Algae Bloom Fight-1st Attempt

[herman]

Well i just took another cupful and initially it kinda smells like rotten eggs but in about 5 sec after that nothing but granted i am kinda gettin over a cold right now....but i did smell it real quick

What I believe happened is the following: (lehmans version)

You had a sandbed in your old tank. The different layers of the sandbed basically have different conditions. Lower layers are oxygen deprived and the upper layers are not. The cup test on this undisturbed sand would have created a successful wet fart smell intensely.

When you moved the sand all of the "crap" etc in the sand as well as the oxygen deprived regions got mixed up and reacted. You put that all into your new tank thinking that it would be all good.

That explains why your livestock died off so quickly and you have an algae bloom. Also it explains why your skimmer is pulling out so much gunk.

Rather than buying equipment I really recommend that you transfer your current stock into a large container running with skimmer etc.

Clean out all the sand and get rid of it all. Either you buy new sand or go with a bare bottom approach. (I would go BB) Get a couple more rocks over time and you will have a pristine tank in no time. Keep all of your equipment you have and you can upgrade that slowly.

For now just get rid of the cause. You should not have to suffer throughout this but you should be enjoying the tank.

 

[Chris5]

Your the man...Your absolutely right! I hate viewing a nasty green tank its an eye sore ....but questions are up until i left for vaca in FL my tank was crystal clear, and when i get home green as ever and wont get clear anymore....i had it running for awhile before it turned green with the same conditions i just dont get it....do these things just happen one day ?

Very strange if you ask me bc i havent done anything different.....but i had a feeling the sand was a problem....its a very deep sand bed as well so.....

 

[Hippo]

bloom

How old is this tank?
Do you have snails & hermit crabs in the tank?
How many?

 

[herman]

Your the man...Your absolutely right! I hate viewing a nasty green tank its an eye sore ....but questions are up until i left for vaca in FL my tank was crystal clear, and when i get home green as ever and wont get clear anymore....i had it running for awhile before it turned green with the same conditions i just dont get it....do these things just happen one day ?

Very strange if you ask me bc i havent done anything different.....but i had a feeling the sand was a problem....its a very deep sand bed as well so.....

DSB? That explains alot. Yes these things can happen in less than a day. I had a 5 year old reef long time ago with a dsb . In the morning everything was fine and in the afternoon it was basically a sewage system. Classic DSB crash.

Hermits and snails are not going to help you on this one, neither is a 100% water change. Just get rid of the sand, start over and save your self the headaches and questions. Nocrab or snail or skimmer is going to solve the hydrogen sulfide problem.

 

[Chris5]

Nah the tank is my friends old tank 65g and i have had it running for about 6 months now without any problems until now....i did at one point have corals and inverts but they died off randomly but fish still healthy as ever....

I think i am gonna remove all the sand like you guys suggest and hope for the best just have to go get one of those large bins.....

 

[Chris5]

Finally Finished....

WOW, is all I can say....as everyone said to do I cleaned the entire tank of its sand and green water.....I cant even begin to explain what the sand looked like at the bottom, nasty greyish/black smelling crap is the extent of it, plus if that wasnt the worst than try having some rocks turning black as well....but the smell was overwhelming and quiet frank some of the most disgusting stuff i have seen, i was dry heaving lol ....

Anyway just wanna say thanks to all those that helped...tank is cloudy now but put in new sand and the rocks back in.....

One question since i cant see much and i have about 10lbs of rock left to put in can i leave them in a bucket with water all my acceseries (heater, powerheads etc..are now back in tank)

 

[spykes]

hmm seems like i missed this hydrogen sulfide discussion :p
anyhow that green water is phytoplankton. mean you got nitrates for them to feed on, as well as good food for softies =D

 

[Chris5]

yeah if that wasnt a sulfide problem than i dont know what was going on there, but question can that really kill inverts and corals? and if so why not fish than, i mean my 3 fish have lived through it and are pretty dam heathly (knock on wood) ....

 

[Tonyscoots84]

well it possibly can kill corals in 1 way. the algae deprives the corals of lights that it needs especially with such dark green water.

 

[House of Laughter]

Man, I would have never envisioned that color water when you said it was gren - I mean it is GREEN!!!

Holy cow, I hope it all comes along for ya.

House

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

Some suggestions:

1. Use RO water.
2. Get a cup or two of seed live sand and add it to your tank.
3. Buy a culture of copepods and add them to your tank after the lights are out. Copepods eat "green water"
4. Add filter feeders to your tank. I suspect that a clam would get big and fat in your tank! But your lighting may not be sufficient to keep it alive after it finishes eating the "green" stuff.
5. Get a decent skimmer.

-Alfred

 

[Alfredo De La Fe]

From what you just described, you killed something on your liverock. More than likely, when you transferred your liverock you exposed a large sponge to air. (This can kill a sponge) It died, started to decompose and your skimmer could not handle it. This led to a cascade effect and right now your liverock is cycling again.

-Alfred