Solid Green Water

[MadMike]

My 8 gal nano tank has had green water ever since I set it up in December. I do about a 3 gal water change every week and it stays the same. The only way it cleared up was when I did another water change of x gal. (wont say lol ) then it does fine for like one day, and back to the same solid green murky water. I've also took all of the sand out and replaced it all with new sand. I only leave the lights on for about 7 hours a day, and my tank is not in a spot where sun light can get to it. Now its gotten to the point where I'm going to break it down and never mess with it again. If any one knows what else I can do to clear it up, It would be a great help for me.
Thanks.
-Mike

[reeferRob]

are you using RO/DI water? have you checked the freshwater with a TDS meter? What inhabits this tank? Are you testing anything or are you dosing? How much live rock? What type and age are the lights? Basically what are all the water parameters?

[MadMike]

I use di water, my ph is usually at 8.2, 0 nitrates, 0 nitrites, not sure on the alk. i keep my water at 1.022, and the lights are only going on three months old, and they are coral life 10k and actinic and two moon lights. I also have about 2 1/2lbs of live rock, and the fish in it are a sm dwarf lion fish, a sm coral beauty angel, and a sm horse shoe crab.
I haven't been dosing with anything yet due to green water.
I'm just confused about it because my 29 gal is doing great and i don't know what to say about the nano
thanx.

[reeferRob]

well I would DEFinately be checking the ALk for sure. Not saying that is what is causing your green water but out of ALL the tests that keep a SW tank going ALk Ca and MG are the biggies. I rarely even check PH anymore, as long as the other 3 are good the PH almost has to be good.

As far as the green water - wow are you overfeeding? Skimmmer pulling anything? did something die? Something has got to be feeding the algae IMO. Other than that I don't know. Maybe someone else will have some ideas.

Seems like though the nitrates would be off the chart in order for this to happen.

[reeferRob]

might also want to check for phosphates, alot foods, tap water......contain some amount of phospates and they can contribute to algae.

[beareef19]

Check the TDS of your DI water, your water could be bad causeing high Phosphate levels

Barry

[MadMike]

i will check the alk and Ca as soon as i can get a kit. (money is tight right now) I only feed them a small amount once a day because they are small and no extra food goes to the bottom. i don't have a skimmer for it yet, and nothing has died in the tank. I've asked some friends about it too and they told me to use di water, and i did but had no results. I've also tried turning the light off for a long period of time and it cleared up for about a week tops. so from that I'm thinking my lights might be to strong? like i said before i have a 10k coralife 18w, and a actinic 18w, and two small moon lights.
but it only comes out to about 4.5 wpg
I just dont know any more.

[MadMike]

also too, in my 29 gallon all i used was tap water and it never did that. (knock on wood). then when i started up my 8 gal i used tap, and it turned green. then i went on to using di water on it and it turned green again.

[reeferRob]

Where are you getting you di water? Or do you have an RO/DI?

[MadMike]

this is the exact one i use
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+4484&pcatid=4484

[reeferRob]

this is the exact one i use
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4395+4484&pcatid=4484

Never used one like that, so really can't comment on the quality of output water. I would suggest you try going to a reputable LFS that sells water and buy yourself about 10 gallons and start doing water changes with that and I'll bet that you will see a drastic change.

You wouldn't catch me using water from that filter you have in my reef. Don't mean to soound harsh, but that CANNOT do the job a 4 or 5 stage RO/DI does. IMO a QUALITY RO/DI system is paramount to even START a SW tank

[MadMike]

also i forgot to add that i've also bought about 10 gallons of pre made salt water and used that but it also didnt work. i'm also thinking about taking the tank apart and clean everything and get it clean and let it dry out for about 2 day then set it back up to see if it killed any algae that may been the tank making the water turn green.

[reeferRob]

That may work, however I would start by getting some good RO/DI water, and do some fairly large water changes (LOL large like in 3 gal), and do that every couple or few days for about a month or more before I started going to drastic measures like airing out my tank. Just my .02 cents. Cances are that if you do air it out, then continue to use the same source water you will be right back where you are now.

[MadMike]

i'll do that on my next pay check, but where is the best place to buy ro/di water at?

[reeferRob]

I've heard that alot of ppl go to Wal-Mart but I really doubt your going to get the quality of water you need there, but I don't know that for sure. I would go to a pet store that deals in SW fish. Tey for sure would have it. I hope. If you REALLY want to be sure make the petshop test the water with a TDS meter in front of you. I ould, there are too many sheisters out there these days.

[jroescher]

Tearing down your tank, scrubbing it all and air drying is going to cause a cycle for sure. And then you'll certainly be dealing with algeas until the cycle is over. Bad idea.

[MadMike]

alright thanks for the info, i'll keep this thread posted as my water comes along

[reeferRob]

Well I'm outta here, 5:30am comes early. Good Luck!

[brewercm]

and the fish in it are a sm dwarf lion fish, a sm coral beauty angel, and a sm horse shoe crab.


Don't take this wrong, but that's an awful lot of large fish for such a small tank. That may be causing part of the problem since any lion fish are messy eaters, and a coral beauty can probably foul up a tank that size within a day also.
Maybe a small low light clam would help with keeping the green down but with those fish you're never going to succeed with that tank. Even the horseshoe crab will probably outgrow it eventually.

[ST3PH3N]

mikey, there is a windmill water station by our work that i used to use when i had discus, never had one problem.

oh, its also maintenance daily :)

[caferacermike]

For green water I would recommend you at least borrow a good UV sterilizer and see if that kills the spores. I think what you are seeing are all the spores floating around in the water. Passing by UV or being in contact with O3 (ozone) will usually destroy the algae. I'm not sure what caused the green water itelf but at least a sterilizer might clear up the water.

[MadMike]

i'll try to see if any one that i know has a uv or i'll check with one of my friends that has a ro/di unit and see if he can help me out.
about the fish in the tank, the water was green when i only had 2 damsels (got rid of them) but i'll probably move the angel to my reef tank but i'm scared it will nip at my corals. the 8gallon i've been talking about is actually my soon to be wife's tank.

[ST3PH3N]

The windmill has like a 7 or 8 stage filtration and UV sterilization is one of them

[brewercm]

I've had two coral beauty's so far and have had luck with neither of them nipping at my corals. Nano tanks can be very finicky to work with.