Help Please/I'm completely lost now......

[Cambycis]

Hello all,
I have been battling a green tank for 3 weeks now. I have done everything I can think of along with everything my LFS has told me to along with a few people on the forum.
My tank is green, I can't even see through it. I have been doing water changes now for three weeks and have not seen a change. I have even purchased a sock filled it with carbon and other filter media to drain it out of my tank and pump it back in to see if that would help and still got nothing. I purchased 3 sand sifters, 5 turbo snails, 10 hermit crabs and still have not seen a change. I am about to scrub my rocks with a toothbrush to get what little algae is still on the rocks. I recently purchased a skimmer to help because that is what i was told to do to get rid of the green water. My wife wants me to start over because she is tired of looking at it, as well as my self. My fish seem to be doing fine, the ones i can see. The water is testing fine, so now i am completely lost. If a fill a container with water from my so i can clean my rock of better would that be ok? Or should i purchase a small tank move my fish over completely drain the tank and start over. Spending more money at this time isn't really an option. We just keep spending and spending without seeing any results. Please help. Thanks in advance.

75 Gallon Tank
80 lbs live sand
35 lbs live rock
405 fluval
2x Coralife fans
Coral life skimmer
T5 Lighting
3 Sand Sifters
5 Turbo Snails
10 Hermit crabs
1 Long nose tang
2 Clown Fish
2 Fire Fish
1 sutacromas
Filters to put in side my canister for added filtration
Purchasing my water premixed from the LFS

 

[Deep Seven]

How long are the lights on each day?

What are you using for lights?

Does the tank get a lot of natural light or direct sunshine?

 

[Cambycis]

We have the lights on for 7 1/2 hours a day.
We are using a T5 with two bulbs 54 watts each
Its not in direct sunlight

Thanks

 

[Smitty]

I would say do a 3-5 day blackout. No lights and cover the tank COMPLETELY to block out all light. I've done this on a FW tank with great success and was told it should work the same on SW. I would use towels and a comforter. You can't peak. The fish and anything else will be fine without food.

How long has this tank been up and running? What is your feeding schedule? Doing a black out may help in the short term but you still need to find out why this is going on.

 

[Cambycis]

I'm feeding once a day and have had the tank running since November. Some people are telling me to take out the rock and scrub it since I only have two small plants growing. I'm going to try it and do a water change then I'll do a blackout as u suggest. Anything at this point is worth trying.

 

[appleton]

Are you using tap water?if so your municipal water treatment practices may not be up to par.I know people who have great success using tap water and those that have had nothing but headaches.

 

[Brad.Sedore]

my suggestion is Run your cannister with alot of filter floss and a full unit of chemipure elite. cut back on lighting. if that doesnt work mayybe consider the addition of a phosban reactor to add even more carbon

 

[Cambycis]

I'm using RO water from the LFS which a friend of mine is also using. We cleaned the live rock on saturday, cleaned the canister put the extra filtration pads, running the skimmer. Cleaned the tank, did the water change then completely covered it. Looked today and no change. Everyone I have asked locally has no idea what's going on. Some say it's an algae bloom and I just have to wait it out. Others are telling me to buy the ultaviolet for the tank, one says I need a sump. The tank has been running since November. We are completely lost on what to do. We two tiny plants growing but other then that we haven't even begun coral. Right now we just wanted a nice basic saltwater tank and it has turned into a nightmare. I'm not sure in anything other than starting over is really going to work. I'm staring to look at in the since I take a hit on the fish and start over or do I keep throwing money into what seems to be a bottomless pit.

 

[appleton]

After running your canister with the extra filter floss, i would remove the media and replace it with LR rubble.

 

[appleton]

Is your lighting new or should i say your bulbs (fairly)?

 

[acanthus]

Ok I have been through exactly the same thing as you are going through right now! It sucks and nothing seems to work at all. I even did a 100% water change out of desperation and it came back in a couple of days. This happened about 8 years ago and my solution was to use a diatom filter for 24 hours and it was gone for good. I don't know if you can still get diatom filters, but I am sure you can get the diatom powder and use a magnum hang on back type filter to do the same job. I think my LFS has a loaner for emergencies such as this. Check with yours and they may be able to help you. I would love to know what caused it in the first place though

 

[mr_X]

a UV sterilizer will get rid of all of that green water in 3 or 4 days.