Green water/ algee

Afish4u · 04-02-2006, 11:30 AM

any ideas the tank has cycled. In the past week I started to get a really bright green algee on the rock and now it appears that the water is kinda green also?? Also there is alittle red algee starting to grow.... I know I need to get rid of that but just not sure what to use.

VWD · 04-02-2006, 12:12 PM

How long had the tank been up and running, Sound like a algae bloom. May be normal part. even if it hads cycled, If the tank is young and your lights are on for too many hours. We need more info on your set up

Afish4u · 04-02-2006, 05:31 PM

Alright the tank has been up since the first week in February, the actinics are on from 7am till 9pm the dual daylights are from 8am till 8

m. I guess thats maybe a little long? this just took off this week.

VWD · 04-02-2006, 05:37 PM

I think the lights are on pretty long, You can use carbon to remove the grn from the water, I think you are having a bloom, Maybe do a water change also if you have not already.

Afish4u · 04-02-2006, 06:13 PM

its a 24 gal I changed 2 gals only today. I'm running a small bag (3x12) of black diamon carbon. should I try some other stuff? chemi pure? also what should I do about the bright green algae that is on the rocks? just let the snails clean it up. Their on a loseing battle it seems. Also what suggestions for lamp hours / times?

squale · 04-02-2006, 07:32 PM

beginner here who had some red algae/slime problem and the pro's on this great site helped me out. They told me I had to get the phosphates under control. I did frequent water changes and used PhosGuard and it cleared up the red algae within a few days. See the thread below. good Luck!
Is this red algae - red slime ?

Afish4u · 04-02-2006, 09:04 PM

I currently have 3 bags of phos-x ( says it traps phosphate, nitrite, and nitrate) in the tank. I have used this in FW for years. one of the hermits has the red stuff on him

Loverotties · 04-02-2006, 09:29 PM

What are your water perimeters?

Afish4u · 04-02-2006, 11:44 PM

phos is .25
ph 8.1
I think calcium is high?
nitrite 0
nitrate 5? maybe or less
amonia is 0

I have stuff growing. that is good as in the mushrooms, yellow polyp, a little feather duster did pop up( and disappear) and a snail laying eggs.

Petunia · 04-03-2006, 12:57 AM

Feeding - what and how often? Additives - what and how often? Do you have an additional pump/filterpump in the tank (since I know that it's an all-enclosed nano)?

I added an additional sumbergable-filterpump (for a 10 gallon tank, along with the filter that is already in my all-enclosed nano) a few weeks ago and it has really help with my water parameters and clarity of the tank.

pastina · 04-03-2006, 09:05 AM

im guessing you used tap water?
if so then this is the cause of the algae bloom.
saltwater set up should not and never have any tap water in them. people dont seem to realize this and then they have major water quality issues and they wonder why.
stop using tap water and all the problems will go away

Afish4u · 04-03-2006, 09:13 PM

nope didn't use tap water at all. I bought an ro unit and have used that since day one.

pastina · 04-04-2006, 12:58 PM

the string algae and other surface algae is normal in the beginning, some people go through it more than others, but the green tinted water is more of a concern. do you have propper water movement?
do you have enough live rock? are you running any filtration?
some brands of carbon leech out phosphates. check the label if it says phospate free thats the one to buy. if it says nothing then theres a chance it contains phosphate or high ash