can anyone diagnose this?

I was thinking it is cyano but I'm not sure. My tank is some where between the 3-4 month mark. about 3 months ago I had my diatom bloom then my green hair algea everywhere that I took just as the end of the cycle. I added another fish and some more members of my CUC and all has been well for the last month and a half or so.

Now it looks like someone put green food coloring in my tank.



note that none of that is growing on anything, just green water. also keep in mind I just did a 20% water change 10 hours before that picture was taken and I only turned the lights on just so you could see it in the picture.

I have a canister fileter (that is cleaned weekly) running carbon and Phos-x. I switched to RO/DI after the green started but has not seemed to help at all. I have a skimmer but can't use it, that is a whole different story that you can see here http://www.3reef.com/forums/protein-skimmers/break-period-not-hooked-up-correctly-72978.html

What can I do to get rid of this green monster invading my tank. I'm afraid it's gonna choke the light away and kill my first corals.

 

Phytoplankton bloom. Are you dosing live phyto? You switched to RO/DI water too late....all the phosphates are now in your enclosed system and your best method of removing them is not working so the phyto is nabbing them. A massive waterchange with RO/DI water will help. So will borrowing someones UV sterilizer and nuking the phyto....then remove it with a borrowed skimmer or phosphate adsorbing media. (The phosphate removers can't do anything if it is organic phosphates living in the phyto cells).

 

only thing like that I have ever added was 1/4 dose of marine snow about once a week. Is phyto dangerous to any coral species or clams? Or does it just look bad?

 

Hang in there buddy....nothing is going to die.

Your clams will love the phyto because it is one of their food sources....most corals don't because most don't directly ingest it. It appears that this is because you used tapwater to start with which had a lot of phosphates in it.

The only way it can be dangerous is if it persists long enough that none of your photosynthetic (clams and corals) can obtain sufficient lighting for photosynthesis. If you take care of it so light can get through, you're golden...nothing to worry about.

 

what type of time frame do I have to work with. I don't really know anyone in the hobby to borrow a UV serilizer and I'm fairly capped out as far as aquarium equipment purchases go.

Should I keep my lighting on while I'm fighting this?

 

What kind of canister filter do you have. If you have a Magnum go out and get the micron polishing filter.

Magnum Micron Cartridge Water Polishing Filter at PETCO

It should be able to pull most of it out. I'd clean it daily.

 

I have a fluval, they have a polishing pad I have seen somewhere, but I'm not sure how fine it is.

 

They look relatively inexpensive. Try it and see if it helps clear up the water. It won't solve the root cause of your problem. You'll just be treating the symptom.

 

oh man! of all the algaes i think this is the worst one hands down, sunlight on the tank or cheap flake food or unsuitable substrate seems to usually be the cause but sometimes it isn't. the only way i've ever beaten this is to starve it out. by that i mean no water changes,no feeding no nothing and cover any windows the tank is near, after a few weeks it will start to change from green to yellow.this is the time to act it's very important to catch it right when its going yellow(dying), change as much water as you can and then change some more.give it a few days and start feeding again but use a different food, if you reintroduce the sunlight/food/whatever else though you'll be right back where you started in short time,,
don't worry about the tanks inhabitants they love pea soup!

 

yeah film algae bloom...phosphates and nitrates probably spiked, don't go crazy with small foods...I would clear it up with many water changes so it doesn't block light to the corals