Cloudy Water

[mav3rick478]

So this has been happening for about a month now. Tank water gets cloudy but everything seems fine. This last time I changed about 20 gallons of water (28 gallon tank) and it stayed clear for about 2 days and now today it's cloudy again. Tank is a good 5-6 months old after being cycled. Only filter is a Reef Octopus BH-90. I did try running a filter with carbon for a week but that did nothing. I'm using IO Reef Crystals, same 160 gallon bucket since I've started the tank. I always roll the bucket around before scooping out salt for water changes. Reef Breeders Superlux LED lights that I've had from the beginning and 2 power heads and a Finnex titanium heater is my list of equipment. Tank is open top. Livestock is a Coral Beauty, Pajama Cardinal and an Ocellaris Clown, some polyps and a Frogspawn. 6 Turbo snails, 4 hermit crabs and an emerald crab. I have had a break out of what was identified as Bryopsis but have been slowly picking them from the tank. I did do some water test and there never seemed to be anything wrong with ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. Pics below of how it sits now 2 days after my massive water change. Any ideas of what's going on would be greatly appreciated because at this rate I'm going to be changing water every week just to keep it clear.

Someone says bacteria bloom and a UV sterilizer would take care of it. You guys agree? Does anyone have a UV I can borrow?

 

[woodnaquanut]

Assuming you don't have something stirring up the sand, I'd vote for a bacteria bloom too.

How long has the tank been up?

I'm a big fan of just letting it run it's course.

 

[swk]

The water change may be doing more harm than good if it is a bacterial bloom. Are you carbon dosing at all? A bigger skimmer would help pull out the extra bacteria in theory. No harm in trying a uv unit though.

All in all, I agree with John that it'll likely clear on its own if you leave the tank be for a bit and stop the water changes. RC has a bunch of chelating agents and other additives in it as well. I've never used it, but for those that have, could this be an issue as well???

 

[mav3rick478]

Tank has been up since March, fully cycled in April. Nothing to stir up the sand except my 2 Nassarius but they only rise like zombies when they smell food. No carbon dosing. Skimmer is rated for 200 gallon tank but has definitely been pulling more skimmate lately. Just before this massive water change I let the tank sit for a week and the water started to brown and noticed my Pink Zipper Zoas were starting to close up fingers retracted, Frogspawn seemed fine and fish were fine but was worried that the water was really starting to affect things since light was starting to get filtered out.

I'll try and let it run its course by resisting to do water changes but should I do it with my normal light cycle or do it in the dark? Oh and I was using RO/DI water from Fish Pros throughout this until the massive water change, I used tap water for that because I only have the 1 water jug and it was a late night decision to do it. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Bogue Chitto]

Isn't the skimmer too big for that tank? I would think it is overdoing the job...

 

[ozmedic80]

looks like bacterial bloom, mine did this after a sugar dosing, skimmer and mechanical filtration sorted it in 48 hours.

tip for young players: don't go overboard with the sugar. I did that in my nano tank and nuked it. Luckily I had nothing in it....

 

[Steve Ruddy]

Maybe due to a food source as oz mentioned I would stop feeding, and when resuming, try something different.

 

[mav3rick478]

I never think of a skimmer as being too big for any tank, its as if you're saying an engine is too big for a vehicle, its more of the engine can be more efficient without being over worked. The skimmer is only going to skim what's in the water, if it's rated for a larger tank than its going to remove the waste faster than a skimmer of smaller size. I have never had any ill effects of running skimmers rated for bigger tanks before, i actually prefer it if you can house it.

No new foods introduced or increase in portions. I usually feed some Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 flakes daily, about a pinch and half a frozen cube of either Omega One Super Brine Shrimp or Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 or Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 every other day.

 

[frost0fractal]

I never think of a skimmer as being too big for any tank, its as if you're saying an engine is too big for a vehicle, its more of the engine can be more efficient without being over worked. The skimmer is only going to skim what's in the water, if it's rated for a larger tank than its going to remove the waste faster than a skimmer of smaller size. I have never had any ill effects of running skimmers rated for bigger tanks before, i actually prefer it if you can house it.

No new foods introduced or increase in portions. I usually feed some Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 flakes daily, about a pinch and half a frozen cube of either Omega One Super Brine Shrimp or Ocean Nutrition Formula 1 or Ocean Nutrition Formula 2 every other day.

I always run bigger skimmers too, though I do believe over-skimming is a thing, depending on what it is you're intending to feed you may want some amount of biological material to remain in the water column.

 

[mav3rick478]

Came home to this tonight, my wife is the best!! Hope this works because I've tried letting it run its course on it's own but it seems to just go back to super cloudy that I can't see the back of the tank and inside the 2 main caves of my rock work. Basically only see my clown fish because he hangs out in the front. Every once in a while I see my coral beauty and my pajama cardinal if I sit long enough in front and stare into my rock work.