???? tank turning yellow ????

[geo6028]

I've had my 10 gal reef tank for about 2 months its been fine until the other day. my ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and nitrates are 20. I have a backpack skimmer that runs all day, and a hang on bio filter. ive been growing nice coralline algae. untill about two days ago i notice alot of nice colors on my live rock starting to vanish and my sand turning greenish/yellow , i woke up today and my glass is all greenish/yellow. The water also has kind of like a yellow tint to it.

-I know i need to do a water change ( i use tap water with instant ocean when i do the change) should i go to different resources.

-should i start using chemical filtration (i'm scared to do so because of the effects)

!NEED HELP POR FAVOR!

[Paaxil]

Are you running carbon? Carbon should help clean up the water

[widmer]

Buy reverse osmosis filtered water. Invest in the a couple 5 gallon "water cooler" jugs for ~$10 and then you can just fill them at the local big box grocery store for like 35 cents per gallon. It's a habit that will pay off. Also, your tank is young, it's perfectly normal for it to go through algae phases. Give it time and you will be fine. Make sure you're not overfeeding too.

[Flavum]

that sounds like a pretty sudden change. is your salt alright? no big swings in chemistry lately?

[jrdoan]

Yeah water change...... ASAP not with tap water... See the thing about tap water is that the local township or whatever is constantly dumping in new chemicals cholorine.. maybe something to kill algea in their pipes, Floride, whatever.. So when you first use it if it has been a while since they treated your water you could be ok. However once they treat it depending on what they do and where you live it can go crazy. I would recommend going to wall mart and getting the wal mart water in the Green jug. It should cost you 74cents a gallon. If you do a 10percent water change a week that's well 74cents.

As for the yellow tint go with carbon but rinse it off with the RO water first and you should be fine.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

[AZDesertRat]

A bag of carbon in a high flow area like in the biowheel or BakPak will take the color out.
Always use RO or RO/DI water for topoffs and changes. You are probably like us here in Phoenix and have Water & Ice type stores on every corner, its usually 25 cents a gallon and the staffed stores normally have very good quality RO. Most wil be glad to test it in front of you.