I need some help please.

Hey guys, Im just a little curious as to what is going on in my tank at the moment.

I got home and the water looked a little green. ( i am running carbon)..
Then I looked into the glass and it was full with green film algae. I would not think of it much, but I had just cleaned the tank in the morning and it has never grown that much.

I also saw some algae looking thing floating in the tank.. again, never seen it happen like that before.

Things that have changed in my tank in the past month are:

1) I just got a new set of bulbs for my fixture.
2) I got Chaeto for my refugium. ( i turn the lights on at night and off in the morning).
3) I turned off my UV lights because people said they were not installed properly and it was dangerous to my eyes... I kinda want to cover the refugium so i can turn them back on. maybe this is why? What could be a goof cover i can do underwater? ( black trashbags? yes?)
I do use tap water ( kinda.. it is being filtered by a 3 stage filter but it is not quite RO water) but I have been for 4 years now and never seen this before other than in the first 2 months of the tank being set up. Im pretty sure this is not the problem but i feel like i should mention it in order to rule it out.

sorry if the post was too long.. please ask if i was not clear.
any ideas?

 

@ #3 Are you going to stare at the lights? Unless you plan to gaze longingly at your lights wishing you were a hermit crab under there I wouldnt worry about it. I run Halides. Just a hunch but I would say they are not good on the eyes. As far as your problem. Need params. I would be interested in the NO3 and NPO4. But also, where did you get the lights from? It is possible the lights were bad when you bought them. It could happen.

 

well, I had 4 bulbs burn out on me on the fixture ( they are t5's) So i called aquatic life and they sent me the whole new set of 12 bulbs since they found a problem with the batch I had originally. So i replaced them all with new ones.

Ammonia
nitrite and nitrates are all 0.
the only thing i am unable to test is for phosphates ATM.

 

bump

 

How long after you replaced the lights did this problem begin?

 

i replaced my bulbs like almost 6 days ago. I noticed this begin 3 or so days ago.