When The Green Water Is Too Green Options

[void]

Dear all green water users...

When to tell whether the green water is too green and need to be change? I've read somewhere that too much green means it contain too many protein which is bad for the lungs or something like that... is this true? thanks...

[bekko]

Also, the individual single cell algae in green water do not live very long. They are constantly dividing and constantly dying. When they die, they are decomposed by bacteria and most of the stored nitrogen is released back into the water as ammonia.

A green water culture is said to have a "lag phase", a "log phase", a "stationary phase" and a "death phase". Here is a graph from the web:
http://sunny.crk.umn.edu/courses/biolknut/...cro2/sld010.htm

One of the purposes of the water change is to keep the algae growth in the log phase where the number of cells is increasing rapidly. Since the rate of cell division is much greater than the rate of cell death in log phase (as evidenced by the rapid increase in cell numbers), the rate of nitrogen uptake is also at its peak. The amount of water kept from the previous week keeps you from having to wait through the lag phase every time water is exchanged. In the stationary phase, the cells are dying at the same rate they are dividing and there is no net uptake of nitrogen from the water. In the death phase, everything is going to hell quickly and all that stored nitrogen is being released back to the water.

Hope this helps,
-steve h