keep getting green water

[jr8budcar]

I hope someone can tell me WHY my water keeps turning green. Here goes.....
55 gal
nitrate : 0-20 more towards 0
nitites: 0
ph : 8.4
amnonia: 0
salinity: 1.22-1.24
Rena xp-2 pump system (for up to 75Gal)
external hang on the back filter for 55 gal
2 power heads for water flow
1 protein skimmer
I have:
live rock
1 lion fish
1 snowflake eel
55 gal clean up crew
rock anenome
2 long tip anenome
green hairy mushroom
I do my water changes. Should I be adding some additives. I do put in Cycle when I do a water change. I dont understand When I first set up in Nov. everything fine two months went green. Had undergravel filter got rid of that & added rena. Sparkling clear for another month now cloudy & green on & off. I do water changes it gets better or it goes bad.

 

[fishieness]

are you using tap water? because that will probably do it. Either use a lot of gallon jugs of water from walmart(is evil) or get an DI/RO filter.

 

[55galgill]

are u getting any algae blooms? or is it just the color of the water, i would definetly keep doing water changes maybe 5% or 10% every other day and run some carbon. try and think alittle more about your system and see if theirs anything your overlooking like feeding and how much? and also what are you feeding too? lol sorry for all the questions but it will help us formulate a clearer opinoin.

 

[jr8budcar]

I do use tap water & then put in the aqua safe. I do get a little algae on the glass but not on the rocks. I have a sand bottom that will get a brown algae on it but my 2 sand stars keep that clean pretty quick. Water from Walmart use like distilled water?? Thanks

 

[jr8budcar]

Oh yeah, I feed the lionfish & eel fozen krill, silversides but only every other day. Sometimes some rosey red feeders cause my lion is picky. Also zooplex for my couple corals but only every 3-4 days.

 

[jr8budcar]

one more thing we have a 10 gal nano reef tank has one fish and a couple of coral. That tank water dosnt turn green but does get algae all over the glass but has never had a problem with green water.

 

[lizzard]

I would definitely treat the green water as an algae bloom. Untill you get it under control, the use of some carbon or/and some polyfilter will clear up the water. It could possible due to over feeding, especially if you use frozen foods, the juice should not be dumped in with it.

 

[guineawhop]

if ur interested i have a uv sterilizer that will take care of your green water. you won't ever have a problem with green water again and ur water will turn crystal clear. i'm asking 75 plus shipping

 

[who dey]

how many watts??

 

[guineawhop]

i got 2 that i am selling. one is a tetra tec that is a 5 watt and the other is a tetra that is 9watts except it is a pond uv sterilizer. the only difference betweeen the pond uv and the tank uv is that the pond uv has a longer cord and the casing is more heavy duty other than that they both do the same thing.

 

[lion_crazz]

A bag of carbon will probably take care of your problem. However, I notice a bigger problem in what you said. You are feeding your lionfish rosie red feeders. This is a very common way of killing your lionfish. The fat and lipids in freshwater fish (goldfish, minnows, rosies, etc.) is five times what a lionfish consumes in the wild, and thus you are killing your lionfish by putting too much fat in his diet. Because of this, lionfish develop what is called fatty liver disease and die basically of a bloated liver and an inability to break down foods.

 

[jr8budcar]

rut roo I had no idea i couldnt give him feeders. When I put in the frozen he dosnt give it a thought. I tricked him one time by sticking it through a rock all he does is sits and waits for me to give him a feeder. I guess if he gets hungry enough he will eat the silversides huh

 

[sato]

Originally posted by guineawhop
i got 2 that i am selling. one is a tetra tec that is a 5 watt and the other is a tetra that is 9watts except it is a pond uv sterilizer. the only difference betweeen the pond uv and the tank uv is that the pond uv has a longer cord and the casing is more heavy duty other than that they both do the same thing.
Actually there is a difference between Pond and Aquarium sterlizers. Pond sterilzers have nearly twice the amount of space around the UV bulb itself so that more water can pass through it, whereas an Aquarium sterlizer has less room so that water passes closer to the bulb for better sterlization the pond sterlizer forgoes total sterlization for a faster sterlization rate.

 

[guineawhop]

actually it's not. i measured and if the tetra tec was as big as the pond tetra uv sterilizer it would be almost exactly the same size. the pond uv sterilizer is meant for bigger bodies of water. for instance the one i got is rated for a pond the size of 1800 gallons or smaller. it just takes care of algae bloom much better than the ones used in house aquariums because ponds have to deal with direct sunlight.

 

[sato]

It is not a massive size difference, 3mm and 6mm I believe. Not enough to actually change the size of the unit, I believe the UV light is only lethal within 4mm of the bulb so a pond sterilizer doesn not completely sterlize 100% of the water that passes through it.

 

[guineawhop]

dude...do u even have a pond uv sterilizer....it is no different than a regular sterilizer it is just a bit bigger witha bigger bulb. it is not farther away or closer away to the water being passed through it. i have one right here and i measured it.

 

[sato]

In a UV sterlizer designed for an aquarium there is ~3mm of space between the quartz sleeve arond the bulb and to the inner wall of the chamber that the water flows through.
In a UV sterlizer designed for a pond the is ~7mm of space between the quartz sleeve around the bulb to the inner wall of the chamber that the water flows through.
UV radiation has a lethal radius of about ~4mm from the bulb depending on the wattage. Therefore when using an Aquarium Sterlizer it will destroy more of the free swimming bacteria/virus/protozoa but less water will be sterilized per hour. Compared to a Pond sterilizer were much more water is pushed through per hour but there is not enough radiation to complete wipe out everything but generally enough to wipeout free swimming algal spores.
That is the difference between a Pond and Aquarium sterlizer, if there was no difference then why would they even bother to call them Pond or Aquarium?

 

[masala4080]

wouldnt they pretty much equal out in effectivness since more water is being pushed in the pond one? (not trying to sturr up an argument, just wondering!)

 

[guineawhop]

once again i'll ask...do u have a pond sterilizer? simple question. because i do and it is the same measurement

 

[masala4080]

could the bulb be a different size, or would that effect the watts? Either way, i would but them if I have the money.