I've been in the hobby for 4-5 years now. I was wondering wat green water is and if its beneficial and why? I've herd of green water before but figured it was some sort of medication.

(I would of posted this in the FAQ but posting there is dissallowed.)

greenwater is algae particles in the water they provide filtration so filters are not needed but you need airation you have to be careful as the fish can suffer oxygen burns. your params would all be at 0 across the board.

if small ranchu or d_golem come along they will give you a better answer than what i provided as my knoweldge in greenwater is minimal

The benefit of GW is that it makes your fish's colour brighter, and i'll also see not needing a filter as a benefit too

Green water provides an environment of nutrients - the fish are literally swimming in "food" - ingesting the algae constantly. This can help some fish to grow very large - very quickly.

Green water is NOT a carefree system - it requires water changing and vigilance and care, also.

I will just repost what I posted on the other site

Green Water set up is the set up contains green algae, fish, tank, light source and air stone. Green algae is a single cell element that take ammonia+light as their food source. Unlike clear water, it doesn't release any secondary product such as nitrite or nitrate back to the water. Ammonia, Nitrite and nitrate will be zero all time. According to the water parameter point of view, green water is the best for gold fish.
On the other hand, fish will consume algae which has a good percentage of protein (I think it's more than 60%, I am not sure for the number.) It's like feeding them green every day which we have to substitute with pea in clear water system. It is also a constant feeding system with a very small amount of food. Since we are constantly giving our fish with green, our fish in green water hardly get SBD.
As a result of good water parameter and good food, the fish in GW tend to grow fast. Color gets brighter and better wen growth.

But in gw set up you have to change at least 90% of water once a week. Since too much can cause oxygen burn to your fish. And you won't see your fish by the day b4 water change is scheduled.

This is a balance between how you want to treat your fish VS how you want to enjoy them. For me, I want to have my fish in a good environment.

Here is one of my green water setup

Do you feed your fish other foods, or do they just eat the algea in the tank? Also, where do you get green water? Do you have to make it?

I give my fish frozen blood worm(Hikari brand) and Hikari Lionhead. I am using the feeding schedule as follow

6:30 AM Frozen Bloodworm
7:30 AM Frozen Bloodworm
10:00 AM Hikari Lion Pellet (auto feeder)
12:00 AM Hikari Lion Pellet (auto feeder)

It is under assumption that fish can digest frozen bloodworm in one hour and requires two hours to digest pellet around 75F. My fish grow very fast and looks strong in this way. You have to remember one thing in here, for ranchu I am aiming a strong fish like a japanese Sumo. We don't want fat fish. Another important facts is the amount of food we feed; I follow 1 min rule means I give the amount of food they can finish in 1 min.

In the following link, you can find a way to cultivate green water. http://www.kokosgoldfish.invisionzone.com/...st&p=445219

My tank keeps turning green water and I'm not even trying, lucky me I guess. But my tank is in my living room so it looks like a tank full of nasty green water, which my parents think means that I don't clean my tank. lol

hey, ive heard it isn't good for sick fish. is that true?

i htink it is really cool but it would smell really bad

Lucky, actually, it doesnt smell bad at all. i have a greenwater pond outside, and i think it smell no different from a regular clear water tanks....

Properly kept green water will not smell.

The "green" of the green water will change color - and can help in identifying a "problem" in a tank. Other than the fact that you may not be able to keep a proper green going in the presence of sick fish, green water is fine for a "sick" fish. It does not harm them and may even help them with wonderful nutrition. As mentioned above - a constant supply of green food makes for wonderful digestion - helping fish that may have problems in that area.

Green water does not simply mean loads of algae in the water, though. It is a rather specific way of using the free floating algae to filter and purify the water as well as provid nutrition for the fish.

i just assumed that it would smell because it smells bad when i clean the ornaments in my tank. i better go i am in typing class