Green water...

[nanahugs]

I have had my 20G Hex set up for over a year now and have never had green water before. I did just put a 150MH clamp on light on this tank after the CF quit working. I have a skimmer as well. Is this an algae bloom due to the new lighting? The glass also has a fine green algae on it that I clean daily, (The sand as well.)
Will this eventually go away. Would this have anything to do with me adding phytoplex to the water to feed my deep sea Gorians? Also, is there anything I can do about this or should I just wait it out?

 

[nanahugs]

bump

 

[sly]

The algae could be becaue you upgraded your lighting. It could be that you have phosphates in your water and the increased lighting provided the algae enough energy to grow. I don't know about the phytoplex. I don't suspect that it would be a problem... Do you have any snails in the tank? Do you test for phosphates? When is the last time you did a water change?

 

[nanahugs]

I do a 20% water change every other week. I also run PhosX in my last stage of filtration. It's probably just the lights. My husband thinks it's the new light. Hopefully it will eventually go away.

 

[sly]

I think it's the new light too. Chances are you have some nutrient in the tank that is feeding the algae and the increased light is giving the algae the energy to grow. Once it consumes whatever is in the tank it should go away provided you have a good cleanup crew.

 

[monalisa]

How long are you running your new lights? When I did a tank transfer over to my 46 two weeks ago, I also upgraded my lighting. Unfortunately (without thinking) I never reset my timers to reflect the newer lighting. I have since cut back my mh to just 6 hours/day and the actinics to 1 hour before and 1 hour after the mhs...so far, I think that might be the ticket. Still watching and waiting though...I'll let you know. Today (after 2 days of the readjustment) it does look better.
Oh, and I also needed to readjust my phs, but that's because it's a new tank...
Lisa :happyfish