Water Yellow In Color, Need Honest Answer

[jenglish]

If I am understanding your setup correctly running the carbon in a canister typed filter will be much more efficient than floating bags, like Jason mentioned. A canister is best used for the ocasional 1 day polish with a micron filter or running carbon. It is honestly more trouble than it's worth to try and run one as a 24/7 filter. I have a magnum canister filter that I don't think I have used in years.

[drozhenbane]

Skimmer came today, Having trouble with it I guess I dont really understand the thing. It kept over flowing into the collection cup, so I cut flow down, I dont think I got enough bubble action going on. I set the bubble level down to the widest part of the cone thing. I knew the deal was too good to be true, looks like I got screwed. It didnt come with directions, and they mispelled the company name on the main box. So I am guessing this is a knockoff from hong kong. Anyway if anyone wants to know what it is so they avoid the situation its a Shkerry Aqua Skimmer SHK-1822, or a Skerry Aqua Skimmer. Depending on which spelling on the box you go with.

I did read that it takes a break in time for new skimmers to work effectively. I only gave it a few hours, but then again I am really out of time. The water is now green in color, and I have to bury my brother this weekend. Of which the funeral is 1400 miles away, and I will be gone for 10 days. I did find someone that can feed my fish while I am gone but doesnt know squat about fish tanks, and cant do a water change for me while I am gone. Sorry to drag drama into the situation, but I find being honest the best policy, and if you all post while I am gone I may not see it for 10 days. I dont want anyone to think that I plan to troll these boards, and waste everyones time. Just stating that it may be a while before I can reply.

In the meantime I am leaving in 6 hours, and I decided to do a 60% water change, and I just hope something is still alive when I get back! I have left the fish tender guy, with strict instructions not to mess with my lighting(On Timers), just toss 1/2 a cube of frozen brine shrimp into the tank every other day, ignore how wierd the tank looks and let me know if anything is dead!

Wish me luck all, hope this works.....

[sks4613]

Nice article on skimming.
http://www.centralpets.com/php/searc...y.php?Story=17

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT!So sorry about your bother!I wouldn't run the skimmer till you get back and can be around as you break it in(could flood!)That was a good thing to do a big WC.

[drozhenbane]

Ok back in town. Looks like the water chang saved the fish. Although the water is about as bad looking as it was before I left. time to read that skimmer article that was posted, and tinker with it.

[Elegance Coral]

Is there any way we can see pic's of your system? It would be VERY helpful.

You say you are running a "Berlin" system, so I assume you have a filter sock in the sump, correct? How often do you change it out/clean it?

Check to make sure the "fountain pump" you are using to mix your water is salt water safe. Many fountain pumps can release grease or have exposed metal that contaminates the water.

I personally would not reduce feeding. IMHO, if you are having water quality issues, that's a sign that filtration or total water volume is lacking. It's not a sign that you should force the fish to go days without food. Most of the fish we keep, outside of predatory fish like Lions and Groupers, have evolved metabolisms that are accustomed to feeding several times a day. Not several times a week. It's probably a good idea to change what you are feeding though. Brine shrimp are okay every once in a while, but they are not good for the bulk of the fishes diet. Try switching to frozen krill or mysis shrimp. They even have frozen variety packs that contain fish, muscles, clam, crab, shrimp, vegetable matter, and all kinds of nasty stuff that fish love.

It's true that much of the phosphate in a reef tank will be bound in plant life, living critters, and calcium carbonate. None of this phosphate will show up on a test kit. I still believe it's a good idea for a new hobbyist to test for phosphate. I believe it's a good idea for newbies to test for most everything. Phosphate, nitrate, ammonia and nitrite while cycling, calcium, alkalinity, PH, salinity, temp, and I probably left off a few. In time you will be able to see a correlation between the numbers on the test kits and the overall health of the system. Eventually, you will be able to tell a great deal about the water chemistry simply by looking at the tank. If you don't test now, you will have no foundation to help you in future problems that will arise. Testing now will give you a much better understanding of what's truly going on in your system.

That's just my

[REEFIN'ROB]

ok, i'm a bigger fan of ro/di water changes than i am of skimming. don't get me wrong i skim a little. i think at this point water changes with good quality water will be a better fix. the waste has already broken down into nitrate so the skimmer is only going to do so much to remove it. the discoloration may actually be an algae bloom resulting from high nitrate levels. i am about to freak some people out. i have a 105 with around another 20 in the sump. i'd say 150 pounds of live rock and 3 inches of sand. i run a 400 watt 20k halide and 2 95 watt vho's around 14 hrs/day.
here's the kicker i have 1 royal gramma, 2 purple fire fish, 1 rusty angel, 4 chromis, 1 cross hatch goby, 1 red lip blenny, 1 mandarin goby, 1 clown goby, 1 clown head fairy wrasse, 1 tiny maroon clown, 1 3" vlmangi tang, 1 5" kole tang, 1 4" red sea sailfin tang. i also have a ton of lps, sps, and softies. i have 5 clams. i feed heavily twice daily. i have no nuisance alge to speak of. my skimmer collects almost nothing. i do weekly water changes with ro water (around 25 percent). i have to buffer the water mid week and dose calcium maybe twice a week. now, this tank has been up and running for two years. i had more problems when i was doing less changes and the skimmer was producing enough to empty weekly. i used to run a 90 with at least as heavy of a fish load and had the same results then. i think the water changes do more for the tank than she skimmer possibly could. i also think the clams filter the nitrates that my livestock overload has to be producing in a closed system out. i'm not suggesting that this guy shouldn't get a skimmer but i am suggesting that water changes are going to help more in the short run assuming he uses good clean water. i also expect a lot of people to tell me my tank is going to crash. and for all concerned i have a future home for the vlmangi and plan to remove him at about 5 inches or when he starts constantly pacing the tank.

[drozhenbane]

Is there any way we can see pic's of your system? It would be VERY helpful.

I plan to get some pics here soon, my teenage daughter is holding my camera hostage. After being gone, and not changing the water it has turned a green in color, and from what I have read it appears to be an algae bloom.

You say you are running a "Berlin" system, so I assume you have a filter sock in the sump, correct? How often do you change it out/clean it?

I do not have a sump, its a standard 55 gallon tank. I do have a filter sock that I change out weekly.

Check to make sure the "fountain pump" you are using to mix your water is salt water safe. Many fountain pumps can release grease or have exposed metal that contaminates the water.

Fountain pump is a magnetic drive pump almost identical to a powerhead, except the disharge side of the pump goes upwards instead of outwards.

I got some Filter socks from work today, a 10 micron and a 1 micron. I took a sample of the tank water in a beaker, and then a sample of the water that I "Filtered" with the socks. Ending result water looked identical, so its obvious it cant be easily filtered out.......

Skimmer is actually making decent foam now that I tweaked with it throughout the night. Its capturing some scuzzy looking stuff.
I turned off my lights today, and am pondering doing a massive water change around 60% again with RO water. Need to order some more salt before I do that. But will work to get pics posted tonight.......

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by drozhenbane

Fountain pump is a magnetic drive pump almost identical to a powerhead, except the disharge side of the pump goes upwards instead of outwards.

Is there a brand name on it?

Originally Posted by drozhenbane

Skimmer is actually making decent foam now that I tweaked with it throughout the night. Its capturing some scuzzy looking stuff.

I turned off my lights today, and am pondering doing a massive water change around 60% again with RO water. Need to order some more salt before I do that. But will work to get pics posted tonight.......

The water change will be good, just make sure to use good source water (distilled or RO/DI, not treated or untreated tap water). Repeat it in 5 days, even if the tank looks good, possibly again in another 5 days.

Are you testing your water column? If so, list your parameters for nitrogenous compounds, algal bloom nutrients, and total alk (NH4, NO2, NO3, PO4, alkalinity) a day after each water change.

Did you ever get some carbon and/or chemi-pure running? When the water is really loaded with pollutants, these adsorbants quickly max out, but even then, changing it every week is very benificial (run it at a rate of about 1 tablespoonful per 10 USG tank volume). If you can, try running it in a reactor/cannister.

Glad to see you've got the skimmer operating. I am not familiar with the listed brand. It would be a benefit to use Kalkwasser as a drip to both boost alkalinity and to scrub the water column for CO2 (an algal bloom accelerant). Just curious, do you use a pH probe? If so, would you list your pH values every 3 hours for a 24 hour cycle or two?

Congrats on making some inroads to solving your issues.

Can't wait for the pix.

[drozhenbane]

Ok pics here of the tank when I first set it up, and started cycling it added 1st piece of rock.....


Here is a pic of how bad the water has become.....


Another shot of a piece of rock thats 3 inches from the glass, after that distance the tank is too dark to see anything including fish....

[tdwyatt]

Post tank parameters please, you obviously have an algal bloom occurring.

[drozhenbane]

Current Tank Tests;
78 F
1.23 SG
0 Nitrate
0 Nitrtite
300 Alkalinity
8.2 PH
12 Carbonate

[jenglish]

hmmm... yes that is definately more green than yellow and looks like a algae bloom. My first thought is a temporary solution of simply leaving the lights off until the bloom subsides. Algae needs light and food. Perhaps the skimmer will help to eliminate the food sources. Often during an algae bloom you won't get any readings on PO or NO3 because it is all bound up in algae. I would really have thought the large waterchanges you have done would have helped. Refresh my memory where you are getting RO and if it is just RO or RO/DI.

[drozhenbane]

I used tap water for the first 3 months until this problem surfaced. I am going to be using RO water not DI from my work. I work at a manufacturing plant that has its own industrial RO units. They crank out 500+ gallons per minute to give you an idea of the size of these things. It is also a bonus to use this water because I can see the test results from this water. They monitor every detail of it. Not to mention it doesnt cost me anything but time to get it. My boss uses it in his freshwater aquarium at home, and has had no problems.

[Loverotties]

is it 0 TDS?