ok i give up.. i have to start over..

[asherah]

no matter what i do I can't seem to fix this darn tank!!!
algone worked for 5 days and looked great! Now it's right back to being cloudy and green!
I've tried carbon, algone, RO/DI water, phosban reactor, water changes weekly,
skimmer, refugium, and chemi-pure.
I don't know what to do anymore i'm tired of it looking like crap!

But what am I going to do with my fish ?

asherah

[Canuckgod420]

I had the same problem once...i got a small UV sterilizer, 3 days later it was all gone...no problem since.

[TeknoPunk]

in my 80 gallon I am running 8 bags of activated carbon and 500ml of purigen to help with the algae and water clarity, you could even use some polishing pads as well.

what size filter are you running in that 30 gallon?

in my 10 gallon nano I am running a fluval 404, which is way overkill but it really makes a difference, same with my 80 gallon I am running an FX5 which again is way overkill. I was having a similar problem with my 80 gallon when I was usin a fluval 404 in there, everything would build up so fast and looked like hell, once I put the fx5 in there things changed drastically, and I was able to add alot more things to the tank without consequences.

[asherah]

well it has an aquaclear on so i can run the sponge and the algone or carbon or whatever..
so frustrated with it..

how does a uv sterilizer hook up ? is it expensive?

also, i've been told that canister filters are j ust nitrate factories... how do you deal with this?

[michika]

Is your tank by chance near a window, or in direct sunlight?

How much rock does your system have?

[justinl]

stock canister filters are nitrate factories. for marine use, you would need to take out all the bioballs and replace it with live rock rubble. then it works like a charm. if you leave in the bioballs you would need to clean it every couple of months or else battle with nitrates.

[asherah]

no no window.. it's got 30lbs of rock but i'm thinking maybe it's because the rocks are crap now or something.. I mean they were wonderful in my 44gallon. I even had pods etc. Then I moved everything over to a 92 that i cycled and and then I moved.
It got left at the house for awhile before i moved it to this house (just down the street)
so it didn't get cleaned as often as it should but ever since i moved it to this house I've nothing but problems

it's got RO/DI water but I'm wondering if the rocks aren't filtering or something now or i shouldn't have reused the sand ?
would that cause this problem ?

amanda

[michika]

What values are you getting from your testkits? Where are you getting your RO/DI from?

To me it sounds like an algeal bloom of some sort. From what you've posted you've taken the correct first steps. In the phosban reactor, what type of GFO are you using?

[asherah]

What's GFO ?

the RO/DI water comes from my filter under my sink.

ammonia - 0
nitirite - 0
nitrate -0
ph - 8.2
alk 5mg/l

asherah

[michika]

GFO - granulated ferious oxide, which is also phosban, phoslock, etc.

I would recommend keeping with the water changes, add in some new carbon, and be very careful about overfeeding. You can also trying blacking out your tank for a day or two. Cover the tank with a blanket or towels to ensure no light enters.

What do you have running in your refugium?

[asherah]

there's cheato in the refugium. About the size of a softball.. maybe a little more.
I added some rock to it aswell last week.

I'm using phosban at the moment but i used to have seachem's version.. forgot the name.

[Jason McK]

OK so if i understand correctly you have Green water. Is there any other algea in the tank?
Sorry but I have more questions
What type of lighting?
What K are the bulbs?
How old are the bulbs?

If you have a phosphate test kit what is it reading
How old are you current test kits?

Algea eats phosphates and nitrates. If your live rock was garbage it would not convert ammonia to Nitrite and nitrite to Nitrate. The end of the nitrogen cycle is Nitrate. You rock is not expected to convert Nirtate to anything. Ammonia and Nitrites are toxic to fish. So I would say your rock is doing it's job.
Odds are your Nitrates are not 0 and I'm going to speculate your Phosphates are through the roof.

J

[asherah]

the bulbs are old.. I bought new bulbs but ordered 96watt instead of 65 by mistake.
anyway they are dual 65watt power compact orbit lights. 10,000k and 460nm acitinic.
there's no other algae in the tank but the green water andt he cheato in the refugium.

I don't have a phospate test kit, and the other tests are about a year old.

i guess i'll ahve to order one.

asherah

[Myka]

How long has this been happening? Is the water cloudy grey? white? green? Keep using the PHosBan, the SeaChem version isn't as good. Your phosphate media should be dark reddish brown...if you have a white version it isn't nearly as good.

[asherah]

ok it is white.. i didn't even know there was a brown kind.. i'll have to try that too then.
the water in the tank is green... =(

it's been doing this for months!! I thought I had it cleared up but I was wrong!

asherah

[TeknoPunk]

I would get rid of that filter and go canister... but that's my opinion, I like canister filters and I have found that overkill is good for a marine system. I do battle with green hair algae but it is getting less and less as time goes on.

as for light bulbs you should change them every 6 months if they are florescents wether they are burnt out or not.... as they are used they diminish in intensity gradually and you won't notice it until you put in a new bulb.

I love my cannister filters, and wouldn't even think about using a little aqua clear on a marine system. that's just my opinion though. like I said earlier on my 10G nano I run a fluval 404 (which is for a 100G tank, so they say)

[TeknoPunk]

what are your test readings for the water anyway?
ammonia?
nitrites?
nitrates?
phosphates?

[michika]

Skip on the canister filter, unless you are prepared to do a lot of work to avoid them becoming a nitrate factory.

1.) Up your water changes in frequency, and possibly in size (say 10% total volume per change).
2.) Get your new bulbs
3.) Get new testkits and write on the top when you received them
4.) Set up a tracking method so you can track your parameters over a long period of time. A notebook works, so does an excel sheet.
5.) Run new carbon & GFO (phosban, phoslock, etc) and change them both frequently. HOWEVER when using GFO do not go right to the label's full dose immediately, work up to it.
6.) Patience, it will pass! :D

[Johnny Reefer]

..... The end of the nitrogen cycle is Nitrate. You rock is not expected to convert Nirtate to anything. ....
If I'm not mistaken, Nitrate is converted to Nitrogen (Denitrification). My understanding is that LR plays a role in this. There are certain bacteria in LR that support denitrification. The nitrogen is gassed off with good circulation and surface agitation. Not sure if this is relevant to your issues. Just 2 cents for the record.

Cheers,

[Jason McK]

Yes the theory is that with in the LR there will be anaerobic bacteria that converts Nitrate to Nitrogen. This is not always possible, with high bioloads and rock too dense or too porous.
that is why 'we' have added DSB, Refugiums, and Coil denitrators.
But having Rock that can not convert Nitrate to Nitrogen does not render it useless

J

[Myka]

ok it is white.. i didn't even know there was a brown kind.. i'll have to try that too then.
the water in the tank is green... =(

it's been doing this for months!! I thought I had it cleared up but I was wrong!

asherah


Oh wow...green water eh? My best advice for you would be to find a local (to your area) saltwater club, and get one of the knowledgable members to help you out.

[Johnny Reefer]

....But having Rock that can not convert Nitrate to Nitrogen does not render it useless....
Sorry. I'm confused. I'm not suggesting the LR is useless. To the contrary, I'm suggesting that the LR should be doing more than just nitrification. I must have misinterpreted your other post. I thought you were speaking of all LR as not being expected to convert Nitrates to anything. Didn't realize you were specifically addressing asherah's LR.
This is why I hardly post on here anymore. Always misinterpreting.

[Jason McK]

Mark, I think I'm confused now. :)

I'm sugesting that any LR will not elliminate 100% of Nirtate do to the fact that anarobic zones in the LR will not be enough to handle most closed systems.
This is why so many other methods are developed to handle excess Nitrates.

Now I should preface myself by saying I'm hypothesizing via what i have read and the what seems to be a common theme, having to rid Nitrates for a tank

J

[Johnny Reefer]

..... You rock is not expected to convert Nirtate to anything. ....
Not sure if you were speaking of LR generally or asherah's specifically here. I initially thought generally. My intent was to point out that generally LR is expected to convert Nitrate to anything....namely Nitrogen. The rest of my post was vaguely alluding to the notion that poor circulation and poor surface agitation could result in a build up of nitrogen.

Yes the theory is that with in the LR there will be anaerobic bacteria that converts Nitrate to Nitrogen. This is not always possible, with high bioloads and rock too dense or too porous.
that is why 'we' have added DSB, Refugiums, and Coil denitrators.
But having Rock that can not convert Nitrate to Nitrogen does not render it useless

J
Agreed. But again, I'm not suggesting that LR that can't convert Nitrates to Nitrogen is useless, so I'm not sure what that part of your post is in reference to.

Mark, I think I'm confused now. :)

I'm sugesting that any LR will not elliminate 100% of Nirtate do to the fact that anarobic zones in the LR will not be enough to handle most closed systems.
This is why so many other methods are developed to handle excess Nitrates.

Now I should preface myself by saying I'm hypothesizing via what i have read and the what seems to be a common theme, having to rid Nitrates for a tank

J
100% agreed.

Cheers,

[Jason McK]

I confused a few people, Sorry.

It started with asherah thinking the LR was bad or no longer good and got off on a tangent.

Again Sorry

J

[asherah]

lol

anyway, i'm done another water change and gave about 1/2 or so of the rocks a good scrub in a bucket of salt water i siphoned off...
i also realized.. there is alot of detrius in my tank! yikes..

so at the end of the month i'm going to buy
carbon,
new nitrate/phosphate tests
new bulbs
and possiably even a diatom filter..

i think that adding something with higher flow couldn't hurt either..i think the rocks need more flow.

asherah

[TeknoPunk]

more flow is always good... try to cycle the whole tank as many times in a hour as possible... it will help.

[Myka]

lol

anyway, i'm done another water change and gave about 1/2 or so of the rocks a good scrub in a bucket of salt water i siphoned off...
i also realized.. there is alot of detrius in my tank! yikes..

so at the end of the month i'm going to buy
carbon,
new nitrate/phosphate tests
new bulbs
and possiably even a diatom filter..

i think that adding something with higher flow couldn't hurt either..i think the rocks need more flow.

asherah


What do you have for powerheads?

I'd really like to chime in to help you, but I haven't been following along (you refer to a thread that you started before this one..?). It would really help if you listed out a complete specs list of your tank for those of us that aren't familiar with your tank.