houseofcards

Oleg, well thanks for starting this thread. I'm afraid to take the branches out. Do you remove branches or have you kept a few in after the GW cleared.

Edward

Hi

The magic word is NOT Willow for me.
I have 4 identical 10 gallon aquariums in a sunny room with green water. In one as an experiment I placed a bunch of willow branches. They have developed roots and been there for 4 weeks. The green water has NOT changed. Why?

Edward

houseofcards

Edward,
Well that is interesting. Are there only willow branches in the tank and nothing else? Is it possible that the willow branches land a hand to their aquatic plant cousins by sucking up enough to get rid of the GW, but on their own it's not enough. Maybe the plant mass in my tank was going to clear the GW eventually anyway. I simply don't know and I guess more controlled experiements would be necessary.

Oleg

The magic word is NOT Willow for me. -
Thank you Edward for the experiment!
You probably continued feeding your GW with nitrogen, didn't you?
If you'll give enough food for both GW and willow, they both will be living in your tank.
If you stop adding your ferts the GW will die much faster than willow.
Or maybe it depends HOW MUCH NO3 we are adding. It would be interesting to try two tanks with GW and willow, first - adding NO3 as usual, second - limiting or discontinuing NO3.

Edward

Hi houseofcards and Oleg
You want me to starve the algae? We can try that, but what about the plants? The aquariums are fully planted and without proper water column fertilization the plants will die. Is this the plan?

Edward

Oleg

Hi Edward,
I hope your GW will die much faster than plants and you then happily continue your proper water column fertilization
Best wishes,
Oleg

Edward

Hi Oleg
My 13 aquariums run 4 UV sterilizers over here so it’s not a problem getting rid of the green water in few hours. I perform experiments on purpose so we can help members who do not have access to the UV sterilizers.

Edward

Oleg

I know, Edward, you are doing a very good thing. I just answered you the same way as you ask the question.
If you truly want to understand why willow didn't work in your specific case then please describe your 10G tank in details and we will think together. But be open to learn not only teach.
Regards,
Oleg

Edward

Hi Oleg
It’s quite interesting. We have in this direct sunlight room four 10 gallon aquariums and one 50 gallon. The 50 gallon aquarium doesn’t get green water, but the other aquariums do. This goes on for years. I was hoping the willow does the trick because it is so simple. I even tried the Aspirin as mentioned above, one tablet a day – didn’t kill the green water.

I will keep the willow there so we can see how it goes.

Thank you
Edward

houseofcards

Edward

I don't thing you read my replys.

BTW - I continued to dose no3 and po4. The water right now is crystal clear.

I never stopped dosing no3 and po4. I believe the branches assist with "sucking up" enough nutrients to tip the scales in favor of the plants.