Cloudy Greenish Tank...What's going on?

[mandyplo]

Recently our 55gal tank has had a red cyano bloom going on, which has occurred once before in the past some months ago, so this is the second time its happening. We know its from our tap water, once money situation is a little better we will be purchasing an RO/DI unit asap. We used a treatment called "RedCyano Rx" by Blue Life. In the original cyano bloom, this treatment worked within a day or two and got rid of the algae. This time, the water was slightly clouded BEFORE I started the treatment (could be from me stirring up the sandbed a little bit when cleaning the glass inside). When I started the treatment I unplugged the skimmer, as was instructed on the cyano-x box. After one day however, the tank has become very clouded with a green tint to the water. I resumed use of the skimmer and did a 25% water change. The pH and salinity are at their normal levels. The cloudiness didn't become this bad until after the protein skimmer was unplugged for two days. What could be causing this cloudiness? Whatever is making the water green isn't clinging to the rock or the glass, it appears to be completely mixed in with the water. I also turned the lights completely off in case it is an algae bloom.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

[Enigma]

Holy smokes! When you said "green" I was NOT expecting that.

Me prephoto guess was going to be "bacterial bloom" . . . But that's nuts.

[kien]

It could be that something has bloomed or spawned in your tank. Perhaps algae. Sometimes algae will do this when it feels threatended due to chemical changes. Actually, some corals will do this too. Clams will spawn and cloudy the tank as well.

[reefwars]

did the water in your skimmer go foul?? did you leave it in the skimmer??

[FishyFishy!]

Have you tested for ammonia and nitrates?

[Coralgurl]

My skimmer has been sitting since I treated with Chemiclean and after each water change I turn it back on, but as it still overflows, I unplug it. I don't think this is the cause.

Are you running any carbon?

[whatcaneyedo]

I've seen several tanks turn into phytoplankton soups when run without a skimmer. Our Total Pet has one right now. They are trying to setup a 90gal without a skimmer and the whole thing has turned into green water. But its sort of hard to tell by your picture. Is the image showing the true color of the tank? Because it looks relatively blue to me.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Coralgurl

My skimmer has been sitting since I treated with Chemiclean and after each water change I turn it back on, but as it still overflows, I unplug it. I don't think this is the cause.

Are you running any carbon?

You have to let the skimmer overflow while you drain the cup. I had to drain 25 gallons total from the cup before it calmed down.

You won't get rid of chemiclean with just water changes

To the OP, borrow a uv sterilizer from someone if you can and run it. It should clear it up

[mohammadali]

thundering in ur tank

[mandyplo]

To try and answer all the questions at once:
Don't know anyone with a UV sterilizer
No not running carbon or Gfo yet (bought some, just need to do the big tank move before I can set up the reactor)
We have no clams and no coral except for 1 little 4polyp zoanthid frag
Only fish are 2 dispar anthias 1 blue chromis 1 kole tang 1 yellow watchman goby
No my bf turned off and back on the skimmer and I can quite confidently count on the fact that he did not clean the cup before turning it back on.
We turned the lights off going to keep them off for a few days and see if anything clears up.

As for tank specifications, tank is just shy of 1 yr old, 55gallon, aragonite fine Sand bed 2-3" deep, 45+ lbs live rock, carbon filter and protein skimmer rated for 200g tank and 2 Hydor 1050gph koralia powerheads