Path: utzoo!hoptoad!mejac!decwrl!labrea!husc6!mailrus!umix!nancy!eecae!super.upenn.edu!linc.cis.upenn.edu!salex
From: salex@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Scott Alexander)
Newsgroups: alt.aquaria
Subject: green water
Message-ID: <4576@super.upenn.edu>
Date: 9 May 88 19:01:49 GMT
Sender: news@super.upenn.edu
Reply-To: salex@linc.cis.upenn.edu (Scott Alexander)
Organization: University of Pennsylvania
Lines: 23

About two months ago, I finally went ahead and got an aquarium.  The guy
at the fish store suggested that goldfish were the most difficult to
kill, so I started off with 2 choclate orgamis and a 10 gallon setup.
I have the tank, a fluorescent light/hood, one of the little
bubbler/filters that sits in the corner, and some gravel.

About 3 weeks after I set up the aquarium, I suddently got a thick growth
of algae on the sides of the tank in about 1 week.  I then added a snail.
The snail made some inroads, but certainly showed no signs of cleaning the
tank.  I then talked to a (different) aquarium store.  They suggested that
I start checking the pH and that I scrape the sides.  The pH was a bit
high, but using the stuff they suggested, I brought it back down and
it's been steady since.  I also scraped the algae off the sides. Two days after
scraping, the water turned very green.  It's green enough that I cannot
see all the way through the tank even on the short dimension.  Their
next suggestion was to change 1/3 of the water.  This had no noticeable
effect.  At the suggestion that the aquarium was asserting that it needed
more plant growth I added the plants with no effect.  What have I done
wrong and what should I do next?

Thanks,
Scott Alexander
salex@linc.cis.upenn.edu