Cloudy Tank

[Scythanith]

Hello Everyone,

I know this isn't the best place to post this but I'm out of ideas:

Hello, I'm just going to throw this one out there since I can't explain it to myself yet!

I installed a new 35 gallon acrylic sump (I wiped the sump out before installing) onto my 75 gallon reef tank a couple days ago, and had to leave the next day. I checked it in the morning before I left and everything seemed fine. I came back the next day around noon and when i walked into my place I could hear the pump was sucking in some mean amounts of air! Well the tank essentially looked like a skimmer and I could see my chromis gasping on the substrate. I topped up the sump and slowly the air bubbles subsided but the water remained very cloudy. At first I thought the air bubbles caused massive stress and knocked out some chromis since i couldn't count them all and then in turn cause an ammonia spike. But I have at least 100lbs of live rock and I know a couple chromis wouldn't tip my system. So I took some water over to Colby at Bayside Corals and he checked it for me, parameters were:

ammonia: none detected
Nitrate: 0.05
pH: 8.0

and I check my salinity: 1.0235

So Colby recommended I try some chemipure in the sump to absorb whatever it was that was clouding the water, so I put 2 units of chemipure into my sump. Last night I ended up losing 6 green chromis and nothing else...

This morning the tank looks better, it is still somewhat cloudy but the fish are out and the corals are looking ok. But the one remaining chromis looks lonely...

So any ideas what could have caused this?

Thanks!

 

[Fraggot]

Wierd.

First of all, check and make sure that nothing is leaking.

It's not unheard of that when you install a sump the evap rate goes nuts. Just keep an eye on the sump level and it wouldn't be a bad idea to invest in an auto top off system of some sort, especially if you are leaving for long periods of time periodically.

Are you SURE the chromis DIED, or are they just HIDING? You actually FOUND the bodies? because Chromis are pansies and they'll hide for up to a week if something scares them.

By cloudy, what do you mean? Is it greenish, brownish, or white-ish? If it's just detritus, install a couple of powerheads. Using Purigen works well, too.

 

[scarter]

if the evap was serious it could have thrown off the salinity and killed some of the fauna.

 

[Scythanith]

I pulled 5 of the 6 missing chromis out. They were dead on the bottom of the tank with their jaws extremely agape. I haven't found the 6th one yet. The last remaining chromis is doing fine, no problems at all.

The tank is a white cloudy, just like if you had a bad enough ammonia spike.

I checked the salinity right when I seen the tank full of bubbles and it was at 1.0235 (and yes I made sure there weren't any bubbles in the hydrometer).


Like I said.... I'm stumped.

I'm using a 1 gallon drip system for top up water and kalkwasser.

Thanks for the help! Anymore ideas???

 

[scarter]

well, if you had a lot of evap and the water level went way down and then the salinity should have gone up, but you said your salinity was at 1.0235, thats strange. what was teh temp when the pump ran dry?

 

[Scythanith]

I lost a lot of water due to some small leaks and splashing from the primary chamber. That explains why it ran dry. The water temp was 26.5 celcius (79.7 far).

Cheers.

 

[RandyStacyE]

I would do a big water change ASAP and do another one in about a week or so.

If something is wrong with the water that should help, solve the problem (whatever it is) or buy you some time at the very least.