jazztap
New Member
I've had a saltwater reef tank for about 1.5yrs. I've encountered a new problem and have absolutely no clue what is happening or what I can do to fix it.
Some background:
40gallon tank
AquaC remora skimmer
250W MH lights
Several LPS corals
2 clowns (I'm a coral person, not a fish person, lol)
For almost the entire time I've had the tank I've had no problems whatsoever other than some minor pest bugs. A month ago I moved to a new apartment. Amazingly the move went way smoother than expected, as I've never moved the tank before. After about a month, everything went to hell. One day I noticed the tank start to get a bit cloudy. All parameters were in check, and I had no clue what was wrong. So I started to make water. The next morning the tank was GREEN (like kool-aid, seriously) and cloudy. I can't see more than maybe 5 inches into the water it is so cloudy. There isn't any algae buildup on the walls or anything, it's actually the water itself. I honestly had no clue what to think at first so I just did several water changes and then it went away and all was good again for four days. I still had no idea what happened and couldn't find any info about it online.
Then the cloudy/greenness came back again about a week ago. I reduced the lighting down to 8hrs a day. I started buying distilled water (which is a bloody fortune, lol) because I thought maybe it was a problem with the water in my new place. I've looked over every forum I can find and can't find anything like this. I've done several water changes again to no avail. I'm so frustrated that I'm ready to get rid of what used to be my favorite hobby. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
So a summary of what's going on right now:
1. Fish are alive and seem fine (eating, behaving normally...)
2. I don't know if the corals are fine because I cannot see them
3. The skimmer is skimming a normal amount. Nothing extra.
3. Current params:
pH=8.2
NO2= undetectable
NH4= undetectable- so I think that the corals aren't dead
NO3= undetectable
Some background:
40gallon tank
AquaC remora skimmer
250W MH lights
Several LPS corals
2 clowns (I'm a coral person, not a fish person, lol)
For almost the entire time I've had the tank I've had no problems whatsoever other than some minor pest bugs. A month ago I moved to a new apartment. Amazingly the move went way smoother than expected, as I've never moved the tank before. After about a month, everything went to hell. One day I noticed the tank start to get a bit cloudy. All parameters were in check, and I had no clue what was wrong. So I started to make water. The next morning the tank was GREEN (like kool-aid, seriously) and cloudy. I can't see more than maybe 5 inches into the water it is so cloudy. There isn't any algae buildup on the walls or anything, it's actually the water itself. I honestly had no clue what to think at first so I just did several water changes and then it went away and all was good again for four days. I still had no idea what happened and couldn't find any info about it online.
Then the cloudy/greenness came back again about a week ago. I reduced the lighting down to 8hrs a day. I started buying distilled water (which is a bloody fortune, lol) because I thought maybe it was a problem with the water in my new place. I've looked over every forum I can find and can't find anything like this. I've done several water changes again to no avail. I'm so frustrated that I'm ready to get rid of what used to be my favorite hobby. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
So a summary of what's going on right now:
1. Fish are alive and seem fine (eating, behaving normally...)
2. I don't know if the corals are fine because I cannot see them
3. The skimmer is skimming a normal amount. Nothing extra.
3. Current params:
pH=8.2
NO2= undetectable
NH4= undetectable- so I think that the corals aren't dead
NO3= undetectable
