Light - Algae

4clownfish

4clownfish

Member
Light vs Algae
we all know light can effect algae, but my tank water is so cloudy.
I had a good setup with all the equipment needed to run a good reef tank. Nitrates would build, but that's basically all. I had a 13 watt 7100k light (20gal tank) and thought I could get some benefical growth with a 3 bulb 10000k light and new cured LR. Everything thing went well with clarity, cycling, algae.
3 weeks after I decided to add about 10 pounds of live rock to my tank with the new light,
suddenly I got aglae diatoms.. no biggie. Cleaned off the rock and everything was fine. I wake up and my tank water is yellow and will not clear, even after a 50% change.
So I did this
- relocated fish to a QT
- Rinsed the substrate (kent marine ss) with tap water
- boiled live rock
- soaked LR
- restarted the tank with the LR, SS and 100% new water
And everything looked good untill 2 days later the same problem
What is this, Algae growth due to the lights? or new LR?
the LR had some green algae grown on it when i recieved it, but I thought it could hurt since It was cycled and cured. Was it wrong to put this LR in a new tank and let it take over? Ideas on irraticating this problem. Already killed the LR 100% and still having this problem. The substrate?
 
nycbob

nycbob

Active Member
what r ur water parameters? if ammonia, nitrite and nitrate r fine, u dont need to remove ur livestocks. green water isnt going to kill anything. its probably part of ur cycle. the one thng that would eliminate it is run carbon or uv sterilizer.
 
4clownfish

4clownfish

Member
Ok. thanks.
I've replaced my carbon and did a 20% water change. Ammonia-nitrites-nitrates are all zero ppm. So far the water hasnt gotten any darker.
Do you think PH effects the clarity of water? I usually allow them to be slighty high in the 8's.
 
goinbroke

goinbroke

Member
how long has your tank been set up?
why would you boil your live rock? how old is the live rock?
maybe there was something dead in your new liverock? did you check your parameters? what were they?
i would have tried to run some carbon to clear the water up....what type of filtration are you running?
i went to florida for a month and my sister watched my tank for me. overfed my fish big time! LFS was supposed to come and do waterchanges every week and never came. my skimmer salted up and stoped working...
my tank was still clear when i got home. tons of hair algae! had to pull all the live rock out and scrub off the algae. water was crystal clear!
you need to stand back and think what is causing the cloudy water. maybe it's still cycling, maybe the LR had some die off, maybe someone putsomthing in the tank(any kids in the house?)
also, if you are going to start a reef tank, live sand is alot better then the substrate!
check it out and maybe it's somthing simple. any wires hanging in the sump(if u have one)
hope you get it figured out! good luck!
 
4clownfish

4clownfish

Member
I have the substrate mixed with live sand.
as for the live rock, it is fiji cured LR and came with alot of algae. Thought it would be ok to place in the tank but it wasn't a good choice. Boiling the rock does kill everything on it. But it seeds very well and cleans its pours. I had alot of little critters and worms in the tank and made me nervous so I boiled the rock.

*It's still cloudy* but not getting worse
its not feeding problem
I'm using a aquaclear 30 (150)
(orderd a ehiem classic 2213) ~ think this filter will help clarity?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top