Green Algae on Glass = Cloudy Water

[Chris5]

Ok so I'm not a beginner by any means but i'd thought i would see if anyone had any suggestions ...

My tank is a 20g and has been running for approx. a month or so ... have 3 small fish and some starter corals (gsp, toadstool, kenya etc..) as for the last 3 or 4 days my green algae bloom has increased 5 fold ... and the water seems cloudy lately ...

When i come home from work at 2ish the glass has alot of green algae build up, light green that can be brushed off with the magnet and i am even starting to see if on the rocks (which should be a good thing) problem is the water is looking cloudy and thats annoying ...

Water paramters are all in check ... temp/salinity stable ...
Running a remora skimmer, skimmate for the past 3 days has been very foamy but dry and haven't had to dump it since i got it ...
Aqua C hang on with chemi-pure and carbon
2 Koralia's 1's
20lbs live rock ... 10lbs sand ...
Just did a 10% water change yesterday afternoon, and this morning its hazy again after the actnincs come on for like an hour or so ....

Also just took out the sponge that was once yellow was black today out of the AC filter so maybe that was it?

 

[midtownman]

what kind of water ur using? did you check ur phosphate?
you could get a low wattage uv light to take care of the hair algea but its just my opinion

 

[Deanos]

Try these relevant threads where solutions have been offered:

Green water

Green again

Algae bloom

Vacation over

Never say "parameters in check" in the same post as "cloudy water". Either your nitrates or phosphates are "out of check". Maybe both

 

[Chris5]

hahahah, I knew that would surface at some-point ...Those were all my posts when i had the 65g!! :irked:

And after all those suggestions and a month of trying everyone's advice, swapping out all the water at least 2x and changing out the sand bed, guess what worked ... in 2 weeks better than anything i can explain to rectify the problem.......

Algone.....
Let the hating begin ... :shhh:

Its def not the nitrates just checked and barely traceable, now phosphates maybe haven't checked those, but ever since i started using chemi-pure
things have gotten weird ... hopefully its not that, question is can i run my AC with only activated carbon in it?

 

[Chris5]

so now its turning green (the water) here we go again ...
Algone on the way ... :shhh:

 

[KuyaMark]

Hahahhaa OMG Chris the algae bloom is part of your cycling to tell you the truth mine went through the same process and everything is fine...........PATIENCES is the key to this hobby...... just be patient and everything will be good!!

 

[marki24]

what kind of water ur using? did you check ur phosphate?
you could get a low wattage uv light to take care of the hair algea but its just my opinion

I wouldn't do that to solve that problem.

 

[Chris5]

the uv light? Yeah didn't do anything .... As for the other things either did they and trust me when i say to this day its still a strange phenom, not the algae bloom itself but the fix (which only makes it worse) ... id like to know the contents of algone, bc whatever is in there is incredible ...

 

[wxl14]

Becareful with the algone crap.. It could screw up your tank big time. It creates a lot of amonia in the tank when you kill all the algae at once with a chem. You should do a water change and clean your sand. Trust me had very bad experiance. Very Bad.

 

[Chris5]

that sucks man, but no offense don't think it was the algone, if you check out the links above from Deanos, that was my tank 2 yrs ago and it couldn't have been worse ...

All my fish and corals lived through it as well as with the algone for 2 straight months as the water went from pea soup to clear as day ... maybe you had a bad batch ... so in the retrospect i hear ya and will take warning ...

 

[nanoreefer22]

Honestly I think you should listen to Kuya and just let it ride itself out. You're tanks only a month old, let it do it's thing. Give the tank some time to settle in, it's probably just part of the cycle. Don't rush to use chemicals. Wait a month, if your tank still looks the same, then we were wrong.

I say have some patience and let it be for the time being.

 

[KathyC]

Wow..just read through all of your previous threads and it's interesting that you are having the same issues with a different tank...
I can't imagine how a UV light is making no difference at all..basically that is impossible...unless the bulb in it is shot.

Questions:
are you using rodi water?
are you using the old rock again?..sure hope not...lol
how many hours a day are your lights on?
How old are the bulbs?
are you adding ANY chemicals?
how often do you feed and specifically what are you feeding?
What is your temp? SG? ..and yes, ALL of the other parameters?
Is this tank getting any direct sunlight?
what kind of sand did you use?

I would pitch the Chemipure..you used that last time & it didn't help you, and you definitely should not need it in such a new tank

Just run the carbon in there and with your issues I would change it every couple of days (seriously).

At only 1 month old your tank is still suffering from new tank syndrome, limit your water changes to 10% once per week. Each time you do a water change in such a new tank, you are causing a tiny cycle, you don't need that on top of your other issues.

What sponge are you saying turned from yellow to black??

I have to agree with the majority on not using the algone (as tempting at it is..) You need to get your basic water quality issue fixed first. A band-aid will only address the symptom and then it will return again.

soooo...cut the lighting schedule to 4 hrs per day, feed 1 x per day, add more carbon, pitch the chemipure.

 

[Chris5]

Thanks everyone ...
Yeah it is ironic, its also funny that even before this happened my corals were doing ok and now even in cloudy water they are in fully bloom !
By the way those posts are 2yrs old and on my old 65g i used to have ... everything sold when i got out so all i have now is new....

Anyway water parameters
Ro/di water (GE Stage 3)
Specific Gravity - 32/1.023-1.024
Temp is 77.9 - 78.4
Ph- 8.2
Nitrates below .5
Nitrites 0
Rock was cured when introduced
Sand maybe an issue used non-live marine sand but at this point i wouldnt be able to change that unless i break down the tank, my only option is to add some live sand to seed it ...

Running carbon and chemi-pure
Feeding flake which includes a brine in it 2x -will cut to once a day
Lights are running 10hrs and the T5HO fixture rated at 96wtts is brand new
as are the bulbs (10ks and Actnics)

All livestock and corals are doing fine as well as the clean up crew ..
Water is more cloudy during the daylight hours than at night light times

Skimmer is running non stop but not filling cup since i got it ... its only 1/4 full with dark green gunk ...

Sponge came with AC filter was a regular filter sponge and was originally yellow and 3 weeks later turned dark grey/black ...

My first reaction is to do another water change but that only helps fuel the problem to be honest ... and its hard for me to think its part of a cycle when the water is cloudy and i am getting a green algae film on the glass like on the hour even after cleaning ..

I know everyone hates adding chemicals (band-aides) to fix problems but last time i went through this it worked and it really balanced out my tank nicely and i never had any other water issues again ... i know for some it may seem hard to believe but i have the pics to prove it ... as far as being to early i agree but i have had 3 other tanks before and this is the 2nd time its happened and i know from experience and research this is really not part of a cycle ...

I maybe that chemi-pure but i feel as if i take it out what do i really have filtering my water? just the carbon, but is that enough (yes i know the rocks and sand and skimmer but feel as if that is inadequate ...

Should i look into phoszorb? Maybe its a phosphate thing?

 

[KathyC]

Just read a jar of Chemipure that I have here...please do yourself a favor and remove it from your tank.
Cloudy water is a sign of too much bacteria (unless it's really green and you're just not seeing the color..)..obviously from here I can't tell you which kind you have too much of but the jar itself says that it promotes aerobic bacterial growth..something you should NOT need at this point in your set up. You are striving for a BALANCE in your bacterias and the Chemipure is screwing with that.
(I was well aware the other threads were old and that it was your prior tank in the pics..but...you are having the same issue..an issue which at best is uncommon to see..so (and in the nicest way) that tells me that it is something common to how you run YOUR tanks i.e, something you are adding that is causing this issue.)

Take the Chemipure out (no, it is not acting as much like the mechanical filter as you would like/expect it to be)..and replace it with carbon. You will get more bang for your buck from the carbon. Carbon also does remove phosphates..not as quickly as other media..but it does do so.

Your lights are on way too long ..cut that time in half..your corals will be fine with the reduction.

If you are hell bent on adding something - go get a phosban reactor...
And a bottle of 'cycle'. Do a water change..add the proper dosage of Cycle..then step away from the tank for a week..and it will balance itself out.

Don't worry about your sand..by now that is fine and will populate in time to the right levels (faster if you get that Chemi pure out..oh! Did I say that again! )

Your phospahtes would have to be in a different stratosphere for them to be clouding up your water.

 

[inked]

By ac do you mean a aquaclear filter? What size 110? Is that the only filter you are using?

 

[tommy818]

sign of cloudy water is a bacteria bloom but that is not from the chem-i pure

 

[Chris5]

took the chemi-pure out and now running new carbon and phos-pad
Will see how it goes ...

Also lowered lighting and cut back on feeding ...

Thanks again everyone ...