Green water....for several days now

[bsclarinet]

:hmm5:

Well my friend has a 55 gallon reef tank, and he has been fighting with green water for over a week. He's done several water changes, which don't seem to help. I've committed to helping him fix the problem, so that's why I'm here :crazy1:

I have been talking to him about doing a blackout for about 3 days, and then doing some large water changes to get rid of all the dead algae. However, I'm a little concerned about his corals. He has some softies: xenia, kenya trees, mushroom, and zoas. But also a candy cane and a frogspawn. Will the blackout hurt the corals if we do it for 3 days? Or does anyone have a better suggestion for getting rid of the green water?

[arredondojason]

sounds like a bacteria bloom so what i would do i purchase a UV sterilizer and it should be cleared up in like 3 or 4 days.

[droberts]

u.v. would definitely clear the algae bloom. but what started it? hows the water test? can he put his coral in your tank if you have to do a black out if buying a u.v. is out of the question?

[Flipper62]

Is he running any kind of GFO.....Carbon, Pura-Complete,...anything ?

[Toddrtrex]

Is your friend using RO/DI water? And if so, what is the TDS of it?

An algae bloom causing green water would most likely be caused by excess nutrients, fix that issue and the tank should clear up.

[PRDubois]

I smell tap water???

[reefbro]

Run some carbon it should clear it up.

[stingythingy45]

The only thing I've ever seen clear up"green water"is a U.V. sterilizer.
Btw,how is your friend checking salinity?The only time I had a rather bad bout with GW was during a hyposalinity treatment for ich.

[bsclarinet]

Definitely no tap water. He buys water from our favorite LFS. He doesn't have a sump or skimmer on the tank. I'm pretty sure UV is out of the question. I know he did have a bag of carbon in his filter, but I'm not sure if he is still running that or not. He was target feeding his corals, so I told him not to do that for a while. Perhaps he overdid it and that's what led to this. I also told him to cut back on fish feeding.

[bsclarinet]

u.v. would definitely clear the algae bloom. but what started it? hows the water test? can he put his coral in your tank if you have to do a black out if buying a u.v. is out of the question?

I'm not sure about his water params. I know he has always kept them well maintained, but I don't know what the specifics were for the last time he tested. I wouldn't care to take his softies and put them in my tank, but I am getting ready to upgrade to better lights (haven't done it yet), so I don't know if his candy cane and frogspawn would do well with my light. Of course, I guess it's probably better than no light, right?

[Toddrtrex]

Definitely no tap water. He buys water from our favorite LFS. He doesn't have a sump or skimmer on the tank. I'm pretty sure UV is out of the question. I know he did have a bag of carbon in his filter, but I'm not sure if he is still running that or not. He was target feeding his corals, so I told him not to do that for a while. Perhaps he overdid it and that's what led to this. I also told him to cut back on fish feeding.

Is he buying plain water or salt water from them? If it is plain, I would suggest testing the TDS of it, not all LFS's are good about maintaining their RO/DI filters.

What is all in the tank? Fish and corals

[bsclarinet]

Is he buying plain water or salt water from them? If it is plain, I would suggest testing the TDS of it, not all LFS's are good about maintaining their RO/DI filters.

What is all in the tank? Fish and corals


He buys salt water from them.

The only fish he has right now are 2 clowns.
Corals: candy cane, frogspawn, several zoa colonies, a striped mushroom, 2 kinds of xenia, kenya trees.

Also, I forgot to mention that he does have a ball of chaeto in there to try to absorb extra nutrients. And he does prune it.

[droberts]

a skimmer would definitely help to pull the crap out of the water. he should get one i got a sea clone for a 125 that i run on my 55 and i only paid $50 with the shipping

[Seventy]

a skimmer would definitely help to pull the crap out of the water. he should get one i got a sea clone for a 125 that i run on my 55 and i only paid $50 with the shipping

+1 on the skimmer. It will remove some of the crap causing the algae, but will also pull the algae itself out if you run it during/after you clean the glass.

I went skimmerless for a couple months while I was upgrading skimmers and noticed alot more algae and diatoms during that time.

[Toddrtrex]

He buys salt water from them.

The only fish he has right now are 2 clowns.
Corals: candy cane, frogspawn, several zoa colonies, a striped mushroom, 2 kinds of xenia, kenya trees.

Also, I forgot to mention that he does have a ball of chaeto in there to try to absorb extra nutrients. And he does prune it.

Before putting that water into the tank, I would have him test the phosphates of it.

That bio-load is pretty light for a 55, so unless he is dumping a ton of food into the tank, there has to be something feeding the algae, and I am thinking that it is the water.

[addictedtofish]

A u.v. will clear that up but is expensive, some lfs rent them, if the u.v. isn't an option rent a diatom filter to clear it up typically 10-15 dollars to rent and will clear the bloom in 12-24hrs. CARBON will not clear this bloom.

[twolfe98]

+1 on uv.. you can find deals or post in a local club to borrow one.. If your in southern md i can help you lol.. a guy in our club had the same issue last week, with in 24hrs he was crystal clear. He got a 25watter for 40 bux!! i know !!

[jasoncampbell83]

Make sure he is only using RODI water and also there is some stuff called AllGone, it works great! I know someone who used it and it cleared up their green water, it may take a week or two... good luck!

[bsclarinet]

I'll talk to him about trying to rent uv or a diatom filter. He did start a blackout yesterday, and will do that through today. And it's funny that jasoncampbell83 mentioned Algone, cause I just picked up a box for him today!