A green issue..

[Thesaltysplash]

Hello Reefers.

Ran into my first real snag that i'm unsure what is going on.

For the past two days, I have developed a green cloudy tent to my water.

My fish and corals for what I can tell are exhibiting no problems, and it is not from algea overgrowth, as liverock i pull out to check does not have any growing on it. It is specifically the water.

I have a protein skimmer hangon that is running, and has not been successful from pulling any of the green out.

My parameters:

ph 7.9 (dosing with aquavitro balance/8.4 depending on alk/calc
Amm very low. 0 to 0.1
N02 .50
no3 20 PPM

And my fish and anemone are not exhibiting stress as i stated at the start, so i don't feel its "harming" them... but i'm afraid of the downwind effects if not corrected.

Today i Completed a 50% water change, and it maybe lightened the green approximately by 10%.

Any ideas?

 

[mcgyvr]

green tint is algae growth..
Get those nitrates down..

How long has the tank been setup? Why are you showing any nitrites? (probably a testing error I'd hope)

 

[homer1475]

RO/DI water?

Could be the source water has some algae in it and your tank is fueling it. In the spring when my town cleans their pipes my water has a green tint to it, so I don't use it for a month or so. I'll buy water from my LFS instead for that period of time.

 

[Thesaltysplash]

Were at the 4 month mark.

We had a quick cycle a month in, and everything dropped to 0 and has been stable for the past 3. The no3 is 20, which i thought was not terrible? Should we be on a constant 0?

An RODI system might be what i need. Never thought about cleanupby the city an issue. Was waiting for the ro/di till my replacement 100 gall was complete, but this takes presidence.

 

[mcgyvr]

If you are using "tap water" then that could very well be the problem.. And could be a source of your nitrates too..

For a "fish only/softie coral" tank 20ppm of nitrate is not an issue at all..
Heck fish and many softies can take 100ppm+ without any real issues..

It most certainly is a problem if you have algae issues, want to keep "SPS/LPS" corals,etc..

You certainly don't want 0 (because nutrients are needed to sustain life) but many shoot for much lower numbers for corals.. 5 or less for SPS tanks.. Frankly the lower the better for the most part.. But you need "some" (some could be .5 or 1 or whatever).. Same for "phosphates" (less than .03ppm is "desired")..
Many that run GFO can strip all the phosphates from a tank and have issues.. Some actually dose nitrates/phosphates to improve coral coloration/growth,etc.. because they have "Ultra Low Nutrient Systems" (ULNS)