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Green water, help please.

Newly setup tank got green water bloom, pretty sure my RO/DI is not doing its job. Which filter\filters cartridges need changing to get the right water out of it to keep this from happening? I will use my diatom filter to get the green out. I am sure it will come right back until I get my RO fixed up.

Thanks all.
 
Check your tds coming from your RO just to make sure that is the problem. Its not worth replacing filters if that isn't it.

Do you have a DI?

Need to know more about your RO set up. How many and what kind of filters are in it?
Are you feeding the tank? you could also be overfeeding or since its a new tank your bio filter might not be established.
check your tds first this way you know if it is worth doing a water change right away or if you need new RO componets to get you there.

Send me a PM or email if you bring your water to me I can test it for you. If you need RODI water i could give you some too. Just bring buckets.
 
I have DI also, it is a 6 stage filter unit. 1 sediment white filter and 2 others that look the same sort of (Carbon and Carbon?), 1 RO and 2 DI.

No feedings.

I brought some fresh RO water to the local place I buy from they could not find their TDS meter while I was there.

Will go buy a TDS meter today.


It looks like this unit here.

http://59.124.16.10/items/Pic/22-216/22-216-g.jpg

Thanks for the reply.
 
a UV sterilizer will take care of the green water in a couple days. water changes will not remove the bloom.
 
More info on your system will help. What tank do you have? What kind of tank filtration? What kind of lighting? You say it's newly set up, how long and what is your current bioload?

Henrye718 said:
Newly setup tank got green water bloom, pretty sure my RO/DI is not doing its job. Which filter\filters cartridges need changing to get the right water out of it to keep this from happening? I will use my diatom filter to get the green out. I am sure it will come right back until I get my RO fixed up.

Thanks all.
 
120 gal, T5s, refugium, skimmer. All my live rock is dead now and still sitting outside in a bin. About 30 corals, two small clowns, one 6" carpet anime, a 3 peppermint shrimps.

The reason I ask about the filter is becasue everytime I was going away and at the last minute I would top off with conditioned tap water I would get green water. A few RO water changes would cure it pretty much.
 
I'm about to buy a new housing for the DI and add it at last stage. those smaller diameter ones for some reason the water does not flow evenly thru them and color changes quickly in the di. also a bypass is another item I want to add. I would never use tap water. even conditioned
 
reeferwanabe said:
I'm about to buy a new housing for the DI and add it at last stage. those smaller diameter ones for some reason the water does not flow evenly thru them and color changes quickly in the di. also a bypass is another item I want to add. I would never use tap water. even conditioned

Either that or have my water level run low and the filter system go dry while im a away, never had a problem or than the green tint.

Right now tho its so bad I can only see 2-4 inches visibility wise, its blocking light to the corals.
 
Hmmm TDS at 15ppm pretty low.

Where are the nutrients coming from. Brand new tank from a local store. I did use red sea reef salt for the first time. Another thing the tank was extremely dirty, not from the local FS, I picked it up 2 hours after it got delivered to them from the distributor, since my old one was leaking bad I was trying to do it fast. The warehouse where it was kept must have been filthy. It was making the paper towels I was using black from dirty soot dust. I cleaned it really well tho, till the towels came up clean, only used water.

:(
 
mr_X said:
a UV sterilizer will take care of the green water in a couple days. water changes will not remove the bloom.

i setup a 60g fresh water tank in west field, same thing happen. i couldnt even see the fish or decor. Sometimes it happens when setting up a new tank i read, my issue was direct sunlight, i put on my 25w uv and cleared it up in 2 days. I would say UV also will clear it up. if u cant run it t'd off your return with 200gph max run a little maxi jet on it.
 

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
You aren't adding anything like phyto to the water are you? I've never seen tank water go green before. Are you running carbon? Do you have any rock in there at all? That was your biological filter and with none you may be seeing an ammo spike too?

Red Sea might give you a diatom bloom, but not green water. Can you change 90% of the water? If the greem is impeding the light to your corals you may want to make that leap.

What exactly are you adding to the water? You'll need a pretty good UV to fight water that is visibly green.
 
even changing 90% of the water will not cure it. i just had this a few months ago on the tank i maintain at the gym. it was amazing...it looked like freaken antifreeze.
it just kept coming back no matter how many water changes i did and with zero tds water.
 
i used a simple UV sterilizer that came with it's own pump which ryan from the hidden reef recommended. i'm sure they can direct you to the model. i used this on a 200 gallon system and in about 3 days the green watwer had subsided and has never returned( after the bloom was visually gone i shut down the uv sterilizer and never turned it back on since).
 
Phyl said:
You aren't adding anything like phyto to the water are you? I've never seen tank water go green before. Are you running carbon? Do you have any rock in there at all? That was your biological filter and with none you may be seeing an ammo spike too?

Red Sea might give you a diatom bloom, but not green water. Can you change 90% of the water? If the greem is impeding the light to your corals you may want to make that leap.

What exactly are you adding to the water? You'll need a pretty good UV to fight water that is visibly green.

nothing was put in there except ro/di water red sea pro salt and the corals from the leaking tank. Brand new rinsed caribsea aragonite, special grade, two big bags and one small bag same stuff but the alive version. No live rock at all yet. PH is little low (A Red Sea problem?), ammo, nitrate, nitrite, phos seem to be zero to unreadable. On my kits and my bubby that took some water to check for me.

I am starting to think the water here is loaded with something, I did add some tap, very little, by using it to rinse the new sand.

I used my Diatom filter I got most of the green out the light is hitting the the bottom again, if that bloom has eaten most of what it needs it shouldnt come back or get worse.

Time will tell, I'll wait and see.
 
talented_minds said:
mr_X said:
a UV sterilizer will take care of the green water in a couple days. water changes will not remove the bloom.

i setup a 60g fresh water tank in west field, same thing happen. i couldnt even see the fish or decor. Sometimes it happens when setting up a new tank i read, my issue was direct sunlight, i put on my 25w uv and cleared it up in 2 days. I would say UV also will clear it up. if u cant run it t'd off your return with 200gph max run a little maxi jet on it.

Thats interesting I am in Rahway they use the same water as I understand it.
 
I would Try Sea Che-ms Stability for 7 Days that worked like a charm for me do a search it has cleared ponds too .It works in Salt and Fresh its totally safe.
 
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