AquaTricia 40 gal FOWLR

[AquaTricia]

Lights off. Blanket on. And can't find my new fish. Here we go again.


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[54seaweed]

this may sound crazy so I have to cringe not to get smacked , Have you thought of doing a 100% water change , maybe there's something in the water in the tank ,
another thought have your husband check the RO unit see if the filters look moldy ,
have you ever had the water coming into your home , are there any foreign objects in the tank besides rock and sand , omg why didn't I think of this check your heater see if it's cracked , magnesium will turn your tank green when in contact to salt

 

[AquaTricia]

ok. I'll check the heater. I never would have thought of that. And I am going to smack you. 100% water change? I don't have enough water made and it would take several days to make and sit. I am wondering about the BRS dry live rock. Never used the stuff and I wonder if it's whats causing the constant problems. Any experience with dry live rock? RO filters look good and I have TDS meters on the incoming water and after the membrane and the other measures outgoing, which looks good.

 

[54seaweed]

rock is another thought ,

I just googled what would turn my new saltwater tank green overnight ,
the three results I found are as follows :

some salt mixes contain phosphate (instant ocean is phosphate free) so this aint it .

is there a outside light source that hits the tank (uv rays can cause water to turn green instantly) cure lower blinds to reduce light .

some limes they use to make dry rock can react to salt water causing a bloom , (this was your thought)

ok. I'll check the heater. I never would have thought of that. And I am going to smack you. 100% water change?

lol I would have done this already but after reading what I just did it would have proved it useless

 

[AquaTricia]

No outside light source. Use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Should I switch to plain Instant Ocean? I'm calling BRS tomorrow but I don't know if they'll be honest or have a solution. I'm still going to check that heater. I'm desperate for anything.

 

[54seaweed]

instant ocean shows it has no phosphates so that's fine
no outside light so that's good
two things ruled out
now
been doing a bit of Googling every thing I've read about green water is in coming from a lot of excess nutrients in the water test for phosphates , almost sounds like it may be in the water source going to the ro/di unit and its not catching it all , this is a good possibility , I remember when I lived in pace Fla there was tons of minerals in the water when the landlord had it tested . have you ever had your water tested , you can get one of those test kits from home depot or lowes fill the vial with water from the tap and send it out in the mail for analysis think it costs like $15 and you get results in about week they will also tell you what to do to fix it types of filters and such
also a good way of finding out if the waters safe to drink
when I owned my home in north Carolina my well water wasn't potable or drinkable

 

[Sniperhank]

The water source is a reason my RO/DI isn't up and running either. It is good spring water and it did well until crop season and heavy rains come. Then all the manure that is spread on the fields leaks down into the water source...I don't even drink it though it is drinkable. Too many 'chunks' end up clogging my filters.

 

[AquaTricia]

Thanks from both of you. TDS says all is well. City water. But, to be sure, I'll have my husband do some research for me. He's a good researcher. I'll let him read what you're saying. What I can't grasp is why the same water goes into the reef that goes in the 40, but I only had green water for a couple of weeks while I set the reef up, and I used water from the grocery store and the LFS I no longer trust then.

 

[AquaTricia]

Oh, I forgot to say that the reef is 3 years old and ro/di is one and a half and has had filters and membrane changed two months ago, I think, when I started using so much between both tanks. It's a 100g per day unit.

 

[AquaTricia]

I checked the heater just to be sure and it's ok. My husband says we are on city water and I tested TDS on it just to be sure. Nothing.

 

[54seaweed]

that green has to be coming from somewhere , darn another dead end ,
ok now I'm getting stupid ( breaks out the thinking cap )
Lets go back in time maybe the first time we missed something ,

2 weeks back before the tank first gone green what was done , was anything new done or introduced (not thinking of any stock) new filters , carbon , filtration last time it was cleaned , anything new that was introduced before ,
wow I just said a dirty word (carbon) thinking back with every-time I had any kind of issue it always came back to carbon (scratching head) I wonder , BRB need to google something , Huston I think I found the problem ,
Feature Article: Bacterial Counts in Reef Aquarium Water: Baseline Values and Modulation by Carbon Dosing, Protein Skimming, and Granular Activated Carbon Filtration — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog
from what I'm reading if I'm reading it right carbon catches the algae spores than re-releases them back into system

 

[AquaTricia]

I added a Marineland Penguin filter that runs a bio-wheel and two floss and carbon cartridges of media. I'm not sure at what point I added it but I think it was right around the time of the first episode of milky white/green water. The second time around, I added a piece of a carbon pad to the outflow of the skimmer and another piece into the filter beside the media.
Are you saying that the ADDITION of carbon is my problem? Forgive me, but after 5 days with one grandchild and 2 days with two, my brain is mushy and I had trouble following the article. So, if I remove the carbon, what do I use to counter the green water? Again, forgive me, but is it saying to add bacteria or is the algae the bacteria? And after several days in the dark and I had clear water for several days, why, after adding 2 fish, did it turn green again? Adding the fish should not cause this, but it turned green again within 48 hours. And, I'm not sure, but I may have lost another fish.

 

[54seaweed]

I use those same filters and no matter what I do they always squeal
I used carbon several times to polish the water but now looking back every-time I did it seems there was some type of issue or another , I can't say 100% it was the cause but it kind of leads to it , I was using the marineland activated carbon , now I've stopped corals seem to be responding better , I do from time to time use those carbon pads they for some reason don't seem to effect things much , now I just run plain filter pads I just got a cut to size roll of filter pad you know how you see the white and blue pad these are hot pink they seem to last longer and they seem to do the same job as the carbon polishing the water , I was always a big fan of carbon till I read the article Now it makes me want to stray away , I haven't really used any carbon in the last month and I'm kind of wondering if thats why my torches and hammers are splitting so much with growth ,
finished the move predators are now at eye level , discovered 100s of baby snails when I moved all the rock , now I need to figure out a way to collect them as they are so tiny really can't grab them , been picking hermits all day and there's still a bunch more to go , fish are still hiding in the rocks been thinking of a dwarf lion

 

[AquaTricia]

Nice tank. We can't have Lions in Florida because some idiots dumped their unwanted ones in the Caribbean and they are now listed as an invasive species.
Ok, is your suggestion for me to remove all carbon products from the tank? Will floss alone clear up the tank? Where do I go from here?

 

[54seaweed]

I was a big fan of carbon till I read that article , and from what I have seen in my tanks things seem happier , I'd try removing it see if things improve like they say in the article
not much can really happen either it stays green or turns clear it's worth a shot,

We can't have Lions in Florida because some idiots dumped their unwanted ones in the Caribbean and they are now listed as an invasive species.

they can't be shipped into fla , I believe if you order one through a fla based online store they can be shipped within the state with out going against the state laws
but that would be the company's call

 

[AquaTricia]

Ok. As of tomorrow, we will try the no carbon approach. Thanks and I'll keep you posted.

 

[AquaTricia]

Took out half the carbon yesterday and put Poly-filter in the Marineland. Skimmer isn't producing much now. Called my friends at LiveAquaria and discussed the situation with them. They suggested a uv sterilizer. After a LOT of research, and consulting my husband, we ordered the AA Aquarium Green Killing Machine. Very inexpensive, comes with a powerhead, and got good reviews everywhere we looked. As I'm currently not needing parasite control, just green water dispersment, I felt this was an option to try. It will arrive tomorrow and I will post the results.


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[Sniperhank]

It should help process through the issue, though I couldn't tell you the time frame that it will clear up through such.

 

[AquaTricia]

Well, it was worth a try. Tried everything else. Tank is still in the dark and I checked it tonight. Green. Becoming not my favorite color. Going to take the blankets off tomorrow when I get the unit and leave them off, though not with the LEDs on. We'll see how well it does.


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[54seaweed]

this just clicked as you said leds do you have the Chinese leds with the red spectrum leds, like these or similar,

I just happen to stumble across a old thread on another site fighting green water , last night it didn't sink in till you said leds , the op claimed it was the red led spectrum bulbs that caused the green water , he said first it went milky white than green ,he claimed that the red spectrum leds promoted green algae first green water than green hair , he painted red bulbs black and he never had that issue again so he says , I went back this afternoon and made a inquiry about his said issue but not sure if I'll get a response as his posts are over 2 years old I'm going to try to get a hold of Doug(Mr X)
he has tons of knowledge on these lights