I’m not a chemist or scientist, but my thinking (I’m pretty sure I’m wrong) is maybe fresh water fish may tolerate higher nitrate much better than salt water fish or corals? and also if planted tank CO2 and nitrate is a must to keep plants in an aquarium.
People have been debating bio-balls for years now. There is nothing wrong with bioballs if you have a filter sock or something before them to take solid waste out of the water.
The issue people have with “bio-balls” is that they are most frequently found in trickle or wet/dry filters which allow solid particulate debris to become trapped in the balls themselves and decompose - thus INCREASING nitrates in the tank.
I personally think that there is nothing wrong with bioballs if they are kept clean, and kept wet. They simply provide additional surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow which can thus reduce ammonia, and nitrtie.
while we’re discussing nitrate reduction, please keep in mind that cheato and macro algae uses nitrate as a food source which is how it removes it from your water column, occasionally you must thin out and remove cheato from yourfuge in order to actually remove nitrates from your system.
just my :TWOCENTS , but every tank i ever had in the past with bio balls was a failure, there were others factors as well that didn’t help.
Ok, so it’s been about a week since i turned the lights off on the tank, and the green water is still there. It’s gotten better, but not significantly. As well, I finally got my 20 gal sump set up and running, so now I have the water draining into the first segment, then overflowing into the middle, which has a fair amount of chaeto in it, followed by flowing into the third section where it is pumped back to the tank. I have a light over the chaeto, but I’m not sure it’s enough. All it is is one of the two hoods that used to sit over my 50 gal fresh water. what I’m wondering is, will that even be enough light for the chaeto/will it grow and be healthy in those conditions? Also, I left out the bio balls, per the advice everyone gave and bought a new heater that keeps the tank right at 78 all day long.
I also stopped the whisper filter that I had going on there, which I was only using as a source for running the water through some activated carbon. Does anyone have any ideas as to anything else I can do to solve this green water problem?
Any chance of videos, or pics of the setup? i’m just guessing without more info, especially since all the params you listed seem to be ok. I keep thinking there should be something drastically wrong though to be causing this. :
:
Your sump setup sounds just fine :
: The light will work ok also. I would run the light opposite of when your main tank lights are on. The cheato will grow just fine with the light and feed off of your nitrates in your water. Also keep doing water changes at once every 2 weeks until your water clears up.
Did your water go green after you changed something in your tank?
Funny thing is you dont seem to have the phosphate or nitrate levels to support such an alge bllom as your having. Pictures would be a great help.
Personally id leave the wisper and u/v running just in case its an alge boom, although it doubtful. Times like this id conside adding a couple teaspoons of hydrogen peroxide, but then again im a fresh water guy and salt water is new to me, but some things have to remain consistant regaurdless of salinity…
that’s what i don’t understand is that the nitrates are almost non existant. and that bulb is only a 15W. is that definitely sufficient?
i’m embarrassed to post these cuz my tank looks so terrible, but i guess i don’t have much of a choice. ha
whats the water temp? the element that is the thermostat part of the heater is way out of the water.
or is the sump drained down below its normal level?
try moving the cheato into another tank, someone previously said it may be leaching, which makes sense if it has no source of food. also remove the acrylic lid from the display tank and let it breath.
the level in the pic is a little low because i had just recently set this bigger sump up and am waiting for the water to fully ionize before i add it. but the tank is staying at a steady 78 degrees regardless of the time of day. I’m gunna wait another couple days and see if the parameters change again. but they have hardly altered since the beginning of all of this nonsense. i’m also looking to add more live rock and see if that does anything. Anyone ever heard of live rock ranch? its an online site which offers rock at $3 a lb and free shipping. i feel like something has to be wrong with that.
[quote=“alexzobi, post:30, topic:4800”]
the level in the pic is a little low because i had just recently set this bigger sump up and am waiting for the water to fully ionize before i add it. but the tank is staying at a steady 78 degrees regardless of the time of day. I’m gunna wait another couple days and see if the parameters change again. but they have hardly altered since the beginning of all of this nonsense. i’m also looking to add more live rock and see if that does anything. Anyone ever heard of live rock ranch? its an online site which offers rock at $3 a lb and free shipping. i feel like something has to be wrong with that.[/quote]
they actually seem like a fine ecological-minded company, but this is why it’s to their advantage to ship free.
FREE SHIPPING INCLUDED BY YOUR CHOICE OF AIR FREIGHT TO YOUR LOCAL AIRPORT OR FEDEX GROUND DELIVERY TO YOUR FRONT DOOR ON PREMIUM LIVE ROCK ORDERS OF 150 POUNDS OR MORE. that’s $450
go in w/a couple people
[quote=“moliken, post:31, topic:4800”]
they actually seem like a fine ecological-minded company, but this is why it’s to their advantage to ship free.
FREE SHIPPING INCLUDED BY YOUR CHOICE OF AIR FREIGHT TO YOUR LOCAL AIRPORT OR FEDEX GROUND DELIVERY TO YOUR FRONT DOOR ON PREMIUM LIVE ROCK ORDERS OF 150 POUNDS OR MORE. that’s $450[/quote]
that’s for the same day delivery option. if you look right above that on the site, it says free shipping by fedex ground regardless of order size right to your door. they said they even include heat packs when the weather in the purchaser’s area is a colder climate, free of charge. i don’t know how long the live rock can sustain it’s ecosystem out of water for, but i’m assuming this method works, otherwise i feel like they wouldn’t be in business.
How many repeat customers do you need at $450 an order? How many repeat customers do you expect when selling things you likely only buy once?
Assuming someone in this industry is doing something right, otherwise they wouldn’t be in business… not a good way to look at it. Unfortunately they could just look at you and ask how long you cured it, what was the chemistry of your water, what is the size of your skimmer? “Oh it was like because you had the tank at 78 and we recommend 79*F”
I know NOTHING of the company you guys are talking about. Didn’t even click back far enough to see what company your talking about. Just know a large number of companies stick around for 10 years or more with less knowledge of the hobby and aquarium keeping then 90% of the people who regular this forum.
I did a search and fond a couple of people posting not to buy rock from this guy, not sure how accurate thier claims are…I would prefer to see exactly what it is im buying before i buy it…yea i know old school…
Back to the topic . . .
I suspect that your problem is lighting. I have yet to see your lighting setup posted. Either I’m blind, or it has yet to be discussed. I have read your interests in LED lighting, and your understanding of the 420-455 nm wavelengths being optimal, but have you implicated that type of lighting?
Full spectrum lighting, such as that provided by plant “grow” lights, and of course the sun (hope your tank isn’t in direct line of sunlight btw) will cause single celled free-floating algae to blossom into the billions making it near impossible to “remove” . . . you can only hope to starve it out by proper lighting (or lack there of).
Could you please post the location of your tank in relation of any windows, and the current lighting setup you have? (fixture, wattage, bulbs, bulb on sump). If the bulb on your sump only promotes the growth of this type of algae, I fear that all your efforts with the sump to thwart this infestation may be in vain.
Tank looking any better yet? Its been a few days, should be getting better…
Sorry I haven’t responded. Been busy with work. The light fixture i have on there is one from home depot. its a high output four bulb fixture designed for growing plants. I took out the original bulbs and replaced them with two actinics and two whites. as i said previously, the tank was doing fine with this set up for over six months when this pandemic hit. the light fixture over the refuge is just a 15 W bulb to light the chaeto. I was told this would be plenty for the chaeto and wouldn’t add to this green water issue.
unfortunately, the tank still has yet to show much progress even though i’ve had the lights off for over a week. I haven’t done water changes in that long, as I was told water changes, especially large ones will only feed the algae. tank parameters still remain unchanged. I’m away on travel for a week, but the girlfriend is keeping a close eye on it for me. When I get back, my plan is to add a 100 micron filter pad in and to get a new bulb for the UV sterilizer. I spoke with someone today that told me that would clear it up in a matter of days. I’m hoping he’s right. Updates to come…
Whoever told you water changes will only feed the algae, IMO, is totally mistaken. Good luck.
Well, I’d been doing 10% water changes for about two weeks a little while ago and after that length of time and a bucket of salt and seeing no improvement improvement whatsoever, I gave up. So far the only thing that’s really brought any improvement has been shutting off the lights. My next step is to get a new bulb for my UV sterilizer. I had it on the tank before and saw no improvement but I’m pretty positive the bulb was dead because I took it out and shook it and it made a rattling noise typical of a failed bulb. So I’ll be getting a new one to put on next week.
Also, forgot to mention. Someone had asked if I had the tank near a window. It’s no where near a window. It sits next to a wall with no windows and the only windows near it don’t come close to reaching it with direct light, as they’re about thirty feet away and they’re either south or north facing. I’m not sure which but I know the sun never at any point of the day shines straight through them.
I’m just wondering if the u.v. is really going to be a part here. theres so many tanks that have never used one, and don’t have this problem.
the only thing i can think is what kelvin are the “white” bulbs your using, and what about the fuge light… its possible that lighting of the wrong spectrum can be feeding the algae… And the lids on your tank, they still on? seems the general practice there is “no lids”…
hope some more of my :TWOCENTS helps