tank went green

[smalltowngal86]

So I have had this tank up and running for about a month...went through the nitrate and ammonia spikes and now my levels are reading spot on every day to every other day... I add my fish and the tank went green. :angryfire::headwally: So I am doing 10% water changes and have killed all light to the tank...including killing the lighting on my sump. Anyone have anymore suggestions for me....and before you ask no, I didn't use ro/di water :(... I don't have the system yet. I used tap water and it was clear right up until I added the fish. Doing water changes with distilled water now.

[kudagirl]

Tap water is no good you can get ro water from your lfs.You dont know what has been added to tap water.

Before you do any water changes go to your lfs and get the right water.(you stand a good chance of losing your fish.

[smalltowngal86]

problem is I don't have a local LFS.... the closest thing I have is a Petco that is about an hour away...... Im trying to get an RODI this week but not sure that I will have enough funds after paying bills and my sons bday party

[Bigcefa]

Uv sterilizer sounds like it could help your situation

[jimrawr]

Sounds like you need to slow down to me.. Tap water is not the way to start a reef tank

[bertoni]

If you could borrow a UV unit for a bit, it might solve the problem quickly. Otherwise, we'd probably need to know what the phosphate, ammonia, and nitrate levels are in some freshly-mixed saltwater to get an idea of what's happening.

If you tune the skimmer to skim a little wetter, that might help, although it'll take time. I'd probably stop feeding for the time being, too.

[smalltowngal86]

Ok. In all honesty i got to thinking about it and it didn't do this when I used the reef crystals but I ran out and couldn't make the hour+ drive to get more so just picked up some tetra brand salt at Walmart. Not using that again

[Savoie83]

Tetra salt? That the freshwater salt???

[bertoni]

The problem might have been due to the salt product. I'd just monitor carefully and wait, at this point.