Green Again

fishman

Reefing newb
My tank is green again .I changed about 40 gallon of water with a tank I have in the back room.The tank in the back room is a 35.I added 10 gallons of new water.The 75 is turning green again, but the 35 that i put all that green water in cleared up all by its self no additives or anything in 2 days ,so I moved everything in the 75 to the 35.I'm going to try one more thing Algone I found it at Pet Solutions.If that does not work I'm going to remove all the water clean everything up and start the tank over .I have rather start the tank over now while it is still young as to have trouble later on when I have alot of coral in it .Thanks for everyones advise . If anyone has any suggestions let me know. THANKS
 
Cycling new Tanks

fishman,
From your inquiry, you did not say if this is a new tank setup. Typically, algal blooms are a normal part of cycling a new tank. Microalgae feeds on the nitrates produced on a newly established tank. As the level of your nitrates diminish so will the occurence of algal blooms. Hopefully when you are topping off your aquarium or making new saltwater, you are using filtered water free of phosphates, silicates. Microalgae trives on the presense of nitrates, silicates and phosphates. I typically run my water through a phosphate filter to get rid of any phosphates that are introduced indirectly through the feeding process. Once you have your tank is well established (completed the cycling process) you need to encourage the growth of coralline algae, this will eliminate the occurrence of the annoying type of algae since the coralline algae will used up all the nutrients and none will be left for the nuisance algae.
 
your green water is an indication of a favorable environment for alga. this initially could just be the cycling process. if you break it down and start over, you may have to just go through it again, however, a uv sterilizer would help kill any free floating alga spores and assist in clearing up the water, although I personally feel it is too early to go there, but, a thought you might consider. once the food source is gone, water parameters are correct, tank if fully cycled, and you have installed adequate clean up and detritus crew, your tank should stabilize and clear up. adding fresh salt makeup water does not resolve the problem. I suspect there are either nitrates, phosphates, or unseasoned salt makeup causing your problem. do you have mechanical filters? if so change them weekly, maybe try using poly disks/filter material which will turn color when exhausted and help remove some of the contaminates. just a thought. did you say what your lighting package is? consider that aspect also. good luck.
 
Back
Top