Elkmor

Don't put willow into gravel - roots must be outside of earth to get their food from water, not from substrate.

Not every willow will work - the best one grows near warter, with long thin leafs. It produces "hairy" red roots. You can see more pictures here: http://lis.aqa.ru/iva/iva.html

Willow in the tank can supress plants too, not algae only.

P.S. Not only willow will help - mangrove is the other to try.

Another known way is to put enougth daphnia into gauze and place it into tank... theoretically, they'll eat all the "green water" algae (never tried it, it seems that this method is not widely tested).

orandachan

Hello,

I think this is going to be my first post here. But I've been browsing around acquiring rich information about the trade. I thought I'd contribute on this useful thread.

So I started getting GW about two weeks ago and tried curing it with API's Accu-Clear (which temporarily worked on my pond before). Used it twice as recommended and no improvement whatsoever.

The water got so murky I couldn't see anything past 8in deep. Well, yesterday I got some branches from a weeping willow tree, tossed it in my aquarium - with the leaves still on, and took the flower buds off - and after 24 hours, I now noticed quite a difference! Not only could I see the back of my aquarium (12in), I could see a plant 24in away from the side glass.

No roots have developed on the branches. The branches were very young ones, probably 6 of them 16in+ in my 55 gal.

I can't wait for what's happening tomorrow. I think at this rate, it should be crystal clear after 24 hours?! Only if things went that smooth...

Thanks everyone in advance for such wonderful insight.

-Steve

jorgeoliveira

I have tested the willow branch!
It work fine to me (it took one and half weeks) but drained all the nutrients from the water besides Green Algae.
The plants are recovering now.

orandachan

So after 48 hours, my water became clear-er than before. I'm just blown away with the results!!! None of the other plants seem to had any negative affect. So thanks everyone!

-S

phangster

Dear all,
could you guys confirm with me if the following picture is indeed that of a willow tree?
thanks and regards

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/g...2_original.jpg

ruki

Most floating pond plants need very high light levels to do well in indoor aquarium. So the water lilly types aren't practical indoors for most people. But, some of the other floating plants should work. In particular Pistia stratodes (water lettuce) might be the best one to try.

I had a water lily type plant melt down due to a bug infestation and then the water turned green. I put in some Pistia stratodes and that cleared it up in about a week. This appoach also worked when I added too many micros in another tank which resulted in an algal bloom.

Spirodela polyrrhza (Giant duckweed) should also help, but doesn't develop the roots that really seem to pull excess nutrients out of the water.

remy

Hi there,

Old post, but helpfull, thanks!
I'm off to find some willowbranches, shouldn't be hard to find in my country

celaeno

hi, i have a bare bottom 10 gallon tank that has had green water for about half a year now. i tried blackouts, but the green water came back. algone, a commercial product, also had no effect after 2 weeks. then i got linked to this thread from aquahobby forums.

so i now have 8 1-foot long willow tree branches, each 1/8" thick. i placed them under the light and put the hood on. the ends of the branches are sticking out.

will willow branches of this length and thickness work, or do i need thicker or longer branches?

celaeno

now, after about a week, i see little white puffs forming on the branches. are they rotting or will roots come out?

epicfish

It's either rotting, or a type of fungus. Take it out and scrub the puffs off.

If you've had GW that long, I'd just go ahead and either buy or rent a diatom filter. I'm glad I did.