Water Going Green

[ShanGo]

Hi all any one can help plz
NO3 0
PO4 0
Ammoina 0
the last test i clean my screen every 5 days
but my water is geern in colour do i do a water change to clear it up ?
are raise my temp to the tank to 27c as i run it at 25c any help would be good :P

[SantaMonica]

Green water is caused by:

Not removing the screen before cleaning.
Not washing the screen in FW before putting it back.
Having too much algae growth in your sump that you manually remove.

In all three cases, pieces of algae break apart, and the green stuff goes into the water. So solve this by:

Removing the screen and taking it to the sink for cleaning.
When removing it, don't break or remove any algae.
After cleaning it in the sink, run lots of FW over it.
In your sump, make sure the scrubber lights point only at the screen. If they light up the sump too, algae will grow there and break off.

After you correct the problem, the green water will go away by itself in a few days as it gets eaten by copepods.

[ShanGo]

I will try what you say to see if thats what is doing it but i all ways clean the screen in the sink

[SantaMonica]

Then look for any areas in the sump where algae is growing and breaking off.

[ShanGo]

Just looked there is no algae in the sump

[inkidu]

It was happening to me(pea green water) but I just changed from one type of light to another and the tank

was fairly new. The algae was transitioning from one type to another. Could your lights be getting weak?

It is hard to tell with your eyes that a light is getting weak and possibly changing its spectrum output.

Hope this helps.

[ShanGo]

i though that as well just put 2 new 15k had 20k 250watt its more green now
could it be the water is not turning over or i need more power heads in the tank i have 2 vortech mp40w
do i need more ?

[SantaMonica]

Are you washing all the algae off the screen so there is nothing left to flow into the tank?

One test is to clean the screens completely, using a brush, all the way down to the plastic, and even in-between the screens. Then, there will be nothing left to let go.

[ShanGo]

Ok i didnt clean between the screens thought you just clean the out sides
thanks for telling me will start doing that
Do i have to cable tie them back?

[SantaMonica]

Don't take them apart; just get the brush down in the holes. It's just a test.

[rahjelli]

Do you feed alot of omnivorous flakes/pellets? they usually leach their green color into the water, just a guess if so because I did for awhile and it made my water greenish too

[ShanGo]

Do you feed alot of omnivorous flakes/pellets? they usually leach their green color into the water, just a guess if so because I did for awhile and it made my water greenish too
No i dont m8 thanks

[Gigaah]

Does the cover on your lights have salt creep on it? I had the same problem. I cleaned off the creep everything was blue again. However for a month I swore to GOD it was the water. looked...a little green from the front..the side(long ways) OMG it looked so green it was sick.

[ChrisD]

Just a thought...

Have you dropped your water change frequency or carbon use due to the scrubber being deployed? Apparently a build up in allelopathic compounds can yellow the water. Solution is to run some good quality carbon for 12 hrs.

[ShanGo]

Does the cover on your lights have salt creep on it? I had the same problem. I cleaned off the creep everything was blue again. However for a month I swore to GOD it was the water. looked...a little green from the front..the side(long ways) OMG it looked so green it was sick.
i will try that thanks

[ShanGo]

Just a thought...

Have you dropped your water change frequency or carbon use due to the scrubber being deployed? Apparently a build up in allelopathic compounds can yellow the water. Solution is to run some good quality carbon for 12 hrs.
i will try what sam says the clean my glass on lights then if that dont work will try what you say
;)

[SantaMonica]

If scrubbers are run properly, there is no yellowing of the water at all, and no carbon are waterchanges are needed at all. Aside from that, it's not the allelopathic compounds, but the chlorophyll from broken algae, that yellows water in non-properly setup scrubbers. And no matter what the compounds (allelopathic, chlorophyll, food, etc), they all go away over time because they are eaten by bacteria. So, in a properly-running scrubber tank, the bacteria eat the little bit of chlorophyll in the water faster than it build up.

Now, if something is not setup right, the chlorophyll can build up faster that the bacteria eat it. In this case you get yellowing. Interestingly, yellow or green-water tanks are actually healthier than clear water tanks, because the coloring feeds more copepods, which feeds the corals more. Plus, the green itself feeds many corals. This is why the ocean is blue-green (phytoplankton). Matter of fact if you wanted an extremely large amount of food in your water to make corals grow as fast as they do in the ocean, you would want green water.

Nevertheless, most people want clear water. So in the very cases it happens (like this one), it's just a matter of figuring out what's causing it.

[ShanGo]

If scrubbers are run properly, there is no yellowing of the water at all, and no carbon are waterchanges are needed at all. Aside from that, it's not the allelopathic compounds, but the chlorophyll from broken algae, that yellows water in non-properly setup scrubbers. And no matter what the compounds (allelopathic, chlorophyll, food, etc), they all go away over time because they are eaten by bacteria. So, in a properly-running scrubber tank, the bacteria eat the little bit of chlorophyll in the water faster than it build up.

Now, if something is not setup right, the chlorophyll can build up faster that the bacteria eat it. In this case you get yellowing. Interestingly, yellow or green-water tanks are actually healthier than clear water tanks, because the coloring feeds more copepods, which feeds the corals more. Plus, the green itself feeds many corals. This is why the ocean is blue-green (phytoplankton). Matter of fact if you wanted an extremely large amount of food in your water to make corals grow as fast as they do in the ocean, you would want green water.

Nevertheless, most people want clear water. So in the very cases it happens (like this one), it's just a matter of figuring out what's causing it.
Yes i agree with you Santa i just wont to see whats doing it

[ShanGo]

What time is the best time for the scurbber lights to be on dueing the day are at night
i have it on dueing the night

[rahjelli]

I have mine on from 7am-1am

[SantaMonica]

Doesn't matter, as far as filtering goes.

[ShanGo]

Right lets start from scrach
my tank is 216 gallons
sump 40 gallons
i have 2 Vortec 40
1800 gallon pump in the shed about 10ft away from my living room
2 14k 250watt Halide lamps
running 2 11x10 screens
can so mone give me some input plz

1) i dont have enough flow in the tank ?
2) the pump is to far from the tank ?
3) the scubber is to small for tank ?
4) i need to do a water change ?

[inkidu]

My two cents

If you know how to do a water change, which I almost sure you do, than it can never hurt.

Think back what if anything have you changed???? If I remember right this is an established tank.

I also might keep my mind open to some freak thing. Ex. Not that this applies at all to you but it might give you an idea. (look for the unusual)

Did a little kid throw a coin into the tank?

Hope this helps.

[SantaMonica]

Need some updated pics on your scrubber. Did not know you changes to halides.

[ShanGo]

Need some updated pics on your scrubber. Did not know you changes to halides.
will get a picture as soon as i am going to clean as i done one today

[Gigaah]

If your problem doesn't go away i'd drop down to single layer screen and clean it every 3 days and make sure you shut the entire system down when you remove the screen.

I'm thinking either the algae is growing too fast/too thick and dying off because of lack or light/water flow. or its just letting go because it is has gotten to a thickness where it can no longer hold on to the screen you have. in which case the screen could be more rough.

[ShanGo]

Does the cover on your lights have salt creep on it? I had the same problem. I cleaned off the creep everything was blue again. However for a month I swore to GOD it was the water. looked...a little green from the front..the side(long ways) OMG it looked so green it was sick.
thanks to Gigaah it was the glass on the lights now its clear i could not think that would cause it nice one just a hint of geen now but i think thats the water will do a water change as i should of before i start useing the scrubber but all seem to be ok now will post a picture of my screens as soon as i do a clean

[Gigaah]

Glad I could help!! I got the idea from a scrubber I was building. I had a CFL light that had salt crust on it..it glowed green a second or two after I unplugged it.dunno if that particular light just glows green after you unplug it or not..but it gave me the idea to scrape my glass under one of my lights i've been neglecting.

If you clean your screen more frequently the rest of the green will fade. I know this first hand. I was doing some experiments and made a bet with my friends that I could feed my 55g tank 4-5 cubes every day for 2 months and the tank wouldn't skip a beat. I won the bet. but my water went a little dingy green durring the process and cleaning the screen more frequently solved the problem of the algae growing so thick so fast. Maybe an even rougher screen would have helped I don't know I feel I did a decent job on the screen.

[ShanGo]

Glad I could help!! I got the idea from a scrubber I was building. I had a CFL light that had salt crust on it..it glowed green a second or two after I unplugged it.dunno if that particular light just glows green after you unplug it or not..but it gave me the idea to scrape my glass under one of my lights i've been neglecting.

If you clean your screen more frequently the rest of the green will fade. I know this first hand. I was doing some experiments and made a bet with my friends that I could feed my 55g tank 4-5 cubes every day for 2 months and the tank wouldn't skip a beat. I won the bet. but my water went a little dingy green durring the process and cleaning the screen more frequently solved the problem of the algae growing so thick so fast. Maybe an even rougher screen would have helped I don't know I feel I did a decent job on the screen.
thanks m8