In dire need of ideas. I admit defeat. I have a 50 gal tank with a ten gal sump complete with an eshopps 100 in sump protein skimmer and bio filtration. About a month ago, i noticed one day the water looked a little cloudy after adding a piece of live rock from the hidden reef i was told was cured and ready to be put right in the tank. It took two days before the whole tank was nothing but green water, so green you couldn’t see more than two inches into the tank. i looked everywhere for advice. the only answer i could seem to find was to do 10-15% water changes once every other day and the problem should go away in a week or a little more. that was three weeks ago. I even hooked up a uv sterilizer i had stopped using about a year ago on a different tank. It did nothing. So finally after going through a bucket of salt and seeing absolutely no result, i gave up and decided to do about a 90% water change. So i did. By the way, i use RO water. After adding the water, I still couldn’t see all the way through the tank. it took two more days before the problem was just as bad as it originally was. I basically went through a bucket and a half of salt in three weeks to no avail. I also decided to set up a whisper filter on the back of the tank with fresh carbon pads just so i could run water through there and see if that would get rid of the green. It did nothing. I give up. Anyone have any ideas??? please please please help.
First of all, what else is in the tank besides the rock? sand or anything else? what’s in the sump? you said bio filtration, what is it? did you let the tank cycle before you started to put anything in? Pictures would be nice.
That sucks badly… are you using a filter sock or pad in your sump? I would have pulled that live rock out if it did that to my tank immediately. I would pull it now If I were you and put it a bucket or something by itself with a powerhead and skimmer or kill/bake the rock. Have you had any fatalities yet? I wish I knew more about that problem but I have no personal experience I just know shops tend to cure rock that way. Do you have cheato or any other macro algaes in you’re sump? That might help a little :S
i would remove the rock use carbon and some type of mechanical filtration that filters very small microns water change and good flow. but carbon is the most important and use the correct amount and change it every two days to a week.
i was looking into a diatom filter, but didn’t want to just buy one not knowing whether or not it would work. I an old filter i used on my last tank set up and that holds two carbon pads. i used to have a filter sock in there, but pulled it out when this started happening for fear that it was part of the problem. would a diatom filter get rid of the green water?
in the tank is a one inch sand bed, about twenty lbs of live rock (i know i need more and i’m hoping someone has some but that thread is in the market place forum).
I also have three fish in there. a clown and two damsels. all three had been in there for about four months before this happened. I also had a BTA in there for about a month before this happened and it had been doing fine until this. I was feeding it once a week and the clown had hosted it and everything what hunky dory then… ::hitsthefan::
Im surprised no one asked what your water quality is. what are your nitrates and phosphate?
the only way i ever managed to get an alge bloom that good was to inject poly phosphate into the water (for culturing fresh water rotifers)
As for the UV they only break down the cell membrane causing the algfe to clump together so it can be more easily removed by mechanical filters. If its a little 9 watt uv id slow the flow way way down thru it.
My suggestions for a fix is to turn off the lights, increase the air supply to the tank, slow the flow thru the uv, add mechanical filter, stop changing the water, and test your ro water to see if there is any phosphates coming thru. If you like in northern DE and have united water as a provider i would suspect you have phosphates in your ro water as they are injecting poly phosphate into the north system to form a coating inside the mains to reduce corrosion and provide better water quality.
What kind of sand and is it new or used ?
we could get you water clear easily enough I think but we need to find out what is feeding it to keep it from coming back.
You have to look at it like this you are providing it with food and light that it likes.
If it is getting direct sunlight that could be part of it, algae seem to like light in the yellow to red spectrum.
What size is your return pump and the head height ?
You mention bio filtration, what kind ? and where is it?
You said it happened almost overnight ? could fish food accidental got spilled into the tank ?
Sorry to hear, but i’m sure it can be fixed with a little effort and some good basics…
Paramaters… all that you can test for would be great, and what your testing with…
average temp…salinity… type of lighting and schedule etc…
and pics of the whole setup…flow, substrate, rockwork… and the sump… the “bio” part always raises eyebrows especially if it has the bio balls in it.
I wouldnt use a diatom filter, just some good poly, fine micron sock/ pads… and carbon… all changed often, and keep the lights out for now.
I’d think with something this bad goin on it should be pretty easy to find the problem.
The bio filtration I have in there right now is stones located in the sump. But I bought a whole 2.5 gal box of bio balls to place in my new 20 gal sump that I am in the process of setting up. I forgot to mention I also have a decent amount of chaeto, which has been residing in the tank as i don’t yet have light on the sump. Also, the skimmer doesn’t seem to be pulling out as much gross stuff as it used to but its been recently cleaned, the water it sits in is at the optimum height as listed per the manufacturer and there’s plenty of air flow.
The pump is a 550 gph pump with i’d say four feet of head and a check valve in there, which also reduces flow if only slightly. But i also have a powerhead inside the tank. One of those propeller ones and there seems to be a good amount of flow as the fish, when in the mood will go to the other side of the tank and just gently swim into the current. If they could smile, i feel like they would be. parameters when this first happened were all perfect, including phosphates which i checked continuously for the first two weeks of this escapade, always to the same ends. No issues. However, I’ve only been testing for nitrates, phosphates calcium and whatever the fourth one is in that API test kit from petsmart. Also, Salinity has been fine as well. Right at the mark. I’ll test everything again at lunch today and re-list the numbers. Also, it’s a 24 W sterilizer, but I have a feeling i may need a new bulb. Also, as i said earlier, i set up a whisper filter on it for the mechanical filtration. Is that enough or should i have more?
Also, i forgot to mention that the sand i bought new from caribsea argamax aragonite. the salt i use is the coralife salt which i had never had a problem with before.
First take that new rock out of your tank.
Second, put the cheato in the sump and put a light on it.
Third, get your self some better test kits .
Are you using DI water also? what is the TDS reading of your new water?
And IMO, do not use those bio balls, get your money back.
What is right on the mark for salinity?
You were looking into getting a diatom filter, that money would be much better spent on a couple media reactors, I would suggest two one for GFO and one for carbon and get rid of the whisper.
Also check out the lights, maybe keep them off for two days and block any sunlight to the tank.
And I would blow off any rocks with a turkey baster and vacuum that sand bed as best you can, it’s very easy for food to get into a shallow sand bed and just slowly decompose feeding algae all day long.
Ok so i left the lights off for the day and it looks like it may have improved a little. I also did a parameter check today with all the tests i have. here’s what i’ve found:
0 ppm NO3
8 dkh
440 ppm Ca
0.0 ppm PO4
0 ppm NH3/NH4
1.024 specific gravity
75-78 degrees F depending on the time of day
How does your chaeto look? I’m going to bet some of it is loosing its color.
I had the same issue before and the chaeto wasn’t getting enough light (the center of the ball is hard to get light to) and it was actually releasing is green color into the tank. Remove the chaeto and/or get a light on your sump and place it in there in turbulent flow where it will get even lighting.
I like that idea on the chaeto. It does seem to be losing some color. As i said before, i’m setting up a bigger sump and it should be ready to go by tomorrow afternoon. That will give the chaeto about half the sump all to itself. How strong of a light should i have over it?
When i feed, What i often do is stick some lettuce or small salad shrimp on a wood skewer and leave it in there for a couple minutes while i watch them. I keep an eye out specifically to make sure the shrimp doesnt fall into the tank cuz I know how much trouble that can cause if it gets left in there. I also feed them sprinkles of the basic marine fish food from the store from time to time, which they always gobble up. I’ve cut back on the amount i’ve been feeding them since this happened. I went from once a day to one every other day.
As for other additives, I use the Kent’s essential elements stuff. 5 mL once a week. And working on getting the temp up now.
Just a quick question. I’ve heard a lot of debate on the bio ball thing. Some people swear by them, some people think they’re worthless. Any reason why? Also, I don’t mind adding them even if its just out of superstition as long as they don’t do any harm, so do they have any negative effects?
I appreciate all the advice guys. Hopefully I’ll finally start seeing some results.
Bio ball thing are great for fresh water aquaria. Since these balls are to house large amount of Nitrosomonas bacteria that oxidize the ammonia that turns into Nitrite. Nitrobacter bacteria convert the nitrites into nitrates. With large amount of Nitrate it affects corals, especially if you keep hard corals. As a reefer we try to keep Nitrate as low as posible. Hope this answers you question.
True, along with DSB, plenum systems and others nitrate reduction gadgets. But if you have more stuff that produces more nitrate (reason for not over stocking your tank) than being taken out, then you will have high nitrate problem.
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