green water in saltwater f/o tank

[fishoutofwater]

i have a 30 gallon hex tank with a couple of damsels, figure 8 puffers and a powder brown tank. all of a sudden the tank water turns green. been running 8 months. filter is a magnum 350 and a whisper 40, and a bubble wand. What the cause? the water tests zero ammonia,nitrite and a trace of nitrates. ph @8.2. is a skimmer going to fix the problem? Both filter have been running chemi pure in them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[broomer5]

I suppose an alage bloom could be the cause.
Green water sometimes indicates an algae bloom in progress.
Have you made any other changes to the tank's systems ?
Lighting ?
Freshwater source ?
Additives ?
I didn't see a phosphate reading. How long have the Chemipure pads been in your filter(s) ?
This is a stretch - but maybe if the Chemipure is old - it's leaching phosphates back into the tank water - and causing alage bloom.
Just a guess <img src="graemlins//confused.gif" border="0" alt="[confused]" />

 

[fishoutofwater]

it is a very basic system. just one powerglo light. chemipure has been in there maybe 3 weeks. as for water source i use purified ocean water an have it in my other tanks with no (never) any problems. the only thing that was changed in this tank was it did have and undergravel filter in it and i removed it due to high nitrates. now there is no nitrate problem. then the green water appeared.

 

[madd catt]

Maybe a poly filter would clear it up,execses phospates,too much ammonia caused by fish wastes,algea will grow from that.

 

[jim672]

I had about the same problem when my tank was about that age. I had set it up with a crushed coral substrate and it, apparently, absorbed phosphates which, over time, caused the algea bloom. I did lots of water changes....daily and used a good phosphate spong which I changed regularly. I also got rid of all the old substrate.
good luck!!