Green water

[NealH]

Hi all--
I've had my 5.5 gal tank running for about 2 1/2 months and in the last week the water has become cloudy and green. I have been doing water changes at least every other day since this started, and that makes it more clear for a while, but then the next day it is just as cloudy. I have an AC50 fuge with activated carbon and some floss, I do partial water changes weekly, my ammonia/nitrates/nitrites are all 0/0/0, specific gravity is 1.023 (refractometer) and my pH is 8.0. As far as stock, I have some zoas, some GSP, a small chalice, a maze brain frag, and a toadstool. My CUC is two astrea, two hermits and a cerith. The livestock is not opening as well as it used to with the exception of the toadstill which seems happy. I'm pretty sure it is some sort of free floating microalgae, but I am at a loss as to what to do to get rid of it. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Neal

P.S. I didn't post this in the nano forum because I want it to get a bit more traffic. :)

[sir_dudeguy]

the toadstool...has it ever turned purple? With your numbers and everything, the only thing i can think of would be the toadstool. they dont mix well with some corals, and maybe you've got one of them. But when they dont mix w/a certain coral, its like chemical warfare between them, and the leathers (specially toadstool) seem to put out a cloudy..."something" for lack of better word lol. But i heard that they normally turn purple when they do this...

But thats about all i can think of...
[welcome]

[NealH]

I thought that might be the case too because I started to have these issues after I added the toadstool. I thought this might explain the cloudiness, but there's definitely a green component that seems to be algae. I'm wondering how to get rid of the free floating algae. I started running activated carbon today to try to counteract anything the toadstool migh tbe giving off. It hasn't turned purple, though. It's an ORA green-polyped toadstool.

Neal

[sir_dudeguy]

if its an actual algae bloom in the water...try a UV sterilizer...tho that seems kinda like a waste and overkill on such a small tank lol. But it should for sure get rid of the stuff growing in the water...srry..i just cant remember what its called for the life of me lol.

[skriz]

sounds like my tank (check my gallery). sounds like a phyto outbreak. Carbon will help a lot. Stop doing water changes, they wont help right now and you'll just be wasting your money.

It could also be bacteria such as Microvirgula aerodenitrificans or azospirillum. This is the stuff that makes lakes green.

I am using a TON of carbon and it is clearing up bigtime! Skimming seems to do very little at this point. I am going to add ozone tommorow; i'll keep you posted on if it works.

Sauveur with Providio says that an overdose of Bio Digest may kill it in a day. I haven't tried it yet.

OH yeah, keep a close eye on water toxicity.

[chinta]

Welcome!!! To Reef Central

[NealH]

Thanks for the advice. I started running carbon yesterday and things are a lot better. The water is still a little bit cloudy, but it's not green like it was and it isn't getting progressively greener/cloudier like it did before.
Neal

[skriz]

Good, sounds like that did the trick.