Its Green

[SirPug]

Howdy everyone.
The Story begins on July 3 2004 I picked up my new to me 90 Gal saltwater system. Which I bought from a friend at work. This tank had not been with out its problems. He had it up and running and all his fish (3) got sick and died. He stoped taking care of the system and green algae had taken over the bottom of the tank and most of the rocks. We drained all the water from the tank and moved the tank to its new home in my house. Using a Kitty litter cleaner sifted the sand in the tank and scrubbed all the rocks to remove most of the algae. Filled the tank with city water and treated it Prime to remove Chlorine and all the bad stuff from the water. We left one Filter Cartridge in the filtering system as not to remove all bacteria from the tank. We added Instant Ocean salt bringing the Salinity to 23-1.017. Thought that was right they said 23 so miss read the meter. And added Quick Start to the tank to help start the bacteria growth.
on July 10 2004 Added 10 Blueleg hermit crabs and 4 Turbo Snells.
on July 17 2004 Added 10 Blueleg hermit crabs and 4 Turbo Snells.
Also added One Yellowtailed Damselfish
on July 24 2004 Added one Fancy Serpent Sea Star
on July 25 2004 Added 4 lbs live rock which we had removed from tank and taken to friends house and keep in his tank. along with added two frags of Star Burst Polyp Coral (Green) from his tank.
on July 26 2004 Came home from work to find that my tank was turning green. Found that both Filter cartridges were clogged. And we panicked and replaced both filter cartridges. My friend check the salinity of the tank finding that it was way too low. We started mixing saitwater to raise it to 1.023 (to this day only have it up to 1.021)
As the days went by after that the green algae started getting worst only floating the water not growing on anything. My water is green.
on July 28 2004 I added another Bottle of Quick Start to replace the bacteria in the tank coming to the conclusion that by replacing both filter cartridge that we had removed the bacteria from the tank. Turned off the Skimmer and changed my lighting to only run for 3 hours a day.
as of this day August 1 2004 my tanks water is still green.

Help.

 

[lando]

It sounds like your are rushing things too much. Even though it was an established tank and one time, it think you had a considerable amount of die-off from the move. The best thing to do is to start over with a new cycle. Give the tank four to six weeks before adding any livestock and just let it go through it's cycle properly. No need to be in a hurry. You may also want to consider using RO/DI water instead of tap if your are not already doing so. Tap water can be high in phosphates and adding to the aglea problem. Keep in mind that an algea bloom is normal in the cycling process and wil clear in a matter of days. For now, leave the light off and let it run. More LR would also be advantagous. It would help jump start the cycle. I would also not waste your hard-earned money on quck start, let things progress naturally. And no more corals for a few months. Test your water and post your parameters so we can be of more assistance. Good Luck! Lando

 

[SirPug]

ph 7.8
ammonia 0.0
nitrate 10
nitrite 0
salinity 1.021

 

[jackdp]

Your pH is on the low side, but normal for a tank that has just cycled. I too would find a source of RO, DI or distilled water to use, the city water can cause real algae headaches. If you can afford it, look into getting more LR, 1.5 lbs per gallon is a good place to start. LR is expensive, but its the best bio filter I've found. The filter cartridges you're using eventually become clogged and will pollute the tank unless cleaned or replaced. Do some water changes with freshly mixed RO mixed with salt to help remove some of the excess nutrients. It does sound like you are moving a little too fast and the stress on the new system is giving the algae the upper hand.

 

[SirPug]

Only used City water for first fill. Since I have been using RO water that I bought from local Saltwater Aquarium retailer. And now using Saltwater from retailer till my salinity reaches above 1.022. How much LR to add at one time?

 

[lando]

Yes, ph is abit low but everything else looks good. I say just give it some more time to settle down.

 

[indy]

Add all the live rock at the same time and raise your ph to around 8.2 - 8.4. And definately slow down. The only thing you get from rushing a sw tank is a lot of dead animals. If you take it slow you'll have a nice tank and minimal headaches. If your tank is really shot, you might be better off in the long run to completely break it down and start fresh from the substrate up. You can probably win this battle, but it may be a long fight versus a clean start. If a friend has a good tank to house your livestock until you're up and running, it would be worth it to consider it. And you can do a ton of research in the time it takes for a tank to cycle.

welcome to AA.