Green Cloudy Water

[ALVAREZ13]

Good morning everyone. This is my first attempt to write a thread, so forgive me in advance if I do something wrong. I have a 65 gallon fish only (for now) saltwater tank. It has been running for about 6 months. I have your typical wet dry filter, 2 icecap 2K gyros and 2 hydra 26 lights. For about 2 weeks my water has been cloudy, I did some research and found that a UV sterilizer might be what I need. I received my turbo twist 3x yesterday and installed it. But when I got home and before I was able to install it my tank was half green, mainly the bottom half. The UV has been running for about 7 hours at the point I took this picture. Am I going in the right direction with this? How long can it take to clear up? Thanks everyone

 

[dank reefer]

Welcome to R2R @ALVAREZ13


Running a UV could help clear the water up for you, but it will take a couple of days for you to notice a difference. You need to dig deeper and find out why it turned green. Could it be that the media in your canister filter has been exhausted if you are running carbon in it. How many stages is your canister filter, and what are your running in each stage. Although a lot of folks run canister filter on their tanks, the filter it self can become a nutrient trap and cause major issues if they are not regularly maintenance and cleaned out.

If you are running carbon or other media in the canister, it might be time to replace.

Just my thoughts

 

[Diet Coke]

Welcome to R2R @ALVAREZ13


Running a UV could help clear the water up for you, but it will take a couple of days for you to notice a difference. You need to dig deeper and find out why it turned green. Could it be that the media in your canister filter has been exhausted if you are running carbon in it. How many stages is your canister filter, and what are your running in each stage. Although a lot of folks run canister filter on their tanks, the filter it self can become a nutrient trap and cause major issues if they are not regularly maintenance and cleaned out.

If you are running carbon or other media in the canister, it might be time to replace.

Just my thoughts

How long are you running your lights?

 

[ALVAREZ13]

actually i do not have a canister filter. what i have is a WET/DRY sump with bio-balls and filter floss. i hope im calling it the right name. im attaching a picture of a similar one it below

 

[ALVAREZ13]

How long are you running your lights?

about 10 hours

 

[dank reefer]

Apologizes, as I thought I read you had a canister filter. It is a wet dry/trickle system filter.
What inhabitants do you have in your tank at the moment? You could help the system by lowering your light schedule to see if it will help with the algae bloom that you have going on.

 

[ALVAREZ13]

Apologizes, as I thought I read you had a canister filter. It is a wet dry/trickle system filter.
What inhabitants do you have in your tank at the moment? You could help the system by lowering your light schedule to see if it will help with the algae bloom that you have going on.

No worries. currently have 6 small clowns, lawnmower blenny and a blue hippo.

 

[Miller535]

My thoughts on water that cloudy are usually ammonia or bacteria. When was the last time you did a water change?

 

[ALVAREZ13]

My thoughts on water that cloudy are usually ammonia or bacteria. When was the last time you did a water change?

I am very good about doing weekly water changes. I do 10 gallons every week. but last week (when i only had cloudy water) I called around my LFS and everyone suggested 3 20-25 gallon water changes in the course of a week. So Monday, Wednesday and Saturday of last week I did 20 gallon water change on those days.

 

[dank reefer]

Are you making your own water at home? If you are, have you tested the TDS coming out after its filtered?

 

[ALVAREZ13]

Are you making your own water at home? If you are, have you tested the TDS coming out after its filtered?

no, I buy it at the LFS.

 

[vetteguy53081]

It Is algae and algae spores and right off the bat, I think I see the issue:
YOUR TANK IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE WINDOW AND GETTING BOTH DIRECT AND INDIRECT SUNLIGHT, CAUSING ALGAE BLOOMS AND LIKELY WARM TEMPERATURE DURING DAY.
Even with shades, this will be an issue. In walmarts school section, they have black construction paper for .92 cents. This will block out light. Additionally, decrease your white light intensity for a week and add both liquid vibrant and chemiPure Blue

 

[ALVAREZ13]

It Is algae and algae spores and right off the bat, I think I see the issue:
YOUR TANK IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE WINDOW AND GETTING BOTH DIRECT AND INDIRECT SUNLIGHT, CAUSING ALGAE BLOOMS AND LIKELY WARM TEMPERATURE DURING DAY.
Even with shades, this will be an issue. In walmarts school section, they have black construction paper for .92 cents. This will block out light. Additionally, decrease your white light intensity for a week and add both liquid vibrant and chemiPure Blue

Thank you! I almost always have the window closed for that same reason and with this whole virus thing, my wife and son are home. AC is on 24/7. I started Vibrant about a week ago, I'm just hoping to see results soon. I came back to this hobby after a 10 year period when my son was born and I cant ever remember going through this. do you think i should add activated carbon in a media bag and put it in my sump? any difference between chemipure and the BRS ROX 0.8?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thank you! I almost always have the window closed for that same reason and with this whole virus thing, my wife and son are home. AC is on 24/7. I started Vibrant about a week ago, I'm just hoping to see results soon. I came back to this hobby after a 10 year period when my son was born and I cant ever remember going through this. do you think i should add activated carbon in a media bag and put it in my sump? any difference between chemipure and the BRS ROX 0.8?

Leave white lights off or very low to allow vibrant to do its' thing

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Since no one else has asked, I will. What are your water parameters?

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Phosphate
Temp
Sg

Are you running a skimmer?

 

[ALVAREZ13]

Since no one else has asked, I will. What are your water parameters?

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate
Phosphate
Temp
Sg

Are you running a skimmer?

Ammonia waiting on kit
Nitrite waiting on kit
Nitrate .20 ppm
Phosphate 1.0 ppm
Temp 78
Sg 1.027

Are you running a skimmer? no

 

[vetteguy53081]

Ammonia waiting on kit
Nitrite waiting on kit
Nitrate .20 ppm
Phosphate 1.0 ppm
Temp 78
Sg 1.027

Are you running a skimmer? no

Use chemipure blue as I mentioned. It will bring down your phosphates and gradually lower your salinity to 1.025. It is getting high range

 

[AmaleeC]

IMHO, I think it’s just part of the fact that you have a new tank. Letting it clear up on it’s own could take awhile. Running a UV light at the proper voltage clears the water right up within a week.

 

[Wampatom]

Cloudy water is from small particulates, usually bacteria or algae unless you have added undissolved salt. I have always had creatures that cleared the water within a day. So you either have an excessive growth or are missing something that eats bacteria or algae.

I have grown reef tanks in sunlight alone so light is not your sole problem.

Can you examine the water under a microscope? This would show algae but maybe not bacteria.

I agree waiting is your best action without further information.

 

[Miller535]

If you have some prime on hand, or can get some prime, it may be worth it to add some prime in case it's from ammonia. Won't hurt anything and worth a try.