturing yes, ... i did that for a bit, ... then it crashed 

now what ?

what do i do to get it going again ?

lots of large water changes ? ... i'm rather at a loss

unless there is some other bacterioplankton or something in there that i can't see that is eating all the greenwater and is slowly dying off because it's starving, not likely (added greenwater going from 2 days to almost a week before water is clear again) ... i'm really at a loss (i'm thinking something toxic from the greenwater dying that i have to wait for it to break down, but no one has any answers)

yes, having greenwater, prevent it from dying, ... or how to kill it ... yes these are what everyone talks about.

how about if it crashed and now your scratching your head "what to do" and no one has any advice beyond "hey, get rid of it" ... I WANT IT! and suddenly no one knows anything about how to get it back or what happened that the tank is now dealing with.


----------



## rickey

We use it a lot in goldfish culture

http://vermilliongoldfishclub.com greenwaterl

http://www.raingarden.us greenwater


----------



## Flear

Ricky, yes, ...

there's a site online that talks about how they do their cultures

a large tank/barrel with goldfish, to provide lots for the greenwater.
they then move the greenwater to another container to use for food for zooplankton

i don't remember the time they waited to remove greenwater from the goldfish, but to refeed the zooplankton was warned to do so before the water was clear again ... damn, i gotta reread that site.


----------



## rickey

It does a great job conditioning fish. You also don't want that dark slimely green water but nice bright green water it's pretty EZ to do outside I've never tried it inside under lights

R


----------



## Flear

does phytoplankton use ammonium/nitrates like plants do ?


----------



## rickey

Flear said:


> does phytoplankton use ammonium/nitrates like plants do ?


Yes sir, it will burn off nitrate at an inconceivable rate that many times results in a die back. I can generally double my stocking load to between 50-60 5" Fancy Goldfish (depending on breed) in a 300 gallon stocktank but I'm also changing 10% of the water daily. I do most of my testing with a TDS meter and have about 300 ppm witch is very near what my water comes out of the well at.


----------



## henningc

One trick I learned was to take healthy green water and make ice cubes out of it. The process: I use strip tanks so when I siphon waste I do it through a brine shrimps net. I take a small glass eye dropper full of waste and add it to each ice cube hole then fill it with green water as freeze. When you need green water, simply place 1-2 cubes in a mason jar with aquarium water and add an additional dropper of fish waste. Place the jar in the window and within 3-5 days you got a really thick green water culture. These are really unstable so if you need green water for say a week get multiple jars going. 

The only way I have been able to keep a culture going long-term is outside or with plant lights.


----------



## Flear

if i submerged this bulb directly into a bucket of nutrient rich water

SHO & CFL Aquarium Lights | Compact Fluorescent | Sockets | Hydroponics









just a theory at the moment

but this much light directly in the water should provide phytoplankton with tons of light

worst case scenarios - the bulb could break, ... it should be easy enough to protect the ballast from direct water damage though

i'm curious about input.

as far as curiosities go, ... if this is great for phytoplankton (with lots of water current to keep things flowing) nitrates & other nutrients would be sucked back beyond compare i would think.

does anyone else have some input on the idea ?

Edit:
as far as putting this directly in the water, ... i guess it doesn't matter if i've got a separate bucket for greenwater or this is directly in the display tank for culturing greenwater there


----------



## rickey

SHO cfl like that put out a ton of light, I would hang it over the aquarium in a Clamp on light reflector 

R


----------



## Flear

and greenwater can get dense enough to block light to deeper depths


----------



## Flear

learning about greenwater in my tank or what used to be greenwater & whatever it is that prevents me from getting a culture going again.

i'm tempted to remove my HOB filter, ... but not confident that that's a smart move yet.

anyway.

i took a 50/50 mix of tank water with greenwater culture (stable culture, doesn't want to die in it's bucket and i ignore it)

almost a week later and it's still the same light green it started out in
in tank after adding some greenwater, aside from the first day, each day after that the water got lighter and lighter till about a week later it was crystal clear again, ... so frustrating.

but i think (i hope) i learned something, ...

it's nothing toxic in the tank that is the issue of what is killing off my greenwater
something is either eating it or it's not surving the HOB filter :/

extra frustrating.

i'm sure beaslbob will suggest "remove the HOB filter".

it's strickly only mechanical filter, nothing else, ... i've removed all other baggies and other materials except the foam blocks i've filled it with (i love those things)

but it seems (guessing) there is something about them that is killing the greenwater that i so desperatly want to survive and even thrive.

---

i'm at a bit of a loss unless i want to experiment, experiments are good
i can turn it off and leave it disconnected for several days (weeks maybe) to check and see if adding greenwater dies off as it has been or begins to thrive.

i'm curious about input, ideas, knowledge (as little as there is about maintaining a greenwater culture)
even knowledge/experience of others who have learned what to do and what not to do by their own trial-and-error.

if things are good i can start getting stuff i would really love to try in the tank
-a freshwater sponge (gotta get creative to see how to get it survive with flagfish (if this is problem))
-remind myself to stay away from clams
-zoo-plankton (likely daphnia, and worse probably magna species - isn't there anywhere in canada that sells smaller daphnia or preferably moina ?


----------



## Flear

one inquiry led to another inquiry led to wanting to continue this farther.

with such a light directly in the tank, there was mentioned to me concerns about this causing problems, i'm not sure what problems, but i'm curious.

i am curious also on culturing greenwater, and populations of zooplankton that would be encouraged as well in the same tank

i could expect higher densities of greenwater with such bright light (provided sufficient nutrient availability) with more greenwater food for zooplankton present i could expect higher densities of zooplankton (provided there was sufficient filtering due to increased waste from higher zooplankton concentrations) ... or as a minimum an easier time for the zooplankton to want to reproduce more due to the abundance of food for them

i'm curious about any and all feedback on this idea and related thoughts.


----------

