Green Water - New tank

[MeghanisradxD]

I'm not really new to reefs, but feel like this is a beginner question, so posting here.

I haven't cycled an aquarium in ages. I usually buy already live rock. This time I started with dead rock. It's been about 4 weeks and have been ghost feeding the tank everyday. Two weekends ago there was an ammonia spike - 4.0. Tested last weekend and it was down to 1.0. About 3 days ago, the water turned green overnight. I've never had water turn green during a cycle.

Should I wait until the cycle is done to do a water change or should I do one now since the water is green? Is this normal during a cycle from dead rock?
I'm in no rush to get the tank up and going, so if I need to wait it out, that's what I'll do. But, checking here to get some opinions.

Oh, and lights are off now - have been for a few days. They were on initially, but turned them off when the water changed color. Skimmer just came in the mail and was installed a few hours ago.

 

[Giants13]

plug in the uv sterilizer...

 

[MeghanisradxD]

Don't have one. I used a different test kit and looks like it's still mid-cycle, so I'll wait it out for now.

 

[Tflow256]

Depending where you got the dry rock from it could be leaching phosphates pretty heavily which would cause the bloom. I'd test phosphates and see where they are at. I'd also probably wait until the cycle is finished then perform a waterchange. I used all dry rock (marcorocks.com) and dry sand and had a small bloom for a week that cleared up after my first water change. Been crystal clear since

 

[matt880305]

did you seed the dead rock with a piece of live rock. do you run carbon

 

[DaddyJama]

looking forward to this answer.. mine has been green for about a week.. my levels seem good and i just finished a 25% water change but nothings changed!

 

[MeghanisradxD]

I didn't seed the dead rock, I was ghost feeding to get it started.


It's been a couple days and the water is almost clear again, so I'm thinking it was just a bloom and part of the cycle.

 

[DaddyJama]

I got a uv light and a phosphate sponge in my canister filter.. It cleared in a couple of days..

 

[DaddyJama]

I just moved to this area and the guy at the fish store said that phosphates are high in the tap water

 

[gone fishin]

I would speculate just an algae bloom that will burn itself out. Good luck just my 2 cents.

 

[chimmike]

I just moved to this area and the guy at the fish store said that phosphates are high in the tap water

you should absolutely NOT be using tap water.....