Extremely Cloudy Water!!!(pic)

[Berger9953]

Hi yall!!

 

For the last 3 weeks or so, my 20g tank has suffered serious algae blooms. Free floating algae is in the water and even with a 75% wc, the algae reproduces so fast that the next day the water is cloudy again. I've tried almost everything. I've taken out every rock in my tank, rinsed and scrubbed it and put it back in and nothing looks better. I bought a new skimmer. And I'm also running a hob filter with a filter pad that i clean once a day. I've done a lot of water changes and nothing helps. I was thinking of getting a micron sock and siphoning all the water through it into buckets and pouring it back in the tank. People have recommended UV sterilizers, but I don't have a sump and I don't want to invest in anything that I don't know will work. So does anyone have any experience with this monster so I can conquer it?!?!?! It doesn't want to go away on its own.

[CrazyInside]

You've taken out your live rock and scrubbed it? Do you have a clean up crew? Hermits..snails and such? Also how long do you run your lights? I was running a 150w MH over a nano cube for 10 hours a day and had a bad algae problem.

[lewisriverfisherman]

by doing water changes you are allowing the algae to bloom and grow as it has more room to expand. i think what you have is a single cell algae bloom and the only way to correct the problem is with running a uv sterlizer. this will kill the algae. but it can also return again after running the sterlizer.

[tanktop74]

have you tested your water? What kind of lights? How long have you had the tank? Whats the bio load?

 

Do you have pics?

 

All these things would help us out more to help you.

Beth

[jgf86123]

A) We need pictures.

B) We need your parameters.

C) We need your bio-load.

D) We need to know what type of lighting you are currently running.

E) We need to know what your light schedule is.

F) We need to know the age of the tank.

 

Without all of the above information, we can't help you.

[ReeFit]

yes, water changes are actually hurting you right now. be careful with this problem if you have fish because excessive algae will suck up the dissolved oxygen rapidly and make it hard on your inhabitants to breath. UV will do it, try a really fine gfo and run it through a reactor clean or replace weekly, there are also a few products out there you can use that will help kill it off but be careful, most are not reef safe. ohh and skim skim skim! the biggest baddest skimmer around.

[Gill]

I left town once came back three days later to what can only be described as the swamp thing taking a bath in my tank. The only way I found to cure it was a UV sterilizer and man did it work. The one I bought is a hang on the back so no sump needed. If you want you can have it for free but it needs a new bulb and a new pump.

[MarkBirkett]

algae

 

One more question. How old are the bulbs in your lighting system. Old bulbs can lead to algae blooms, but I would have a LFS test your water.

[kendaroo]

Can someone clarify for me why the water changes are making the problem worse? Wouldn't they be (1) reducing the number of algae cells in the tank, and (2) improving water quality? It seems like both of those things would help contain the bloom. I'm not understanding this part of the explanation. (scratch)

 

Thanks!

Gillian

[CCR]

what WATER did you use to wash the rock in. salt,sink, rodi? If you washed it in the sink with tap water, your adding to the problem

[Lowman]

What color is the 'bloom"? It may not be algae but instead a bacterial bloom.

[Berger9953]

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE REPLIES!!!! i REALLY APPRECIATE YOUR HELP!!

 

1)Parameters:

 

salt-1.025

Ammonia-0

nitrites-0

nitrates-0

phosphates-0.03

Alk-3.1 meg/l

ph-8.2

Calcium-440

 

2)Bioload-2 occ clowns(1.5 inch, 1 inch), 1 royal gramma(1 inch), 1 cherub angel(1-1.5), 1 gbta, blood shrimp, 4 nacc snails, 3 hermits.

 

3) Lighting: 2X24 watt t5ho 1 10k 1 actinic(Nova Extreme), I'm running it from about 900am to about 9pm. The bulbs are 4 months old.

 

4)Age of tank: The tank was set up last august for a fw setup but then converted to sw in december, used same water and gravel.

 

5)Rock scrubbing: I rinsed all of the rock in water I siphoned out of the tank. SO samp temp and parameters.

 

6)Color: The haze is a Tropical rain forest green with a lemon yellow twist. Just kidding, its green.

 

7)Pic: This is right after a 60% water change.

[Berger9953]

That pic isn't actually nearly as bad as it is now, right now it is very very green and cloudy.

 

Lowman, I had a bacterial bloom about a month ago, that was milky this is just grouse

[NoobtoSalt]

I would slow down on the water changes just like everyone else has said. Also your lights seem to be on for a really long time as well. I would bring that down to 8-10 hours to help with the algea growth. And I'd have a hard time believing your at 0 Nitrates but if you are good job. I guess if your doing that many large water changes all the time that could lead to your 0 nitrates.

[Gill]

3) Lighting: 2X24 watt t5ho 1 10k 1 actinic(Nova Extreme), I'm running it from about 900am to about 9pm. The bulbs are 4 months old.

 

IMO that is way to much light, try bringing it back to 8 hours. You still will need a UV sterilizer before it will go away. When I told my story before I forgot to mention the reason this happened to me, which is when I went out of town for 3 days I left the lights on with a new timer and they never turned off!!!

 

The other option is to throw a blanket over the tank for a week or two and starve the monster out... LOL just kidding (kind of)

[Gill]

Does this "from about 900am to about 9pm" mean you don't have a timer? I used to run my tank with ought a timer, and for the 15$ I have to say its one of best investments you can make in your tank. As long as you make sure it's working properly before you leave town LOL

[jgf86123]

2 thing's I'm noticing, that's not enough light for a nem to be perfectly honest, and that bioload, in a 20g tank, is way too much.

 

Also, the gravel you used from your freshwater set-up is probably part of the problem.

[CrazyInside]

When I had an algae problem I only had my lights on for 4 hours a day until I got it worked out. Also the gravel from the freshwater setup probably plays a huge part in this. I'd probably take that out and get sand.. or bare bottom to see if that was the cause. Also with your bio load you may have to much extra food that they aren't finding/eating.. just a thought

[Gill]

2 thing's I'm noticing, that's not enough light for a nem to be perfectly honest, and that bioload, in a 20g tank, is way too much.

 

Also, the gravel you used from your freshwater set-up is probably part of the problem.

 

Don't you have a naso in a 40 gallon??? LOL

[Lowman]

I think the bio load is okay, but if you rinsed the rock with the fresh water from the tank, then it is probably ruined. I would take all of the live stock out of the system, put them in a rubbermaid bucket with a powerheadwhile you do this:

 

Take the water, rock, and gravel out of your tank and start over with all new stuff. Take the HOB filter and throw it as far as you can, and then get a canister filter (since you don't have a sump) and new sand and new rock. In other words, start from scratch. I know it sounds drastic, but I think that the gravel in your system has ruined it currently for you.

 

This is only an opinion, but I definitely think that you should do it.

[Berger9953]

Okay, I should have been a slight more specific, I only kept a handful of gravel from my fw tank, so you can only see a few pebbles here and there. I've had sand since the start. ANd I did NOT rinse the rock in freshwater. What I did was a water change and collected the water I siphoned out into a bucket, then scrubbed them in that bucket of water and restored the loss of water with new water. So I cleaned them up in salt water!

 

How much would a hang on uv sterilizer cost??

[Lowman]

Okay, well here is another question. What color are your bulbs? Do you use a powerhead in the tank? I still think you should get rid of the HOB filter and get a canister or better yet, set up a sump.

[Lowman]

Also, I would get a HOB skimmer to remove nutrients. There are several pretty good ones for tanks your size. An Aqua C remora would be good.

[CrazyInside]

I'm still thinking even the handful of rocks from your FW setup is the start of this problem.. i'd go with lowman's advice and start fresh and get a canister

[Lowman]

another stupid question, do you clean the filer pad with tap water? and how often do you change the carbon insert?