Cloudy water help

[TheAquatard]

Hows it going, My tanks been setup for almost 5 months now, everysince its been together its gone through these weekly cycles of becoming cloudy, follwed by being crystal clear. At first it didn't bother me as the cloudiness wasn't very bad, but now its becoming quite annoying. The water gets a whitish tint to it which lasts for about 4 to 5 days followed by 2 or 3 days of being very clear.

I've been keeping a journal of what I've been doing to the tank daily/parameters. Everything seems in check, nothing that I do seems to cuase the cloudiness. I bought A BRS Reactor and filled it with carbon thinking that would cure the problem but no luck.

So statistics for you;
-30 gallon DT 20 gallon sump
-2 clowns, a cardinal, goby and some rock critters
-40lbs of live rock and live sand
-Some zoas, and mushrooms (which are doing fine)
-Tank has pretty slow circulation

I am not running a protien skimmer. I feel as though this may be the problem, but i'm not sure why. This weekend i'll be switching my plumbing over to a herbie style to get some more flow along with adding a powerhead.

Thanks

 

[SkullV]

Sounds like bacteria blooms that die off when they consume the "food source" and then bloom again when the food source returns.

A skimmer should help with your problem. Also always a good idea to run some Carbon.

 

[disc1]

A skimmer will fix that.

 

[TheAquatard]

I was told i wouldn't need a skimmer for sucha small tank, but if i gotta get one, i suppose it isn't too bad. I wouldn't wanna spend more than like 150$, do you have an reccomendations?

What do you mean by food source? Like phosphates?

Would pictures help further asses the situation?

 

[Percula9]

What is your water source? Please list tank water parameters.

 

[SkullV]

Your tank is only 30g but you have a 50g system volume. With a system that size you should definitly have a skimmer if you are not doing 25% water changes weekly.

 

[TheAquatard]

I was under the impression if I didn't keep many corals i wouldn't need a skimmer. Is there anyway to verify that the skimmer will definitely fix this problem?

 

[disc1]

The cloudiness that you are seeing is bacterial blooms. The skimmer will directly remove the floating bacteria from the water column. So yes, I have no doubt a skimmer will help. Not only by clearing up the cloudy water, but also by removing the nutrients that the bacteria are feeding on.

 

[bertoni]

People do run tanks without skimmer, but I always found one useful, and had them on all but my 12g system. Unfortunately, I never found a good skimmer for a 29g system, but even so, I saw a difference with and without one. If you're willing to do more maintenance, I suspect the skimmer is less important.

 

[TheAquatard]

I hear good things about the reef octopus skimmers on this form but i feel like its way over kill for my tank. Are there any other small skimmers out there?

 

[Reefers Digest]

There are an endless selection of skimmers in your size range out on the market.

If I were to recommend one to you, I'd suggest you look at the Vertex IN-80. It can be found under $150 and, for the price-point, is the most efficient skimmer I've encountered.

 

[ANGRY JOHN]

a skimmer will do a lot of good for your tank, help with gas exchange, provide a large buffer for feeding errors, but if you dont want one, then look into another form of nutrient control. A fuge could help, or a algae turf scrubber, cheato. There are always many ways to skin a cat, but the easiest would be the skimmer. I love my avast peg leg, but the swc's might be good, or a small octo.