newbie to salt water tanks.. Needs help

[Sausagesalsa]

i have some questions??. I new to salt water, and i bought a used 55 gallon fish tank with live rock and live sand, and recently the water is starting to look greenish and was wondering if anyone knows how to fix it, im up for any suggestions

 

[hackteck]

sounds like an algae bloom you can try doing water changes that will help do you use ro/di water or tap?

 

[Sausagesalsa]

lol sorry what does ro/di mean?? i used tap water

 

[hackteck]

Reverse Osmosis Deionized water basically it takes everything thats bad out of the tap water and makes it pure i linked to a unit to give you a better idea it just filters all the inpurities out of the water so all your left with is pure water check the link their not all that expensive im just showing you what it looks like http://www.marinedepot.com/reverse-osmosis-deionization_kent_marine_rodi_maxxima-ap.html

 

[Sausagesalsa]

oh okay no i dident, im new never heard of that, im trying to learn more before buying anything else, could my light also cause it i just found out that my lights are 3 years old, is it true you need to change you lights 1 a year??

 

[hackteck]

yea that could also be a cause what type of lights are they? you probably need new bulbs

 

[Sausagesalsa]

there coralife bulbs i have 2 of them cause i have a 4ft light fixture. there 65 watt with the blue and white colour

 

[hackteck]

yea if they are infact that old you definately need new bulbs

 

[Sausagesalsa]

okay, if i buy more snails would that also help, but i will do more water changes, but i cant afford that machine just yet lol, any other tips to help control and get rid of it

 

[hackteck]

change bulbs and do water changes but the tap water is probably a contributing factor theres alot of bad stuff in tap water thats no good in the sw aquarium causes algae problems maybe you can buy ro/di water from a local aquarium shop

 

[Sausagesalsa]

okay, do stores like sell tablets you can drop into your water, or is there only those filters

 

[hackteck]

nah just the filters

 

[Sausagesalsa]

also how often should i do water changes, some people at stores say none some say do some, im confused lol

 

[hackteck]

most do 10% a weekly me personally i have a 55G reef also so i just do 5 gallons a week

 

[Sausagesalsa]

nice im trying to build a reef tank, but this green stuff is stopping me

 

[Henry405]

Do you have any kind of life form in the tank? If not, leaving the lights off would help kill the algae also since algae needs a light source to do photosynthesis

 

[kurtyboh]

also a few people have been using a portable ro/di unit from purewaterclub.com for like 60 bucks, it's 100gpd and none have reported any issues yet.

 

[Sausagesalsa]

i have 5 fish 1 male and 1 female cinnamon clowns a cardinal a gobby and a yellow tang, as well as hermit crabs and 1 snail. do salt water tanks need filters, or are protein skimmers okay???

 

[Sausagesalsa]

could it also be from having my light on to long, i have it on for like normaly 8-9hrs a day is that too long??

 

[Henry405]

If you have 55lbs of live rock, it should be sufficient. The protein skimmer will also aid in controlling ammonia. Also, I didn't see you mention anything about a sump. I personally would use a sump on a 55g so I can hide all of the equipment and also do macroalgae underneath to aid in controlling nitrate and stuff. That would also help control the algae in your tank. I dont know much about lighting so I cant help you there