I desperately need help- orange water

[dbl]

I'm in agreement with Meredith...water changes are your friend and run some carbon, changing frequently until things settle.

 

[Brew12]

Do you have filter bags you can put in to try and filter some out manually?

 

[Fourstars]

Wow! Looks like a red tide. I would guess the die off produced an nutrient spike and then a bloom. I'd try to increase flow, maybe a couple air stones. till you can do a major water change.

 

[jennifer.v]

If I do a straight up water change, won't that mess everything up? The fish are fine! Just swimming around as if everything was clear! I can definitely do multiple water changes, I guess a week apart. Anything else I can do? Also, how do you guys change your water? Typically we fill up a 50 gallon (clean, only used for saltwater) put the salt in with a heater and a couple power heads to circulate it. 23 leave it for about a day or so. We only use RO water, there is also a auto top off.

 

[cmcoker]

Don't suppose you have a diatom filter laying around..
Or even an canister filter? Filled with poly fil may help pull stuff out while you do water changes..

 

[Diesel]

Oh my!
Water change and carbon are your best friends as of now.
How is your skimmer doing?
I think now you got it started we need to talk to your hubby as he can tell us more about the system

 

[aaron23]

Wow this is the first time I'm seeing this in all my years in the hobby.
Agree with all, run carbon excessively in a reactor and do water changes. Is the TDS on the RO reading 0? what salt are you using?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Don't suppose you have a diatom filter laying around..
Or even an canister filter? Filled with poly fil may help pull stuff out while you do water changes..

this
with carbon and sponges/ floss.

what does the water smell like.

Id bet algae.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Gotta say, if you can get your hands on a canister filter or diatom filter, I would run it for a good couple days. Along with that, do water changes as suggested. It looks exactly the color of gfo dust, but that could be coincidenceor camera/etc. I hope you can get it straightened out soon. Good luck!

 

[120reefkeeper]

I agree with a lot of the comments posted by other #reefsquad members.

If this were my tank the first thing I would do is test.

2. I would run fresh carbon

3. I would try to filter the water with filter socks etc.

4. I'd do a 50% water change

I believe what happened is you had all the algae die off at once and the water is now loaded with dead/dying algae debris.


We can clean this up no problems. It's gonna take some patience and some elbow grease!

Stick with us and you'll be fine .

 

[DanP-SD]

Based on your tests, it looks like your water parameters are spot on -- although I would get a Hanna Ultra Low Range phosphate test kit. The kit you're using measures in ppm, not ppb, which is not granular enough for phosphates. Nonetheless, with phosphates and nitrates not registering on your tests, I think algae is not likely the culprit. From what you've told us, suspect number one is GFO and suspect number two is a bacterial bloom. If it's GFO, mechanical filtration and a massive water change is your best bet. Be sure to match salinity and temp. Then I'd get as much water out as possible, vacuum any red dust you see and then add new water. If it's GFO, I would expect you to see piles of dust in your sump. You can check this by turning off your return pump for a while (keeping some powerheads going in the display tank) and see if dust settles in the sump. That's pretty good confirmation it's GFO. I wouldn't keep the return pump off for too long due to the O2 issue discussed below but you should be ok for a half hour or so and that should provide time to see GFO dust settling in the sump.

If it's bacterial, which seems unlikely based on the color, it's critical you keep O2 high in the tank. Crank up your skimmer, and put powerheads near the surface where they draw some air. But unless you run a biopellet reactor or Zeovit, it's unlikely this is bacteria. Are you seeing a lot of slime covering the tank or gear in the sump? That would suggest bacteria. If you have a pellet reactor, is it slimy (like a kid with a cold)? That's a clear indicator of a bacterial bloom. If you see that slime, I'd remove any bacterial media (bio-pellets, zeovit, etc) and halt any carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar) and add a low dose (less than 1/4 of the recommended dose) of Seachem Kanaplex. If those two moves don't start to clear it fast (within 12 hours), it's probably not bacterial. A bacterial bloom is usually harmless but if it is enough to make your water opaque, it's enough to consume all the available oxygen in the tank. If this is the case, I'd expect your fish to all be hanging near the surface but it's hard to tell if that's the case in your tank.

Good luck and keep posting until you figure it out.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I believe what happened is you had all the algae die off at once and the water is now loaded with dead/dying algae debris.

that.
no idea why it would do it yet.

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

Its prob the gfo. I had a tank a while back that i didnt wash the gfo and put way much gfo and my water turned yellow, bronze, dirt color

 

[Brew12]

The fish are fine! Just swimming around as if everything was clear!

That is fantastic news! And glad you came here for help so Welcome to Reef2Reef!

If I can offer some advice.... read the suggestions you have been given. What you can easily do, go ahead and do. Once you have followed the advice you can easily start with, I would follow it up with some advice commonly given by one of the most experienced reefers in the hobby, PaulB.

Go grab a Merlot.... or maybe a Shiraz. If you like sweet white wines you can go with a Moscato. Relax, have a glass. You will get through this so don't stress and don't panic.

Tomorrow, see where you are at, and see what it would take to implement more advice if needed.

 

[120reefkeeper]

I agree my other thought was a massive GFO release into the main tank. Either way it can all be cleared up and taken care of. [emoji4]

 

[Sabellafella]

So I am in desperate need of help. We have had our 210 gallon tank for 2 years now. Everything was amazing and perfect till about 6 months ago when we all of a sudden had a horrible hair algea problem. We plucked it, got mollies, water changes (which actually seemed to make it worse) and then finally, we went on vacation for 5 days and had the lights turned off completely. typically they are on a timer. When we got back, about two weeks ago, the hair algea was pretty much totally gone, so we resumed with the regular schedule on the lights. Now on Thursday, the tank started to look cloudy, by Saturday, the water was a yellow-ish color and now it is almost like a burnt orange color and there is no way to see through the glass. I will admit, I am the one who looks at the tank and I do not do the upkeep, I have my planted tank and semi aggresive freshwater tank that I take care of, this tank is my husbands, and he is to the point of giving up and tearing it down. I don't want that to happen, so I am stepping up. Please, please, please help!!!!

Welcome! Could you provide a photo? You could run activated carbon or chemipure(for a quick fix) to clear the water up for you

 

[jennifer.v]

Hey everyone. Hubby here. I think I have confirmed that it is GFO. My frustration stems from the fact that it seems like every month there is something new going wrong. I know that comes with the hobby but its just wearing me down to where I look at the tank with spite instead of joy. Anyway, here are the tank stats.

210 gallon display
Trigger systems ruby 36 (I think that's the right number)
2 return pumps totaling 1400 gph
2 vortech mp40w
2 BRS jumbo media reactor with carbon and gfo
3 taotronics 230w(?) led panels at about 50% and a 8hr light cycle
Skimz monster 310(?) skimmer
I have macro algae in the refugium part of the sump as well as about 500g of purigen.
4 inches of Fiji pink sand and 250 lbs of live rock.
I use reef crystals for my salt and have a BRS 5 stage RO system that runs a tunze osmolator ATO
2 dosing pumps for BRS calcium and Alkalinity.

I'm currently not in front of the tank so I may have gotten something wrong or forgotten something. But it has a very light bio load with a few chromis, a clown, snowflake eel, and a mix of about 20 snails and crabs for cleanup. Various LPS (Hammer, torch, scans) and hardy SPS (purple and orange cap, rainbow Monti) for coral.

Thanks for the help you guys and having my wife involved and stepping up has brought forth a second wind.

 

[Brew12]

Thanks for the help you guys and having my wife involved and stepping up has brought forth a second wind

Everything in life is better when you have a wonderful wife to enjoy it with. Oddly enough, mine is named Jennifer also!

 

[Darryl]

hang in there you'll get this fixed.
massive water change ,try to get a canister filter run carbon or place carbon in system change out every other day. run floss and fine micron filter padding to collect micron debrees micron socks at this point isn't going to collect it all the micron pads 100 and 150 will should be fixed quickly .
Had similar in a 40B and it was the GFO that some how the reactor got bumped and the flow went to max grinding the gfo up and came home from work and had carmel colored water. (had chocolate colored water once also when came home from work and found a package of OREO's in display tank, but thats another story LOL)

 

[Sabellafella]

Hey everyone. Hubby here. I think I have confirmed that it is GFO. My frustration stems from the fact that it seems like every month there is something new going wrong. I know that comes with the hobby but its just wearing me down to where I look at the tank with spite instead of joy. Anyway, here are the tank stats.

210 gallon display
Trigger systems ruby 36 (I think that's the right number)
2 return pumps totaling 1400 gph
2 vortech mp40w
2 BRS jumbo media reactor with carbon and gfo
3 taotronics 230w(?) led panels at about 50% and a 8hr light cycle
Skimz monster 310(?) skimmer
I have macro algae in the refugium part of the sump as well as about 500g of purigen.
4 inches of Fiji pink sand and 250 lbs of live rock.
I use reef crystals for my salt and have a BRS 5 stage RO system that runs a tunze osmolator ATO
2 dosing pumps for BRS calcium and Alkalinity.

I'm currently not in front of the tank so I may have gotten something wrong or forgotten something. But it has a very light bio load with a few chromis, a clown, snowflake eel, and a mix of about 20 snails and crabs for cleanup. Various LPS (Hammer, torch, scans) and hardy SPS (purple and orange cap, rainbow Monti) for coral.

Thanks for the help you guys and having my wife involved and stepping up has brought forth a second wind.

Ive had this happen before, and sure a whole lot of other members. Yea gfo is bummer some times, but i constantly changed out floss and filter socks. Rinsed all my biomedia constantly. When the tank clears up, theyl still be some granulars on the sand that you can just vaccuum up when you do a water change. Anywho, hope everything turns out alright for you guys!