Suggestions for this BIG problem?

[nyghtone]

First of all, howdy all. I have been visiting this forum for quite some time, but I've not really posted much or made myself known. Although I have gained HUGE amounts of experience and first hand knowledge by checking out all of your posts.

I am a college student in my senior year at MSU-Billings studying MIS, so go computer geeks, haha. But my problem is my fish tank. I converted to saltwater about six months ago, and being the smart college type I dove right in without the proper amount of research, haha. I set my 75 gallon up with a powerhead sucking water from the top of the tank and sending it to a 20 gallon sump. Then a fluval 303 sends it back to the tank, and I have a blue devil damsel(I think, it hinds, havent' actually seen it in over a month), a yellow tang, and two false clowns. I've added a little over 20 pounds of fiji and my lighting is one standard 38 watt NO that came with the tank for a freshwater setup, and a 28 watt coralife PC 20" that I have on just the right side with the LV.

In my sump I have a seaclone 100 skimmer, and after a LOT of experimenting it seems to be working great, my levels are PH 8.2, Amonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 3-5, and I'm not too concerned about calcium and what not yet as for now it's just a FOWLR setup. Now my problem, the tank started out being very clear, but over the last two months has started to turn green, until now I can barely see the LR!!! Any suggestions on why this might be happening when I have flow in my tank of around 500 gph and very low nitrates???

 

[malkore]

tank flow should be at 750 gallons...10 times per hour turnover...up to 20 times turnover (or 1500gph if you suck at math like I do)

You do not mention phosphate levels. Phosphates are the main source of algae problems in a tank. Get a phosphate kit and test the water.

What is your water source? (tap, or R/O?) in many places tap water contains phosphates.

what's your water change schedule like, and the amount of water changed?

 

[Guest]

Man I never seen anything like that what kind -type-sise filter are you using??

 

[WarOrks15]

ugh that dose not l0ook good. i would do a large water change with ro/di water and test the po4. then get a po4 sponge or some thing to remove it from the water. turn up the flow a lot and kick the skimmer in to full. and run gac in the water that might help some. what do you feed the fish and how much do you feed them?

 

[Guest]

Are you sure this is not a joke, I never seen anything like that other then in a pool that's been broken for years

 

[Sparky]

You gotta be feeding the fish Mountain Dew.........man thats bad....LOL

 

[Guest]

I can't see that happening, were you using a filter?????????????????

 

[nyghtone]

Not a joke

I assure you this is no joke, I'm using tons of filters, tons of carbon, I made my water using phosphate free tap water by treating it with aquasafe, then adding instant ocean, I keep my sg at 1.025 as close as possible. I'm starting to think that maybe the aquasafe treatment stuff has something to do with it, but water changes gallore don't seem to help, and it's expensive to do constantly. I'm starting to think about doing a totall water change and just buying the water from the lfs, cause I know that they use ro/di water, but this isn't an option for a college student. Just the complete water change in the middle of montana will be a 100 bucks. So yeah, this is no joke, and I'm starting to feel very sorry for my fish, although many people have told me that this type of algae isn't harmful, I come on...

 

[BillyZ]

my guess is you don't have enough LR in there. and no substrate?? with no LR/LS there's nowhere for the algae to grow but on the glass and in the water column. Try adding some base rock (pretty cheap, but still a few bucks, you gotta do sumtin) and see about getting some more substrate. Is this the water itself that is this green or is the algae covering the glass that thick?

 

[nyghtone]

The...

That is actually the water itself, the glass is perfectly clean, my many many snails make sure of that. I however am continueing in my qwest to find out exactly what is wrong and fix it, cause this is horrible.

 

[alrmc4]

i have never seen anything quite like that my best guess is that you are getting way to much light in there is this tank in front of a window that lets the sun hit it? i believe i read somewhere that to much light can make algae grow in the water since there are no corals or anemonies in there i would see what i could do by snuffing as much light as posible just a guess sorry that i cannot be of some real help here :?

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

WOW. I don't know how to help you- never seen ANYTHING like that. But is the tank near a window where it receives direct sunlight? That could cause an algae bloom... hope you get it clear soon!

 

[alrmc4]

i googled green water...
The "pea soup". Free floating single celled algae, grows at such a rapid rate that it turns the water green.

Water changes are not very helpful, as the algae spores can be found in almost every water source. The only other ingredients needed for a green water outbreak are high nutrient levels (nitrate) and intense lighting.

As with most nuisance algae, this single celled planctonic algae is capable of photosynthesis (light is used to create energy). During lighting periods oxygen is being produced during this process.

At night, the algae uses up oxygen from the tank, this can, if serious enough, suffocate the fish. Tanks with green water should therefore be very well oxygenated.

most of the info also includes products to purchase this bit came from algone

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

My apologies for the almost repeat post- I thought there were only two pages of posts- didn't see the previous one! (Guess great minds think alike, eh, alrmc4?)

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

BTW, is there any substrate in your tank? And is there just one LR? 8O

 

[nyghtone]

two pieces of LR, no substrate yet.

There are actually two pieces of lr in this tank, about 20 pounds total, but you can only barely see the one. I was told not to add substrate until the tank was absolutly completely cycled, which I'm seeing from this forum may not have been totally correct. But I do plan on adding a DSB at the beginning of next month, I plan about 4" of sand, as fine as I can find. Once again, in montana this is gonna cost me $46 for each 25 pound bag!!! I also plan on adding a UV sterilizer next month, hoping that that helps at least a little with the algae growth. I was planning on ordering a showpiece of fiji in january next year, like an 85 pound piece. I am also planning a HUGE tank mod very soon, like in the next few weeks. I am going to break the tank down and have a glass shop drill holes for overflows, which I'm making out of 1/4" acrylic that the glass shop also cut for me for 15 bucks each. I'll be doing a complete photo shoot and putting on my website at www.nyghtone.com. I just hope it helps, cause then I can increase the flow to my sump to about 600 gph instead of around 200 as it is now. At this time I will also do a complete water change from the lfs here, it would be nice to know the problem before I start all of this so that it doesn't happen AGAIN when I put my tank back together!!!

THanks for all the suggestions, it's great to know that nobody has ever seen this this bad before, I WILL figure it out and let everybody know what finally cures it!!!

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

Nice little clip on your website, NyghtOne... you into 3D design? Is that sunset real or did you create it?

 

[dicjones]

Re: two pieces of LR, no substrate yet.

I also plan on adding a UV sterilizer next month, hoping that that helps at least a little with the algae growth.


I had a friend who had a problem with free floating algae. The UV sterilizer he bought cleared it right up. Of course, I don't think his problem was as severe as yours.

 

[frshwaterfinatc]

I agree- UV sterilizers seem to do a lot. You might check into getting one.

 

[darb2]

What are the phosphate leves?