Algae issue...

[L98-Z]

Here's the issue.

I was preparing to cycle my 180 gallon tank with a 40 gallon sump.
I have three 300 watt heaters, 4 Hydor Koralia 4 powerheads, and a rather large return pump.

I placed my sand into the tank, followed by base rock from Bulk Reef Supply. Approximately 100lbs of dry rock. I filled the entire tank up with RO/DI water, which took approximately 2 days.

About twos ago I put salt in it, the next day I noticed it was a little green. I thought nothing of it, in fact, I assumed maybe poor lighting was the cause. I currently have not placed my canopy on top, so no lights are on it. Anxious to get the cycle going, I threw a couple of cocktail shrimp in there.

Today it's pretty green, and smells terrible. I'll drain it if I have to, but I hate losing 40+ dollars in salt. What went wrong and is it too late to fix it?

 

[cowdawg]

Did you put any cured live rock in to start the process, or only base rock? If not, I would highly recommend buying as much live rock as you can afford. You currently have no bacteria to start your cycle. HTH

 

[crvz]

The tank water is green, or the rocks? If it's the water, you may consider adding a UV filter on there. Do you have a skimmer on the tank? That may help as well. And if it stinks, carbon may be a good idea, too. So there's a lot of options, I don't think drain and fill is necessarily going to solve anything. Did you take the shrimp out yet? Usually they only need to be in there for a few hours.

 

[L98-Z]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13258876#post13258876 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cowdawg
Did you put any cured live rock in to start the process, or only base rock? If not, I would highly recommend buying as much live rock as you can afford. You currently have no bacteria to start your cycle. HTH

No, no live rock. I was under the assumption the shrimp caused the nitrogen cycle to begin.

 

[L98-Z]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13258913#post13258913 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crvz
The tank water is green, or the rocks? If it's the water, you may consider adding a UV filter on there. Do you have a skimmer on the tank? That may help as well. And if it stinks, carbon may be a good idea, too. So there's a lot of options, I don't think drain and fill is necessarily going to solve anything. Did you take the shrimp out yet? Usually they only need to be in there for a few hours.

I do have a skimmer, I'll give that a try. No, I had not taken the shrimp out, I'll do that as well.

Oops, it's the water that's green. No change in the rocks.

 

[L98-Z]

The skimmer appears to be helping. It's now a lighter green, and some of the smell appears to be leaving as well. Hopefully this is making progress towards solving this.

 

[crvz]

how long where the shrimp in the tank? that could account for the smell. Also, have you seeded the tank with anything like a bit of live rock or live sand? If you just used dry sand and base rock, you'll need to get a source of bacteria from somewhere (just a pound or two of liverock would work).

 

[L98-Z]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13259955#post13259955 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by crvz
how long where the shrimp in the tank? that could account for the smell. Also, have you seeded the tank with anything like a bit of live rock or live sand? If you just used dry sand and base rock, you'll need to get a source of bacteria from somewhere (just a pound or two of liverock would work).

Gotcha, will do. Shrimp were in over night.