Emergency

[Raiderwig]

Hello all,

came home today to find my tank water all cloudy in my 2.5 yr old tank!!
everything has been fine for a long time now!
But worst is the temp has gone up 5 degrees to 30 C.
I don't know if it is the heater?
I unplugged it for now.

Any info would be great! All my coral looks like it is melting away!

 

[rkelman]

Do a large water change. Bring the temp down slowly and run lots of carbon. 30 isn't all that hot.. bout 85 I think if that converts.. Maybe it went up fast? What is your normal temperature? The heater likely stuck on.

 

[davidryder]

I don't think that temp would be enough to cause a cloudiness in the water - although I'm sure it's not impossible.

Do you have a stock of any type of macro algae?

 

[Mattmcf]

hmmm....well, first we need more informatin about your system. Is it possible some of your inhabitants spawned? Can't really help till we know more but in the mean time i woulld suggest a major water change along with runnig carbon 24/7 till it starts to clear. I know someone on the board recently had a similar issue. He had 9 clams i believe, a gigas that he stressed some how began spawning. Unfortunately this triggered all of his other clams to spawn and turned his tank into a soupy mess. Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[Raiderwig]

Thanks for your replies,

Tank set-up is a 65gallon with a Orbit Light fixture 2x96 watts bulbs. and a aqua moonlight with 2x96 watt lights(coralife).

Emperor 400 HOB filter along with a additional Penguin 125 filter as well. (All working normal)

300 watt heater(forget model) Now I'm not sure it got stuck on because the Led light to indicate it is on, Was not on.

Coralife Superskimmer rated for 65 gallon's.
Now I did notice that the skimmer was NOT working correctly?(amount of bubbles in chamber were way down!!)
I have it all on a timer to come on at 4:30pm Est. (lights and skimmer)
So even the lights were not on long enough( I think) to heat up the tank that quickly? All Fans in the light fixtures are working.

I was wondering if maybe it was the skimmer water pump in the tank? Overheating? backwash into the tank to create cloudy water?


My pearl bubble coral is completly closed!! Looks like skeleton.
I have some mushrooms and lots of Hammer head branch coral which is all retreated into their branch's and look like they are spewing stuff out.
All my greenstar polyps are closed as well.

Will try to take picture soon to better explain.

Thanks

 

[JetCat USA]

the pics look like a bacteria bloom, did you add any carbon source to the tank?? sugar/vodka

 

[ganjero]

do you have any macro algae? I looks also like some algae went sexual.

 

[Raiderwig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11003260#post11003260 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JetCat USA
the pics look like a bacteria bloom, did you add any carbon source to the tank?? sugar/vodka

No I'm not running any carbon at the moment.
The only thing I added last night was my bi-weekly additives of
Strontium and Molybdenum
A little bit of Iodine
Essential Elements
These are all Kent Marine Products.

 

[JetCat USA]

not carbon, a carbon source such as sugar/vodka.........do you have kids?? my daughter poured some sprite in for the fishies to drink one time and wiped out a tank with a bacteria bloom, it's about the only thing that can cloud a tank like that unexpectedly. a spawning event will cloud a tank too, but that causes a bacteria bloom which is the root problem of a spawn too.

 

[marmonduke]

I had a bacterial bloom once but the corals didnt wilt away. I'd say a 9 degree Fahrenheit temperature shift might do it? Did you see the tank before work? did it look okay then? It would be nice to know your water parameters also.

sorry about your tank : (

 

[Raiderwig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11003334#post11003334 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marmonduke
I had a bacterial bloom once but the corals didnt wilt away. I'd say a 9 degree Fahrenheit temperature shift might do it? Did you see the tank before work? did it look okay then? It would be nice to know your water parameters also.

sorry about your tank : (

I do believe I have some Macro algae(red) down in the left corner of my tank?
Also Nothing could have gotten into my tank since nobody was home. If it was a bacterial bloom, what would have caused the temp increase do you think?
Tank was fine before I left.

 

[JetCat USA]

a stuck heater or jambed impeller on a pump can cause the heat build up, that heat build up can cause a bacteria bloom too but i just looked at your pics again and see a yellow tang in there, tangs are VERY susceptible to asphyxiation at low O2 levels such as occurring in a bacteria bloom and he looked active.........hummmm

 

[beaglelax]

i dont know f this helps but i had the smae issue i have the coral life skimmer 250 or 125 witch ever the biggest one is and my stock pump that came with it melted on me and did the same thing to my tank i pulled the pump and returned it to coral life i never heard from them but the tech told me that some are deffictive mine left this nasty smelly skum all over my tank almost like a black grease so u might want to check the skimmer pump

 

[marmonduke]

I'm gonna also place my vote that for some reason be it the heater or something else cause swift swing in temperature (9 degrees F). The temp swing was enough to kill your corals and causing the bacterial bloom.

To be honest with you I would think that the temp swing would be enough but I suppose it could be. That's just my educated guess from the information we have to go off of.

 

[Raiderwig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11003486#post11003486 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by beaglelax
i dont know f this helps but i had the smae issue i have the coral life skimmer 250 or 125 witch ever the biggest one is and my stock pump that came with it melted on me and did the same thing to my tank i pulled the pump and returned it to coral life i never heard from them but the tech told me that some are deffictive mine left this nasty smelly skum all over my tank almost like a black grease so u might want to check the skimmer pump

THis might be? The only thing that seemed off was the skimmer bubble production in it's chamber. Combined with the rise in temp made me think of the pump. But all looks well from the outside so I don't know yet.
I'm doing a water change now and will test the skimmer and heater.

 

[Raiderwig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11003503#post11003503 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marmonduke
I'm gonna also place my vote that for some reason be it the heater or something else cause swift swing in temperature (9 degrees F). The temp swing was enough to kill your corals and causing the bacterial bloom.

To be honest with you I would think that the temp swing would be enough but I suppose it could be. That's just my educated guess from the information we have to go off of.

Yeah I agree, I'm thinking heater or skimmer pump now.

 

[davidryder]

I doubt they contributed to your problem but I would stop using any products that add things to your system you cannot test for. There is no way to monitor what you are adding and they aren't proven to be necessary.

Besides that my guess is the increased temp caused a bacterial bloom. Get your temps down, do frequent water changes, and stop using unnecessary products and you should be ok. Good luck

 

[Raiderwig]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11004217#post11004217 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by davidryder
I doubt they contributed to your problem but I would stop using any products that add things to your system you cannot test for. There is no way to monitor what you are adding and they aren't proven to be necessary.

Besides that my guess is the increased temp caused a bacterial bloom. Get your temps down, do frequent water changes, and stop using unnecessary products and you should be ok. Good luck

Brought this reply from my other post. (why I have 2 post on this is beyond me?....lol I must find some humor or tank will go!

But I've Lost all my Hammerheads! I'm very ****ed about this whole thing! I had those for along time. Well not that long but almost 2 yrs atleast. I grew them all from one small branch!! And "Puff" just like that they are gone
I'm still doing water changes and some more upkeep while I'm in the tank.
I tested the water from a sample taken before I started the water changes,
Here are the Results;

Ammonia = 0ppm

Nitrites = 0ppm

Nitrates = (High) around 40 to 50 ppm

PH = (Low) between 7.9 and 8.1 ppm



I'm surprised at the PH levels.

Not sure if the Nitrates are a result of the tank imploding or if they were there before the imploding of my tank

 

[rkelman]

Your skimmer is too small for the tank. Coralife skimmers are way overrated. They will typically only do about half what they claim. Possibly your building up on organics which may be the reason your nitrates are so high as well. Why do you have a 300watt heater in a 65? That could raise the temperature too fast if its not working right. I would switch to a 200 or 2-100 or 150s for redundancy. That way if one heater sticks on it won't be enough to boil the tank.