Please Help

silhouette

Reefing newb
I have a 40 gallon salt water tank. My water is starting to turn a greenish color. Last week I did a partial water change then is.. I can't figure out why the water is this color. All my levels in the tank are fine. The fish look fine too. Can someone please help me figure this out...
 
Your perameters might be off the algae could be using all the phos and nitrates before it can be detacted. What are all of your perameters? How long has the tank been set up? How often do you do water changes, and how much of the tank is being changed?
 
How many and what kind of fish do you have, and how often are your lights on?

You might try turning off the lights for a while to reduce the symptoms, but we still neet to figure out where the excess nutrients are coming from.
 
The tank has been set up for about 8 months... The salt level is 1.22 ph 8.2 no2 reading 0 and no3 is about 8. I do water changes about once a month
 
Whats your phosphate? Your nitrates are part of the problem, 8 isnt bad but it is contributing to the problem. What is your tank stocked with? What food are you feeding the fish and tank? You can add a uv filter that should kill the floating algae but it wouldnt fix your nutrient problem, you can also try adding some carbon. But get you phos tested and let us know what it is.
 
I definitely would not do a complete change, that could hurt your bacteria population as well as many other beneficial biological animals you might have crawling around.
Re: water source, do you use tap water or R/O water? Sometimes municipal water can be very high in phosphates.
 
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I agree, do not do a complete water change. I'd do 50% at most, but doing a water change will not address the problem, which like everyone else said, is probably phosphates.
 
I don't know the specifics of your setup,here is everything that can lead to high nutrients levels that I know of.

Overfeeding,overstocked,lighting,water source,filtration.Only you know if one or more of these are related to what's going on in your system.

overfeeding...reduce feeding,switch to frozen may help
overstocked...I don't know how many fish you have,but maybe your system can't handle the load.
lighting....sometimes reducing the lighting period may help,replacing old bulbs too.
water source....tapwater is bad,try switching over to RO/DI water instead
filtration...if pads,media are not replace regularly they can be traps for nutrients that is feeding the algae bloom.

Those are the only ones I know of...I hope something there helps.
 
If the problem is phosphates, I would do three things.

First, address the source. The likely sources for phosphates are mainly water and food. Water is fairly easy to fix. Find a RO/DI water machine at a supermarket nearby. Some of the Walmarts with groceries have such machines. Refills are relatively cheap, $.33 a gallon. I buy four gallons of RO/DI water everyweek for my tanks when I get my groceries. You can usually find filtered water at your lfs as well. Your other source is food. Make sure you are feeding your fish no more than they can eat in a few minutes. I like to feed my fish at least three times a day so that I can put in very small amounts with as little food as possible remaining uneaten.

The second thing to do, now that you have addressed the source, is to remove the phosphate in your tank. There are several decent products that should help. I would use iron oxide, which is available as Rowaphos and Phosban. If you have any sensitive inverts, be aware that iron oxide will lower your pH a little bit.

The third thing is partial water changes. I know you want to get rid of the problem as fast as possible, but heavy water changes are tough on aquatic life. I would probably change 20% every week until things are under control. You will find other people who may suggest otherwise, but that's just what I am comfortable with.

Let me know if that helps.
 
Guess i'll toss in my 2 cents too.I agree with every body else on the possible cause and fixes.
I will add this,if you feed frozen foods,use a pair of tweezers to drop the food in after it had thawed.You want to keep as much of the packing water out of your system as possible.
 
In addition to the possible sources that Reeffreak said, I'd check for all your animals. If something has died, it can screw up your tank as it rots away. When I have snails, crabs and small stuff die like that, I leave them in the tank, as my hungry cleaner crew takes care of them quickly. But if you have had something big (like a fish or a coral) die, or if you do not have a strong enough cleaner crew, something dead or dying can cause water quality problems too.

Also, like Yote said, if you use frozen food you should thaw it out and rinse it off before putting it into your tank. I use one of those little strainers.
 
theres a product called chemi-pure..it helps a lot keeping water clear and low phosphates.. do a partial water change..add it to your filter or sump..youll see the diference..good luck..
 
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