Green Water

[smrf010]

I have been having a green water problem for the past 2 months. I do water changes but in a couple days the water comes back just as green. I do not have an RODI but i do treat the water with chemicals such as ammonia detox and Phosphate Eliminator and Stress Zyme. I am considering buying a UV sterilizer, because Dr. Foster Smith says this would fix the problem. What do you think I should do??
Any input will be greatly appreciated!!
Thanks,
Geoff

[TekCat]

Instead of getting UV, start at the source: get RO/DI unit.

[bertoni]

If you could borrow a UV unit for a few days, it'd likely fix the problem. Usually, green water is caused by a bloom of some sort of photosynthetic organism, like a microalga. The Stress Zyme can influence the effectiveness of a protein skimmer, if you have one. I avoid using additives like that. Are you using tapwater? Sometimes that will feed an algal bloom.

[JRistau81]

he said he didnt have RO/DI so and uses those treating products so I'm sure he uses tap...I agree w/ Tekcat. Get a Ro/Di unit.

[JRistau81]

Oh I forgot to say
Can we have water parameters? It'll be hard to help much w/o them.

[smrf010]

With an RODI unit that wont clear up the water right away will it? About how many water changes for a 30 gallon will it take to get my water clear again? Also, another question, Will my substrate and LR be stained green or anything from the bloom?

[jwd]

I don't have an ro/di so I either use distilled water or buy ro from a lfs.......

Maybe u shud run carbon 4 a few days to help wit the green tint or if you're running carbon already then u should change the carbon........

[TekCat]

Originally posted by smrf010
With an RODI unit that wont clear up the water right away will it? About how many water changes for a 30 gallon will it take to get my water clear again? Also, another question, Will my substrate and LR be stained green or anything from the bloom?

Nothing good happens fast in this hobby You could do 50% water change with RO water, that'll help alot. But, I think, when no new nutrients fueling algal/bacterial blooms that you're seeing the bio system will correct itself, and green should disappear. All the stains on rocks and sand eventially go away when you have your water parameters in check.

as jwd suggested, running carbon should help in clearing water. However unless you fix the source of your problem, green will return.

I (and many others) can't stress enough the importance of clean water source. To this day the only options are RO/DI water or distilled water. I'd prefer former, because in commercial distilation process sometimes they use copper pipes, so over time copper will accumulate in your tank. Bottom line is, instead of investing $100 in UV sterilizer, go to an eBay, there you can get decent RO/DI unit for aproximately $100-150.

good luck

[rodding]

my last two buckets of Instant ocean salt turned my water green and it is still green to this day. Can anyone else test to this? Do you think they have a bad batch of salt?

[NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT]

The answers already been said twice get a RO unit,

[kappaknight]

Originally posted by NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT
The answers already been said twice get a RO unit,

ROFL.

[bertoni]

I doubt it's the salt, but that's a possibility. The green stain isn't permanent, so I'd just concentrate on fixing the problem. A series of 25% water changes might help. I wouldn't go higher than 25% except in emergencies.

[TekCat]

good point, on series of smaller water changes instead of one huge event. my bad.

[JRistau81]

Don't forget to use RO/Di water for them changes too!

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I noticed that your tank is a 35 Gallon hex with mh fixture. I don't know what you have in your tank (hint hint) but with MH over it I would think you must have some kind of coral and live rock. In my very limited experience I don't see how you could maintain a phyto bloom for more than a week or two if your other parameters are reasonably normal. IMHO maintaining a phyto culture in a mono culture environment is difficult.

I don’t have an idea as to what is causing the green water color but it would be interesting to know a little more about the tank. How long has it been set up? What is in the tank (besides green water)? How long of a photo period are you maintaining and with what? What kind of substrate is in the tank? How much live rock? What are the other water parameters and how are they measured?

[rodding]

RO or RO/DI water is not the answer to bad tank water. Check with your city first and if you use city water then add a declorinator or declorimine.

[TekCat]

Originally posted by rodding
RO or RO/DI water is not the answer to bad tank water. Check with your city first and if you use city water then add a declorinator or declorimine.

I hope that was a joke.

[rodding]

I'm sorry have you ever read the chemistry of real, surprising, ocean fresh or sea salt water? Compare that to a professionaly tested batch of RO/DI salt water mix. I would also guesss the chlride that builds are teeth in city water is bad? Well if the city removes my poop I guess they make a darn good water.

[bertoni]

Here at Reef Central, we believe that dialogs between participants should be conducted in a friendly and helpful manner. If you disagree with a posting, please express yourself in a way that is conducive to further constructive dialog. Conversely, when you post on any given subject, you must be willing to accept constructive criticism without posting a hostile or inflammatory response. Personal attacks of any kind will not be tolerated. Please work to insure that Reef Central remains a friendly and flame free site where everyone, especially newcomers, can feel free to post questions without fear of being unfairly criticized. Thank you for your cooperation.

Okay, lots of people have reported problems with tapwater, and given what's in some of it, I wouldn't use it in my tank. There are lots of analyses around. Some of the more common problems are high nitrate and phosphate levels, compared to levels at healthy reefs. Copper and other contaminants are also an issue.

[davidfrances]

1. Use a diatom filter to extract the free floating algae
2. Buy a RO unit, quality units can be had on eBay for about $100
3. start making 20% water changes weekly until your water parameters stabilize.
4. CaliforniaDreamer gave the best advice so far.

[NEEDMONEYFORMORESALT]

I'm sorry have you ever read the chemistry of real, surprising, ocean fresh or sea salt water? Compare that to a professionaly tested batch of RO/DI salt water mix. I would also guesss the chlride that builds are teeth in city water is bad? Well if the city removes my poop I guess they make a darn good water.

I know that where i live using a TDS meter my water is around 500 after my RO/DI its 0.

The real difference between using a RO/DI vs. tap water is the same difference between sitting back, drinking a beer enjoying the tank vs spending your time on here frantically looking for answers why your corals and fish don't look good.

[TekCat]

The idea is to remove as much as possible impurities from tap water (nutrates,phosphates,sulfates,copper,led,iron, and bazzilion of other possible contaminants). All the dechlorinators do is converting toxic chlorine and chloramine to less toxic chemical susbstances. All other contaminants (or I should say nutrients) are still in water. These nutrients are readily accepted by green hair algae and such.

RO process removes almost all of the "juice" leaving just H2O molecules. Add salt, and you're in good shape As far as comparison of what is in NSW and salt mixes, there is an article somewhere on chemistry forum (I don't have a link) that shows content of chemicals in different salt brands in relation to NSW.

[smrf010]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I am going to buy an RO unit and do a 50% water change asap. As for the questions from californiadreamer I will have to say I dont know why I have a bloom. My tank has been set up for 6 months before the algea bloom and I had LR in it but I still had no corraline algea on the glass. So 1 month after I bought the LR I bought a MH fixture to help the corraline algea grow, but still nothing happened. Currently, this algea bloom has been restricting light to the LR for about 3 months, so I have no idea how the LR is looking now. Maybe once I have good, healthy water in the tank it will speed up the process of the corraline algea???

[bertoni]

Clean water might help. Tanks often get algal blooms when the nutrient export regime isn't good enough, and the biological filter "fills up", so this situation seems fairly normal to me.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Originally posted by smrf010
Thanks for all the helpful advice. I am going to buy an RO unit and do a 50% water change asap. As for the questions from californiadreamer I will have to say I dont know why I have a bloom. My tank has been set up for 6 months before the algea bloom and I had LR in it but I still had no corraline algea on the glass. So 1 month after I bought the LR I bought a MH fixture to help the corraline algea grow, but still nothing happened. Currently, this algea bloom has been restricting light to the LR for about 3 months, so I have no idea how the LR is looking now. Maybe once I have good, healthy water in the tank it will speed up the process of the corraline algea???

In my limited experience lack of Coralline algae growth is usually due to low calcium and/or magnesium and/or alkalinity levels. Most of the coralline in my tank grows where the lighting is less intense. I would check your alkalinity, Ca, and Mg levels. If you dont have test kits, get them ( I like the titration style like the Salifert kits). I would also check the chemistry of the new saltwater you are using for water changes. I use and really like IO (Instant Ocean) but always have to add Mg and Ca to get the levels to where I want.

As to the RO/DI debate, I always use RO/DI for making up NSW and top offs. My current water source contains no chemicals that could have an adverse reaction in my tank but, I consider that what is in my water today may change so why take a chance. I know that some municipal water systems add phosphates to help prevent rust buildup with older iron plumbing. Also the chemical makeup can change from season to season, so what may be fine in the summer may cause nutrient problems in the winter. RO/DI is just cheap insurance.