Green Water Column

[AJ_77]

As to my skimmer, don't ask. After seeing EmilyB's I am humbled; it must be similar to yours, Doug. About the width of a fish barrel.

Anyone have a competent skimmer they aren't using???

As to the green water solution, I'll certainly check the archives, thanks Victor.

As to diatomaceous earth (?), I have no idea but thanks for the input Bob.

I fit 3 bags of carbon across the final trap in the sump, and unhooked the Fluval - couldn't stop it making bubbles. HTH.

Alan

[AJ_77]

Thanks Guys. Tony (you expert you), the macro is not how you describe. I've been watching for this, I had a few strands going clear awhile back and yanked them out.

The thing is, this is more than a green tint - it's a green MURK. Like, bad, man! Can't see through the tank long-ways.

So, I could do the MH thing right away (IWASAKI!!) and make pea soup? Would not intense lighting at this point exacerbate my problem? (Plus, my bulb is older and going yellow.)

And what's this about 430 HPS ballasts for the Radium 400 for $100 all about? The bulbs are on for $150 or so, ya know! MY gosh, that would be something I'd like before I die. ;)

Alan :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 12 June 2002, 12:13: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[Doug]

Hey, if its like DT,s maybe you could bottle and sell it. :D

Some kind of good sponge filter at the end or what I use to clean, a big old Walmart hang on the back power filter, with lots of floss, may help clean it up.

[Bob I]

I guess I don't understand about the Fluval. I used it for over a year, and it never made any bubbles. I would really have to see what is going on at your place to even make an uneducated guess.

[Delphinus]

Ummm ... one obvious thing that I completely overlooked here.

AJ_77, you stated that you have checked your caulerpa and are certain that there are no clear or white pieces.

But ... halimeda is also not immune to the occasional sporalation. Have you checked all your halimeda as well?

Re-reading this thread from top to bottom, I humbly take back my original assertion, and am joining the sporalation bandwagon. I originally thought you only had a little bit of green hue in the water.

Whatever it is though, the advice you've been given applies either way, it's all good.

PS. Yeah, the thought did occur to me too that you may have an skimmer that's unable to keep up with the DOC in that tank, but, I didn't want to mention it because, well, a) if it is true then I'm sure you already know about it and b) I don't really know what I'm talking about anyways. Is there such a thing as "inadequate skimmer" ? Maybe just "ineffectual in certain situations." Some people go skimmerless altogether, and that's fine and well if you maintain everything else impeccably, and some people use a monstrous beckett skimmer on a 20g with 200x turnover. So who's right? Ah, to heck with it all, this is going nowhere, I will stop typing now.

[ 13 June 2002, 13:46: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[Delphinus]

I mentioned water changes... Actually I think AJ_77 also said he had done some already anyways.

But you know what IS missing from being mentioned here?

AJ_77, what are your NO3 and PO4 values?

[ 13 June 2002, 13:51: Message edited by: delphinus ]

[AJ_77]

I'll post some results as soon as I test again, Tony, probably tonight. They've been good of late, the NO3 values, nothing to see really. I don't have a foss-fate kit. ;)

The irony of this is I was just bombasting recently about keeping things simple, not wanting to ever own a reactor, blah-blah-blah... Now I'm making green water that I can't even market.

HEY: How do you like your Berlin skimmer? Good?

Alan [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 13 June 2002, 14:13: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[BCReefer]

3 – 4 weeks ago while adding kalk I some how managed to kill almost all of my Xenia. After scrubing the rock and cleaning out the dead Xenia, I noticed that my water was kinda yellow looking and I was getting a bit of a algae out break.

Xince then I have tried my best to scrub out the Algae and I have done 2 - 30% water changes. Only now is my water becoming clearer. When I sucked out the water the 1st time I was bloddy amazed how dirty the water was. I read in Eric Hugo’s book that yellow/greenish water means high nutrients and water changes are the simplest form to clear the problem.

No idea if this could help but I did not notice anything about water changes being mentioned.

Cheers,
Patrick

[AJ_77]

From a thread in March:

Hi,

I don't know how to say this, but congratulations...you have created green water. Also known as phytoplankton and this is good food for your corals. People actually pay $40 for a gallon for this stuff

In any case, this is caused by too much nutrients. The simplest way to fix this problem (not that it is a problem) is to buy a micron filter cartridge for magnum 250/350/300 canister/HOT magnium. I used some duct tape and converted my power head such that the intake water passes through the micron filter.

The other way is to a 95% water change and lights out for 2 weeks. And then another 95% water change.

Nutrient export is important in a skimmerless system -- you may want to look at implementing an ATS. This is much more effective than a skimmer.

Hope that helps.

- Victor.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Glad to see this is not a freak event (I'm not Alone). Anybody in Calgary want to buy some phytoplankton?? Quick, before it all ends up in the local wastewater system... ;)

Hooked up a T1000 Multi skimmer last night, and emptied the cup twice since (pea... soup). Seems to work pretty well staightaway, due to the overabundance of DOM and nutrients, I guess?

Alan

[ 14 June 2002, 08:55: Message edited by: AJ_77 ]

[AJ_77]

Did another water change, and the soup intensified a couple of days afterward. My tank is the most vibrant green! It'd be cool if it wasn't so ridiculous...

Put on the micron filter, the filter floss, changed the floss, rinsed the floss, added carbon, more carbon, overskimming like a bandit, cut the photoperiod, changed bulbs to new, danced a jig...

I'm going to post some pics - it's unbelievable. Some guy on RC said his outbreak went as quickly as it came... after a month. :eek:

I hope these posts aren't getting tiresome, but I need somewhere to vent.

Thanks All,

Alan