My water is GREEN and I'm at the end of my rope with this tank...

btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
One of my tanks is going to make me rip my hair out.
Here's the stats:
4 months old
30G high drilled
5.5G sump (it's all that fits)
850GPH return pump (although I do not think that is what it actually produces)
EcoTech Vortech MP10
40lbs of live sand for a 5-6" deep sand bed
about 30lbs of live rock
grape caulerpa that is harvested regulary
Eshoppes 75 skimmer
ChemiPure Elite Carbon
Phosphate remover (I think it's Phosban, it might be Phoslock)
Inhabitanks:
1 small Blue Spotted Toby Puffer (about 2-3")
1 baby snowflake eel (about 6-8" - he will be moved as he grows)
2 Splendid Garden Eels
2 Peppermint shrimo
4 Blue Legged Hermits
various nerite and trochus snails
various palys (testing my puffer)
Anyways, been doing water changes every 3 days (at least 5G, sometimes more). The tank parameters read absolutely normal:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0
pH 8.2
alk 9.5 dKH
ca 420ppm
The water is green, always green. It's disgusting. The fish are fine. The inverts are fine. The corals are fine. But the water is GREEN. I'm feeding very, very little in this tank. The rocks get cleaned every day manually because there is a ledge where detritus COULD build up if it was allowed to. I use the turkey baster to suck off any debris, it's usually just shrimp feces. Ideas?
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
is the water green or the glass green with slime algae?
If everything is as you say it is, then I believe a UV Sterilizer would do the trick. I usually would not recommend a UV sterilizer, but it's awfully handy for these kinds of applications. A small one would do just fine. Give it a little while to work its magic, but you should start seeing the water clear up and your macro growing more quickly.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Sorry, I should have read it more thoroughly. It is the water... so I definitely recommend a UV sterilizer.
I would really like to discover why your tank is green. I wish I had natural green water in some of my old tanks. I could have replicated the spawning season. :( lol!!!
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
LOL, that's okay. I thought about a UV sterilizer. Honestly, I don't know much about them, as I'm not a fan of using them on my reefs, and fish only tanks are fairly new to me.
The Splendid Garden Eels are plankton/pod feeders, would the UV sterilizer harm their food supply? They're accepting frozen, A LITTLE, but really rely on the pods.
The macro is already growing out of control. When the water first turned green, I did the "OMG, the caulerpa went sexual" panic.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Personally I would just leave it alone because of the garden eels. The green water cultures a lot of pods, and that's what you want. If you go disturbing that, then you may run into more problems. Attribute it to good fortune. It's the way nature intended it.
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
The glass is clean, I should mention that as well. This is the water. Even when I do water changes, the water that gets removed is disgustingly green in the bucket, but it's almost like food coloring, there's no sign of algae in the water.
Seth's description of it being green water, actually makes sense.
Hey everyone, I am culturing my own green water, anyone want some? LOL
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Hah! Glad I could be of service. lol
If it really bothers you that bad, add a small UV sterilizer and it should tone it down a bit. Larger ones would eliminate it completely. You definitely want some phyto in the tank to culture pods, but you also want to be able to see your livestock! lol
 
kiefers

kiefers

Active Member
After googling this delima your in I too would let it ride itself out. If the macro is indeed doing well it will handle it for you. Go all naturAl !
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I think I'm just going to have to slide this tank across the floor into another room so I don't have to look at it. LOL
It drives my husband and I nuts to look at this green water in our living room. Besides ... then I'll have room for a new tank
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
What about an extra filter with carbon....change it out every other day.....When my 225G had a "green water" issue that is what worked for me.....not overnight of course LOL
I put a HOB on it for a cuple of weeks
 
btldreef

btldreef

Moderator
I was thinking of running my Fluval FX5 that I have sitting in storage in this tank. There just isn't room for much. The darn SFE already tries to use anything he can to climb out, including the thermometer probe, I'm afraid what he'll do with a hang on the back filter. I'm refusing to put a top on this tank, if the SFE wants to floor surf, then he can floor surf, LOL
This tank is eventually going to be a QT, I plan on moving these guys to a 55 in the next few months. I guess I'll just have to deal with my lovely green water cultures .... Why me?
 
acrylic51

acrylic51

Active Member

After googling this delima your in I too would let it ride itself out. If the macro is indeed doing well it will handle it for you. Go all naturAl !
Curious what would the macro do for the green water?
 
southern wolf

southern wolf

Member
Ok... I realize I dont know squat about saltwater. I did have a freshwater tank that did this. The green water was actually very tiny algae suspended in the water. How I got rid of it was doing a large water change and keeping the tank dark for 7 days. I did minimal feeding during this time.
This got my green water under control. After that I cut back on my lights by a couple hours.. and never had a problem again.
Could this be the same thing that is happening in saltwater?
 
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