Agae Bloom?

[jegel]

I have an 80 gaoon tank, its 4' wide, when I look through the side the water has a greenish color to it(glass is clean). Is this an Aglea Bloom or just poor water quality? I just got a new skimmer (Reef Devil) so overall water quality should be improving. Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate are all 0. If this is Agae Bloom how can I get rid of it? Will my skimmer suck it out or is it lights out in my tank for a while?

Thanks

[Raszagil]

Hi jegel!

Sounds like you have green water, which is an algae bloom. Is this a new tank? If it is, this is to be expected...your tank will go through many of these cycles during it's early stages (just wait until the cyno shows up!).

What you can do:

First of all, relax. Green water never killed anything, but it is a symtom of another more serious problem, which is you have WAY too many nutrients in your system. We need to figure out what is feeding this nusance algae species.

-Do you do regular water changes using RO water?
-Do you use tapwater for water changes?
-Do you overfeed the tank?
-Did you have a nutrient export device (before getting your new skimmer?)
-Do you leave your lights on 24/7?
-Is this tank near a window?
-Is your tank over-stocked with fish/critters?


All of these factors (or the lack of them, such as no water changes, not having a nutrient export device) could lead to an algae bloom. A skimmer will definately help the situation, as will frequent water changes in a set schedule. Lights Out would take care of the problem for a few days, but if you still have too much nutrients in the water it will just return when there is light again.

Take some time to deal with the core problem and figure out where the excess nutrients are coming from and then do some water changes (using RO water) to get rid of the secondary problem (green water).

HTHs,

Raz

[ 02-22-2001: Message edited by: Raszagil ]

[jegel]

Thanks for the input Raszagil,

I think I see my problems...

-Do you do regular water changes using RO water?
I don't mix my own, I get it from Catalina Sea Water Co.

-Do you use tapwater for water changes?
Not for water changes but for topping off, no RO/DI yet

-Do you overfeed the tank?
I don't over feed but heavily feed, I have a lot of large fish but since I'm revamping my FOWLR tank to a Reef they'll be gone in a week. Triggers and lions just don't play nice.

-Did you have a nutrient export device (before getting your new skimmer?)
I had a SeaClone and decided to try my own design at an ATS but went about it all wrong and my new skimmer has been up for about a week. So I'd have to say no.

-Do you leave your lights on 24/7?
No.

-Is this tank near a window?
Yes but the blinds are closed all the time.

-Is your tank over-stocked with fish/critters?
Probably yes.

3 out of 7 are yes The skimmer is working like crazy and in a week the amount of feeding will be 1/10 of what it is now so things should be looking better. Now I just need to get my RO/DI.

Thanks again.

[jlreese]

Hi -
Yes, an algae bloom can be frustrating at first! I echo what the others have said. You might also go to www.kentmarine.com for more info about algae. Take a look under their listing for hair algae and click on that. It will take you to a page that will help to give you a better understanding of the algae problem and what to do to overcome it. Good luck with the "battle".

[Doug1]

First of all give the new skimmer a few weeks to do its thing, once it settles in you will be amazed, and rolleyes when ever the seaclone wird gets mentioned

[jegel]

I hear ya about the SeaClone When I first got it and new nothing about skimmers except that I was supposed to have one, I thought it was so great. Then I started researching skimmers and found it it wasn't so great. It did work and I added an airstone to the bottom and which made it work better but made maintanance a pain. My new skimmer is already out performing the SeaClone and it hasn't even been up a week.
Anyways thanks for the feedback.