jrtiberius

I was wondering if this method would work with other plants, perhaps interjecting the roots of a water lilly... Hmmm?

fishnutnut

I've read through this entire thread and have had the same thought having used devils ivy to soak up nitrates in a fish only tank imo i think using any plant thats capable of devloping large roots in water would do the trick such as bamboo and pussywillows both readily available at local greenhouses and would be a easier to find for those of you that do not have willow trees in your local

I am going to try this as an experiment also in a bit just in the middle of clearing up my tanks with a uv light so i need to intoduce gw to another setup

xinnix

Did the willow branches have any bad effect on any of the fish? I have tried diatom filters and have not had god results. I have access to willow trees and was wondering how many branches to put in a 125 gallon tank. It is March here in upstate NY so the trees are dormant. Will they start rooting once they warm up and have thelight from the tank? Is there any special way the branches should be cleaned before adding them to the tank. I have read good and bad results here. Do you feel this is the answer to clearing the Green water? Thanks

Oleg

I haven't noticed anything bad on any of my fish, shrimps and snails.
I would try 5-10. They will root. Please read what branches should be used.
I just rinse them.
This is what I did few times and I know it worked for me. I cannot say for other people as I cannot control how they do it. If they don't follow the same scheme as I did I cannot guarantee the result And if you read the thread carefully you will see that some people don't really want to understand why this did not work for them but simply deny the method.

Good luck and please keep us updated. Pictures would especially helpful.

fisherelli

I tried willow branches, rinsed in old tank water. Tried 4 branches in a 100L tank for 2 weeks, but it did not work for me. They grew roots within 4 days or so. I used weeping willow branches - maybe this is the wrong type? I will be getting a uv filter once I have a canister filter up and running.

JerseyScape

I stirred up my substrate about two weeks ago and I am unable to shake the green water. There is no other algae in the tank what so ever except the water itself

I went to my local park and ripped off a few branches from a Weeping Willow tree to see what happens. The other day the tank was blacked out and nothing has changed except my plants withered away (it was blacked out for 4 days). Well, today I put in a few branches just to see if this method works and will report back to you. Since I live in a cold climate that might affect the tree somewhat because they are in hybernation mode for the winter right now.

Here are a few pics and I'll update if anything changes.

******** 3/3/06 ********

snoopfish

Such a great thread, I have spent the last half hour reading through most of the posts. I too stirred up my substrate a couple of weeks ago (by removing a couple of plants) and this last week had an issue with the beginnings of green water. In my tank, it just looked like a white haze. Last night I used my Magnum 250 with some diatom powder in it. I let it run for about 3 or 4 hours. When I opened up the filter to clean it out, it was definately algae inside. I am going to continue to feed my plants and try to replace the ones that were removed. I will keep you posted on my results, as I don't expect that I am free and clear of my GW just yet. It can't be that easy to get rid of !!

taekwondodo

Good thread!

I have had only minor issues on my 55G - but spring is coming and my 4Kgal koi pond is already a muddy green/brown and I have a willow in my yard (suckers 7 years old and 2' around and 50' high already and starting to wrek my yard).

Every year I go through GW with the pond - have to run UV and AlgaeFix the Cr## out of it.

This could be good - I'll put several branches in the pond and see what happens as spring progresses.

Thanks for the idea.

- Jeff

DelawareJim

Barley straw works to clear up green water too. The pond crowd has been using it successfully for several years now.

So for those who can't find willow branches, trot on down to your local garden center that also sells pond supplies and they should have barley straw available in a variety of sized containers.

Cheers.
Jim

taekwondodo

I've used barley straw a couple of times and:

1) It takes a lot of barley straw for a 4.5KG Pond, and
2) I never did get any noticeable results...

- Jeff