Cant clear up the water

[Jason B]

Yes the water was green when i picked it up but i figured with some attention it would clear up. I have changed out 50% of the water in 2 Months and i will keep on going.

I will def take a sample of my well water to have it tested.

The protien skimmer is pulling a good bit of green sludge out of the water but it doesnt seem to me making a dent.

Ill ask if he used any medication in the tank.

As for the filter i am using the large sponge looking filter that came with the refugium. I have cleaned the h*** out of it a few times.

 

[nitroreef]

engineer gobies, they might be stirring up your sand also

 

[mrx66699]

Yes the water was green when i picked it up but i figured with some attention it would clear up. I have changed out 50% of the water in 2 Months and i will keep on going.

If you have only changed out 50% in a two month period you need to step that up big time I would be changing out that much a week for the next month just to attempt to pull everything that is in the rock work and left behind from the sand changes.

As Marvin said if you dont have really anything in this setup yet pull out all the sand and water. Dont play around with it just get it over with and you will be a lot better off. If you can go this route to get rid of the sand all at once then get rid it. Do the water at the same time and put the all new sand and water back in. Shut the filtration off, take an old large blanket lay all the rock out on it so its nice and easy to re aquascape it going back in. Also the bottled bacteria is a good idea at that point too this will assist with the new sand and water.

If your new to the hobby frustration levels will rise and it wont be long before you have invested a lot of funds/ time and it may no longer seem fun. You are going to spend way too much to clean this up doing it little by little. Avoid that at all cost if you can and just change it all out now while your just getting it going.

 

[Jason B]

I have fish in the tank so i cant totally replace everything at once. I will start to do larger water changes and more frequently.

Do you think 2 bags of sand a week would stress the fish too much?

 

[Jason B]

I have fish in the tank so i cant totally replace everything at once. I will start to do larger water changes and more frequently.

Do you think 2 bags of sand a week would stress the fish too much?

 

[Spek]

Im wondering about the medication as well...could have overdosed and its still lingering

I would set up a temporary QT put the fish in there and just breakdown and back up with the new live sand and new water grab some bio spira to help speed it up

 

[Jason B]

I think that is going to be the best way to go. How long do you think its going to take till ill be able to let the fish back in? 1-2 weeks or longer?

 

[mrx66699]

that will just all depend on the cycle

 

[KeysKid]

Yeah honestly I would just buy a small tank for the fish and just totally restart that tank with new water and sand.

 

[ej797]

+1 on the restart...

 

[Dach]

Wouldn't the QT need to have already been cycled for the fish to survive while you work on the restart? Or do you put some of the live rock in the QT to deal with that?

 

[KeysKid]

I would just use the water from the big tank for your qt just for the time being.

 

[Jason B]

What size tank should i use?

Fish:
2 Clowns
6 Cromis
1 blue tang
1 blonde naso
1 yellow tang
1 flame angel
2 banded shrimp
Emrald crabs and sally lightfoot

I dont want to stress them out too much especially since i just added the blonde naso. Im wondering if it might be better to see if the guy at the LFS will hold the fish for a while. He has the space.

 

[mitchwelt]

What size tank should i use?

Fish:
2 Clowns
6 Cromis
1 blue tang
1 blonde naso
1 yellow tang
1 flame angel
2 banded shrimp
Emrald crabs and sally lightfoot

I dont want to stress them out too much especially since i just added the blonde naso. Im wondering if it might be better to see if the guy at the LFS will hold the fish for a while. He has the space.

if the lfs can hold then it would be better, you dont have to worry about a cycle happning again....

 

[Jason B]

Ok cool. Ill give that a shot. Thanks for all the help everyone. Im probably gong to start this afternoon.

 

[Jason B]

Is it worth rinsing the h*** out of my existing sand and reusing it while adding more new live sand, or will rinsing it not help?

 

[gtroutt]

IMO it's the well water, I went through this a few years back when I was out of a job and didn't have the $$ to replace the media in my RODI unit and figured..."It couldn't hurt!" LoL! The more well water I used, the worse it got.

Same exact symptoms as Jason is having...

 

[KeysKid]

Yeah if your LFS would hold them that would be perfect, but yeah I would rinse out your tank and start all over. Many LFS sell RODI water that you could just use to get started until you can buy a RODI unit.

 

[Garage1217]

I would also say well water. Every time I stay in Fl at hotels or my friends houses that have a well, when you fill up the bathtub, the water is green! I took a photo of a green tub years ago that circulated my office here in Az about how nasty the water was in Florida. Fill up your bathtub, should tell you something immediately if the tub is white. Should be no tint to the water in any way and I bet your water is the same green nasty that I always see in your area.

 

[gtroutt]

Yup agreed, I was filling old salt buckets with well water that are white and you can clearly see that the well water is green against the white color of the white bucket.