Yellow Water

[VoodooChild]

I don't know why I haven't asked you guys this long ago, but ever since I set my 30 up, the water is quite yellow. I had the aragonite in there, but now it's the silica DSB. You can't tell with the two lights on over the tank, and you really need to compare it to the white wall behind it to notice, but it's definantly yellow. Any ideas? Thank you.

[OrionGirl]

Yellow water is usually the result of something leaching tannins (ie, driftwood in FW). Unless you have something similar in your tank, I'm at a loss. You could try running carbon for 2-3 days and see if it removes the discoloration.

[VoodooChild]

There's some base rock in there that I added pretty soon after I set it up. Nothing else though. All of my water parameters are good, although I haven't checked in a couple of days since there won't be anything in there alive for another month. Do you think it could hurt anything? Thank you.

[OrionGirl]

I doubt it's harmful. Try taking a gallon or two out and putting it in a white bucket, or a clear one that you can hold up to a white background. Might not be anything in the water, just a reflection coming from the canopy or something (since it's not visible with the lights on). If that's the case, a colored background might be the best way to deal with it.

[VoodooChild]

No, it's yellow. I brought a bottle in to my LFS and it was distinctly yellow. Someone even told me that it looks disgusting. Screw them. My water's yellow and I like it! Anyways, thanks for the help. If things are reading fine, and you don't think there'll be a problem, I'll toss some carbon in and see what happens. Thank you so much again.:)

[quantim0]

this happened to my tank a while ago and the only thing that i could find to create such a problem was my skimmer stopped working. i am at college and not at home and that means the skimmer was out for at least 3 weeks. the tank was cycling so there was a lot of junk in the water. i fixed the skimmer then added a bag of carbon to the tank. 3 weeks later the tank was clear and much cleaner. check the skimmer, if not throw in some high quality carbon.

[VoodooChild]

I don't have the skimmer on at the moment (4 days) and I'm worried about how the carbon will disrupt my cycle. I may give it another week so when the ammonia's really kicking I don't have to worry about a lack of food for the bacteria. Thanks alot.

[quantim0]

carbon will not harm your cycle, if anything it'll add more surface area for bacteria to grow on, helping your cycle. do you have a skimmer? if so i would run it during the cycle, especially if you have live rock in the tank. the die off from the rocks puts an amazing amount of organics into the water. try the skimmer first if your worried about your cycle.

[VoodooChild]

I do have a skimmer and I'm keeping it off for 10 days from the start (which ends Sunday) at the suggestion of everyone else. I had some problems getting a good reading last month, so I put sand in and am trying again. No LR, just a frozen cocktail shrimp. Thanks.

[slipknottin]

DOM or DOC buildup will cause the water to tint yellow.

Carbon and skimmers will both reduce it.

[VoodooChild]

Um...sorry, but what are they? (I'm sure it's obvious and I'm gonna kick myself when I learn)