Green Cloudy Water!!!

[Jrocallen]

I have a 75 gallon saltwater aquarium that has recently started having serious issues with a dark green milky colored water. I have been doing water changes, due to a very trusted lfs advice, obsessively for a week and it is not letting up at all. Today out of 75 gallons I did a 60 gallon water change and treated with Chemi Clean and a few hours later right back to square one! My tank has been up and going now for almost 9 months, I have a Yellow Eyed Tang, Clarki Clown Fish, and a Pajama Cardinal Fish. I also have a good amount of expensive mushrooms and coral. I have a Rena Filstar x2 canister filter an Aquatop hob filter for a 60 gallon tank and a hob Marineland Protein skimmer. Also a wave maker and numerous pumps for circulation.
Can anyone tell me what to do to fix this I cannot afford to, nor do I have the time to change 40 to 60 gallons of water a day. Someone please help!

 

[Bectan01]

Wow, I have never seen anything like it. Was the pic taken after the water change? I take it your params are good, What are you testing? Results would help solve the mystery...

 

[Jrocallen]

The parameters are perfect they are coming from the beast lfs in the area, straight from their coral pool. The picture was about 8 hours after the sixty gallon water change.

 

[Convict2161]

You need to do massive mater changes first. And your sure all parameters are fine? No phosphates etc? What's your feeding schedule like and your water change? How often?

Do you run a UV?

What is your lighting schedule like? What kind if lights are they?

 

[Dude1982]

Wow that's an algae bloom and a half lol

 

[Schism]

Where are you getting your water and is it 0 TDS ro/di?

Also despite your test readings you can assume their are nitrates and phosphates in the water considering algae need them to grow.

If you have or have access to a UV sterilizer that would be a good thing to be running right now.

If you get your water premixed from the fishstore then you need to stop. Atleast until you can verify they are using 0TDS ro/di. There are other things i the water that can cause these problems.

Have you dont anything besides water changes?

 

[bskerrichard27]

1+ on the uv get one over rated for yur tank and it will clear it up ..You are getting nutrients from one where also what type of filter do you have and how much flow does yur tank get ?,

 

[bskerrichard27]

Correction from some where sorry darn phone...

 

[mr funktastic]

when was the last time u took appart and cleaned the canister filter? and what are u using inside the filter. sometimes they can build up a lot of crap and casue issues. i would suggest doing a total black out for a day or 2. should kill off most of the algea. corals should recoup from it.

 

[mr_X]

+2 on the UV sterilizer.

 

[Jrocallen]

The problem actually was out of control before I used their water. Before I used their water, even with the issue at hand, I had some star polups that were not opening and now even with the green water they have opened completely up and are beautiful. Today I actually purchased a aquatop 400uv canister filter and due to the "issue" at hand I currently have three canister filters running with a hob filter for a total of about 1300 gah. How long should the uv sterilizer take for me to visibly be able to tell it is working? After a sixty gallon water change I did a full dose of Chemi Clean and shut down my protein skimmer, removed all the carbon andcut my lights back to 8 hours a day. I have to 150 metal halides and a dual 48 glo t5 ho fixture. Please let me know if there is anything in your opinion I could try or change. I am going this morning to purchase all new filter media so what would you suggest?

 

[Jrocallen]

Thank all of you for your time I greatly appreciate it!

 

[mr_X]

The UV sterilizer would probably clear that up in 3 days, depending on the unit.

 

[Schism]

The problem actually was out of control before I used their water.

Well that may be true, but the problem still has to be a water issue. Algae cannot bloom like that without sufficient available nutrients. Those nutrients are coming from somewhere, either your water or something your putting in your water.

A UV will 'help' the problem but alone it wont fix it.

This is probably the worst bloom ive seen and mosy blooms die out in a few days, the fact this is constant screams water issue.

 

[TheTodd]

The parameters are perfect they are coming from the beast lfs in the area, straight from their coral pool.

Are you testing your parameters or is the LFS? You say they are perfect, but what are they exactly? I can't imagine that your water looks like that with zero nitrates or phos. I'm not understanding how your readings are coming from their "coral pool". The water being tested should be the water in your tank. Maybe I am misunderstanding?

You mention running three canister filters, but I did not see an answer for how often you are cleaning them. Those are infamous for collecting waste if not cleaned almost weekly. Waste equals nitrates. Nitrates help feed algae.

 

[Pushwood]

+4 or +5 on a UV unit, don't go cheap on one though.

 

[Jrocallen]

It has been one full day with the new canister filter with the uv sterilizer and all I can say is wow!!! One hell of a difference. I will post another picture tomorrow when my lights turn on. I want to see if you guys all think the same. When all is said and done do you guys have any suggestions on what type of filter media I should use and with this filter I have three compartments, what order they should go in if any. Thanks alot everyone I am glad to be on the right road and obviously I joined the right forum.

 

[Animal-Chin]

I like chemipure elite in my canister.

 

[mr_X]

Carbon is also good to keep in a canister. Whatever you keep in it, make sure you clean it out regularly.

 

[Jrocallen]

This is my tank today. Obviously something is going good, hopefully.