Cloudy Water, Bad Algae, and "film"

[ogitrev]

Hello all,
I have had my tank set up for about 5 weeks now and have encountered my first problem. My water is cloudy (white cloudy), I have a "film" on the top of my water and I have green algae growing all over the glass. When I clean the algae off, it grows back within hours. Can someone please help me?
Here is a breakdown of my tank:
55 Gal.
50lbs. LR
20lbs. LS
2 True Perc Clowns
1 Yellow Tail Damsel
Small bunch of button polyps
Fluval 304 filter (270Gph)(I am building a DIY wet/dry which will be done in the next day or two so that is gonna be replaced)
IceCap 660 Ballast w/ 2 48" URI Super Actinic & 2 48" URI Actinic bulbs
2 ZooMed Power Sweep Power Heads (190Gph)
1 VisiJet Power Head (100Gph)
Here are my readings:
PH - 8.4
Alk - 2.6
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 2.5
Calcium - 450
Phosphates - 0.1
SG - 1.022
Hope this is enough info. I appreciate your help!
Thanks!
- Tom

 

[jamos6]

well 1st thing how long are u leaving the lights on? I had a problem kinda like yours cause i left my light on all the time.

 

[@knight]

first off, now is a good time to get a cleanup crew. since your tank is young, it is more than likely a diatom bloom. this is normal. make sure you are not overfeeding and the sand has not been disturbed. the water should clear in a daay or two. cut back on lighting, although, untill all the "bad stuff" has been used up out of the water, the algae will continue to grow. it will peak and be done shortly.
BTW, your tank will benefit from more LS.

 

[adrian]

Hello ogitrev, sounds like you have both an algae bloom and a bacteria bloom. I would first point to the fluval and your lack of sand as the prime reasons for the bacteria, and the phosphate level for the algae bloom. If you replace your fluval with a wet dry your not really upgrading, in this matter less is more, replacing your fluval with another 30-40 pounds of sand and the addition of a protien skimmer or/and a refugium would be a better choice. You can use the fluval to run carbon. A deeper sand bed will allow for maximum bacteria colonization ie clearing the water and reducing your nitrates over time. At the moment a water change and some fresh carbon will help clear the water. The film on top of your water could be due to a lack of suface agitation which is very important for gas exchange. An overflow or tilting one of your PHs up will help solve this. In order to get lower the PO4 youll have to start using RO water and watch your not introducing large amounts of PO4 in food or additives. HTH

 

[ogitrev]

jamos6: I have the lights on about 9 hours a day
@knight: I should have mentioned that I do have a small cleanup crew. I have 4 turbo snails and 6 hermits although I understand that I need more. I had also already gotten over my diatom bloom. Once that was over, the water stayed clear for about 5 days and them became cloudy. My PO4 was near 1 during my diatom bloom. I put Phos-Zorb in my filter and dropped it to 0.1. After that, the diatoms dissapeared.
Adron420: I performed a water change and carbon change about 3 days ago and it seemed to help a little, but not alot. I will start using RO water as soon as my RO unit gets here. It got held up in shpping since the tragic events on Tuesday. I'll also be putting an overflow in when I put the Wet/Dry in. As far as the PH, how do I make one of them go up? I have never had to do that before.
Thanks for the help everybody!
- Tom

 

[@knight]

until you get the RO unit, I would buy filtered water from walmart or your local grocery store, its .33/gal around here and well worth it. in any case, your tank is young and will do things like this periodically, as well as mini-cycles for about the first year until it gets good and established. I have never seen adron420 give bad advice, and I agree completely with him about the filters. you need a skimmer,especially eith that little sand. some calupera might help you as well. I try too keep my lighting at about 12 hrs per day, like it is in the ocean. What you are going thru might be slightly related to the lighting, but I would try to increase it slowly over time now you are over the diatom bloom. you should really concentrate on getting more sand. this site has better prices on it than my LFS.
adron420....only youre at 411 posts (only 9 more till its party time)

 

[joetst2]

Do you have a protein skimmer? Having a film on the surface of your water could be caused by not having an efficient skimmer. Also, make sure you have really good surface agitation. I have a sump and both my returns are partially above the surface of the water which gives outstanding oxygen exchange and surface agitation.

 

[adrian]

ogitrev, I only have limited experience with the power sweeps, but I believe there is a diffuser on the end of the output that can be angled up down and side to side. ANother way to creat surface agitation is a fan blowing across the surface of the water, although it wont be as effective as a current or overflow. GOod luck

 

[ogitrev]

Thank you all for your help... with your combined efforts to help me, I am starting to beat this thing. My RO unit will be here on Monday, and my sump is gonna be installed tomorrow. To combat the problem in the mean time, I ran my magnet cleaner to get the algae off the glass, moved my power sweep near the surface to shoot the water across the tank and then left the lights off. Leaving the lights off seemed to allow the filter to clean the algae debris out of the water before it can re-establish itself on the glass....no more algae on the glass and it has been about 22 hours!!! The power sweep near the surface is helping with the film and I believe when I get my sump in, the return will be able to take care of it. The tank is now 50% clearer and I am hoping will be completly clear by tomorrow afternoon. Now I just can't wait to get my RO unit. According to what everyone says, it's gonna make a world of difference. It sounds like I made a good investment in buying the RO. Thanks again everybody!!!
- Tom