Hazy water?

[djc1026]

I don't know if this is the right forum or not, but I'm going to ask here anyway. My tank frequently becomes hazy. It seems to be in conjunction with cleaning a filter pad from one of the HOB's. I have two filters that contain two pads each, I change one pad every two weeks. I was changing two at a time, but noticed this and thought that maybe it had to do will the biofiltration that had built up on the pads. So I reduced to changing one pad, no difference.

Water parameters are:

SG: 1.025
pH: 8.1
Am: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10
Alk: 11 dKh
Ca: 440

No tests for anything else. Any other thoughts than my suspicion above?

Dave

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It sounds like it may be sediment getting stirred up to me. Try taking out one old pad, and putting it back in.

Other reasons for cloudiness (besides stirred up sediment and detritus) are precipitation of calcium carbonate, bacterial blooms, and spawning events of various sorts.

This article has more on the precipitation events:

What is that Precipitate in My Reef Aquarium?
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.htm