My fish tank is turning green.

[TauntingTony]

My tank is turning green. The glass the water everything exp. my fish. What is going on? What should I do to stop it from getting worse?

 

[Tarasco]

Water changes, make the skimmer produce wetter skimmate, carbon. Cut back on feedings. What kind of livestock do you have in there? What are your water readings?

 

[wrightme43]

How old is it? How long since last water change and how much water was changed? Was it rodi water or tap? What is the nitrate and phosphate level in the tank. How long are your lights on? What kind of lights? What is the temp. of the tank? Does it get direct sunlight? How many and what size fish?

 

[TauntingTony]

Nitrate:0
Nitrite:0
Ammonia:0
Salt:1.020
I don't have a ph up or a ph down test kit yet.

I change the water once a week . 20g long I change 5 gallons with rodi. 3 Damsels 1in. 1 Clarkii clown 2in. I feed them 2 times a day. I have a 175 MH 10,000k. I leave it on for 10 hours a day. MY tank is only 2 months old. The water is temp is always between 78-79 degrees. No it doesn't get direct sun light.

 

[Tarasco]

You can reduce the feedings to once a day, or even every other day. That will help. This is also a pretty new tank, and many new tanks go through an algae cycle, but it sounds like yours is a little extreme. You didn't mention what type of skimmer you have, or if you even have one. The type of skimmer will make a difference, as well as adding carbon.

 

[TauntingTony]

I don't have a skimmer yet but I have a canister filter full of carbon.

 

[Elmo18]

Do you use any type of caulerpa?

- Elmo

 

[TauntingTony]

No caulerpa

 

[LCGoldman]

Check phosphates... and though you use RO+DI, what is the TDS coming out of the unit?

 

[NaH2O]

Tony - could you take a picture of your tank? I'm wondering if you are having a microaglae explosion. How green is the tank water? Have there been any changes recently, or treatments to the tank?

 

[TauntingTony]

This is what my tank looks like before and after.

 

[Tarasco]

I dunno, it looks like you just have normal algae to me, can't really tell. Have you done any scraping of the glass? If you haven't scraped the glass in two months, and that's all you have, then that's not bad at all. If you have scraped, how often have you been scraping? Get a skimmer, it will really help.

 

[NaH2O]

Tony - thanks for putting up the pictures. I was expecting a green soup . I would check the phosphates, as Lonnie suggested, to round out your water parameters. Is there a reason you run your specific gravity at 1.020? A skimmer is going to help for sure. Also, how long has the carbon been in the system (when was it changed last)?

 

[wrightme43]

Also what kind of carbon is it? Some are washed in phosphoric acid. It I think adds phosphors back to the tank. A 175 watt mh on a 20 might work better for about 6-7 hours a day. I know they are very shallow tanks. Just some ideas man. Steve

 

[TauntingTony]

thank you guys for the help.

 

[snobanker]

Tony I couldn't tell but is your tank in front of a window?....If it is ,too much exposure to sunlight could help cause a bloom too....just my 2c