Holy geeze, green algea....everywhere....

[Speakerman]

I left for 3 days and my 150 gallon tank turned to a really pretty neon green color...(pretty somewhere besides in a fish tank)

Help me out...what do I need to do?

For some reason the image is not showing up...so here is the link.
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/6/web/2070000-2070999/2070368_191_full.jpg


or if that doesn't work for some reason, you can reach it here.
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2070368/9

 

[src]

Is the algae on the plants/rocks/etc., or is it "green water" like I was facing in this thread?

 

[Guest]

wow, that is really green. I'd do a blackout.

 

[Speakerman]

Started a blackout, after 4 days I'm going to do a 50 % PWC and see where that gets me..

I was also thinking about a UV sterilizer...Any ideas on a good one for 150 gallons?

Also, where do you mount it. I assume it's not healthy for the light to leak out into the open tank...or where it can affect the living conditions inside the home...

 

[7Enigma]

Personally I'd get a diatom filter instead. Check the recent thread about these 2 products to see which you would prefer.

In a situation like this, the diatom will clean the tank in an hour or 2. The UV sterilizer will kill the bacteria but it will still need to be removed from the tank (either by rotting or in your filter). Likewise a blackout will kill the GW, but it is still IN the tank.

You do need to find out what the underlying cause of this was. What are your ammonia levels? Did you forget and leave the blinds open? 3 days for your tank to go from seeing no GW to what you have now means something either bottomed out or was supplied (my hunch is an ammonia spike due to a fish death) in a hurry.

 

[src]

I would do a massive water change (80% or so) before the blackout, just to get rid of as much as possible. This will also help your water chemistry, since killing the algae will lead to more decaying biomass in the tank, which can spike the ammonia/nitrites/nitrates.

Either a UV or a Diatom filter is a good way to clean the water out. As mentioned above, the Diatom filter will remove the algae from the water, while the UV just kills it. On the flip side, the Diatom filter only works while it is hooked to the tank, and won't help prevent another bloom, while the UV will help keep another bloom from getting started. Really depends on if you want a cleaner or a preventor.

Finally, neither is a good "permanent fix". Prevention starts with proper nutrient and lighting balance. But until then, they will help keep the tank under control.

Good luck!

 

[Speakerman]

My ammonia level is very low, no nitrites, and nitrates are 20.

There has not been any fish deaths. Feeding was minimal.

The only thing I can think of was that I recently took the emperor 400 off the tank..just took it straight off...which screwed up my cycle...

what is a good diatom filter to get? I can't really find much on them...

 

[7Enigma]

Wait, your ammonia level is low? That means you definately are in the process of a minicycle and your GW is directly caused by this (as I had guessed). You need to keep an eye on your nitrIte levels now since if you damaged the biological filter you probably removed/killed both types of bacteria.

What is low? Anything above undetectable by liquid reagent test kits is high enough for algae to bloom.

I have a Vortex D1 diatom filter which I got online but which PetSmart sells for about the same price ~$70. With your size tank, however, you definately would need a larger one.

A quick check of the petsmart site shows this one:

Vortex Diatom XL Filter part number 601232 for $90

Looks to be about what you would need but I'd either wait for someone that has a tank similar in size to yours or start a new post asking what model you need.