Tank not cycling... I think...

[fortheloveofcrabs]

Hello all,

I got a 55 gal about 6 weeks ago, filled it with salt, sand and LR... Now, this is my first 'big' reef (my last one was 16 gal) and when this new tank cycled, everything turned green, and gross, and the glass got all gummied up with algae, but it was a lot thicker than when my other tank cycled. Infact the water turned green in my 55 gal... That said, it is still green, swampy green. It doesn't smell, but it is just gross. I remember my 16 gal clearing up (as far as the water went, I don't remember it changing color at all). I have't bothered testing yet as it looks totally un-inhabitable. Any ideas why after six weeks the tank looks like this? Or is this normal? I can't find anything about this happening on the web, so it kind of makes me leary.

-Pauli

[Reefhawk1]

What do you have filtering your setup?
What kind of lighting are you using?
How often do you water change?

I had a problem until recently with my lighting growing algea too quickly in my tank. I swithced to a 20k bulb and I have had no problems.

[golfbomber]

are you using tap water? RO helps with the diatom breakouts. I use RO and still had a break out with it cycling. also is there a lot of dead stuff on your rock or is it quite bare? it seems like there are nutrients coming from some where, a refuguim will help.

[DanG]

Try throwing in some dead prawns, that should help kick the cycle.

[Beverly]

Sounds like you have a huge amount of nutrients in the tank, and combined with lots of light, you've got algae growing in the water column. That said, it sounds likely the tank has cycled. To be sure, test the water, man!

While there is no going back, I would suggest curing any new LR for new tanks in a container other than the display tank. That way, you don't get nutrient build up in the display tank which causes all kinds of algae problems in both short and long term.

I have never had green water in a reef, which is what you have BTW. You can probably get rid of it by cleaning the glass, removing the rock and cleaning any algae from it, thoroughly cleaning any mechanical filters, siphoning out detritus from the sandbed, then do a 100% water change.