tank water color, what should it be?

[muzanji]

I did a 5 gallon (out of 90 gallons [70 gallon net volume]) water change last night, and noticed that my water had a hint of green in it. I have strong actinics so I never noticed the green tinge in the water until I took the water out of the tank. My 90 gallon is 6 months old, with about 160 lbs of live rock, Ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, a hint of nitrate, ph is 8.0 (still trying to raise it).

Is the green tint to the water normal, or should the water be crystal clear?

 

[two11devan]

Hmmm, it sounds like you have an algea bloom My water is crystal clear and has been since I started the tank. I would think that it should be clear. Are you running carbon in your filter? It should take out any dies that are in the water and polish it off to a crystal clear finish. If it is algea, then the carbon wil only help a little bit.....is your tank by a window?

 

[muzanji]

There is no crabon in my filter, and the tank is in the middle of the main floor. 15 feet from the front (living room) window and 15 feet from the back (kitchen) window.

 

[two11devan]

There a three things that algae need to survive: Food, Light, and water. Obvioulsy the water part is there and if the lighting isn't the problem, maybe you should look into food. How much are you feeding your fish? Overfeeding can lead to algae blooms. What kind of water did you use to fill your tan with?Using tap water often can be the cause of algae blooms. If you have been using tap water, start using RO/DI water for you changes and top offs....this should help clear up the water.

 

[muzanji]

thanks for your help.

I'm using tap water, and I'm feeding fish sparingly twice a day. Maybe there are days where it's not so sparingly.. I'll cut back on the food bit and look into RO.

thanks again!
K.

 

[two11devan]

If you don't have an R/O unit you can use distilled water for the time being...its not the best, but its better than tap water. Also, depending on your area, your local drug or food stores might have a drinking water dispenser inside or outside their store. Most of these use RO water and charge 25 cents/gallon. You don't need to feed your fish twice a day....that could be the problem...most in here only feed once a day. Keep us posted on the progress!

 

[By-Tor]

I agree with previous posts. Your water should be clear. Greenish tints to the water are usually a type of algae known as freefloating or suspended single cell algae and is usually caused by the anerobic activity associated with bacterial blooms. When you have an ammonia or nitrite spike, the good bacteria react to break this down. The end product is Nitrate, which can be a food source for Algae. If you haven't had any die off, then this might be the problem...some local water systems have high amount of phosphates in their water. Sometimes it runs at a constant level. But sometimes when water treatment facilities are cleaning equipment, the cleaning solutions can leave the extra phosphates in the water. These are not toxic to us, therefore they are not required to remove them.

I disagree with using distilled water. Although, I also disagree with using tap water. If you have invested all kinds of money into your system with 160lbs of LR etc...you might consider buying a RO/DI system. They pay for themselves in the long run. Or if you don't want to do this, then you should consider finding a LFS that sells the water. Good luck

 

[two11devan]

Distilled water, although not as good as RO water, is much better than the tap water that was being used. Untill you can get R/O water form a source such as a dispenser or your own unit, I would say distilled water is the best choice for the tank for the time being.

 

[TriggerHappy]

My water is cloudy, one of your posts says your water was crystal clear since you started it, Ive had mine for 3 days, but it's still cloudy. What gives!!

 

[workingmal]

Definitely need to use RO or DI!!! I learned that the hard way after losing my entire coral reef to green hair algae.

 

[two11devan]

My water was cloudy after I put my sand and junk in, but it cleared up in a day. What did you add to your tank to make it cloudy? Did you just add sand or are you mixing the salt?

 

[Coralena]

Cloudy Water

Clearing up in one day is not always the case. Ours took around 3 days or so to clear up when we started our tank. We jused crushed coral, sugar sand and live sand. Sometimes its just takes a little while for it to clear from what I've learned. I wouldn't be concerned about it for at least about a week, others can probably tell you more. Since you just started your tank all the silt from the sand/coral/whatever you used needs to settle. =) Hope this helps!