Help me stop the blooms!

[iwishtofish]

For the past 4 days, or so, I've been having heavy blooms in my tank. They are, I imagine, either algal or bacterial. They are happening in the mornings, after the sun comes up but before my tank lights come on. They clear up by the evening.

Some tank background:

75g tank w/40b sump, running just over 3 months. 50 lbs of Marco Rock, sand removed a couple weeks back. 8 lbs of live rock in the sump. 36" 6-bulb Tek T5 fixture, Reef Octopus XS-200 skimmer.

Cycled with raw shrimp and MB7. Continued MB7 at maintenance dose after 2 weeks of heavy dosing. Last dosed it about a week ago. Just got GFO and carbon reactors online a few days ago. Using filter sock which browns up quickly. Skimmer foaming and drawing wet skimmate slowly. I don't dose anything now.

Last readings:

Alk 8-9
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Temp around 78-79

I am at a loss for what to do! Amazingly, my 2 new SPS corals seem to be thriving. I do have some brown algae on the rocks, but it appears to be dying. Any thoughts are appreciated!

 

[iwishtofish]

Anyone experienced this?

 

[Reefahholic]

any pictures?

 

[iwishtofish]

any pictures?

Here's the tank recently in the morning. The water is crystal clear right now, but I dread seeing it 8 hours from now!

The pictures make it all look a little browner than it is. The first picture is probably most representative. Most of the really dark spots on the rock is coralline starting to grow (it hasn't turned pink yet).

Here's the sump - notice how dirty the sock gets pretty quickly. The skimmer shot is recent, as well.

 

[Bigcefa]

i dont know if you plan on putting sand back in but be careful with that egg crate it can trap detritus, and im not sure what bloom your trying to point out the brown rocks? Or does the water get cloudy then clear up?

 

[iwishtofish]

i dont know if you plan on putting sand back in but be careful with that egg crate it can trap detritus, and im not sure what bloom your trying to point out the brown rocks? Or does the water get cloudy then clear up?

Thanks for the tip on the egg crate. I have serious flow through most of the tank, and will work on a couple dead spots...

Yes, I have cloudy water blooms - every morning now for about 4 days. The water clears up at night, as seen (I hope) in these two pictures from late tonight, under just blue lights:

 

[Bigcefa]

well i can tell you i had a similar problem when using the mb7, i overdosed im pretty sure and my water was uber cloudy few water changes help rid it, dont know if thats the cause but sounds like a bacteria bloom but mine didnt fade away in the evening so your issue may be different but My guess is the mb7

ps try a uv sterilizer i had a deep blue professional in tank uv that i forgot i used and i suppose that might of helped as well

 

[iwishtofish]

well i can tell you i had a similar problem when using the mb7, i overdosed im pretty sure and my water was uber cloudy few water changes help rid it, dont know if thats the cause but sounds like a bacteria bloom but mine didnt fade away in the evening so your issue may be different but My guess is the mb7

Yeah, that's what has me really puzzled - if it's a photosynthetic bacteria/algae, then I'd think it would persist all the way through lights-on. Regardless, I am going to cease dosing MB7.

Snails don't spawn over the course of a week, and only do so at night, do they?

Edit: Yes, I am considering a UV if it doesn't stop soon.

 

[iwishtofish]

Well, I've been really racking my brain to figure out why this only happens after dark, and I have come up with an idea... :idea:

The snails seem to become most active at night. Is it possible that in the process of their grazing, they are stirring/breaking up more algae than they consume and polluting the water column that way? Maybe my skimmer and filter sock just take a full day to clean it up, and then they do it again?

 

[Chris27]

Given that you have ceased dosing MB7, give it a few days to adjust and then report back.

 

[anthony27]

I had that problem with the tank, it could be the bulbs and also I started to use mb7 and biofule. That really helped out my tank.

 

[iwishtofish]

Given that you have ceased dosing MB7, give it a few days to adjust and then report back.

Yes, will do!

I had that problem with the tank, it could be the bulbs and also I started to use mb7 and biofule. That really helped out my tank.

Interesting...and I've just stopped it to try to clear things up!

 

[anthony27]

well you can not dose mb7 all the time it has to be once a week. I would def check the ppm (phosphates in the tank), also change out the carbon every couple of days.

Check the bulbs, even thought the bulbs are new. I have found this problem with the GE bulb. That buld is intended for plant growth in fresh water tanks.

 

[iwishtofish]

well you can not dose mb7 all the time it has to be once a week. I would def check the ppm (phosphates in the tank), also change out the carbon every couple of days.

Check the bulbs, even thought the bulbs are new. I have found this problem with the GE bulb. That buld is intended for plant growth in fresh water tanks.

I will definitely check into the GE bulb - I do have one! Yeah, I've been dosing MB7 once a week now for almost 3 mos...

 

[Chris27]

I wouldn't be too concerned with the bulbs, given the "bloom" goes away when the lights are off. On top of that, I have yet to experience cloudy water as a result of lighting, regardless of the bulbs color or age.

My money is on a bacterial bloom, perhaps you're adding too much given you don't have any livestock, just give the tank some time without it.

 

[iwishtofish]

I wouldn't be too concerned with the bulbs, given the "bloom" goes away when the lights are off. On top of that, I have yet to experience cloudy water as a result of lighting, regardless of the bulbs color or age.

My money is on a bacterial bloom, perhaps you're adding too much given you don't have any livestock, just give the tank some time without it.

I'm still waiting it out. Cloudy again this morning, but I think it might have started to clear up a little earlier today than yesterday.

 

[iwishtofish]

I decided to bump this up one more time, in search of new ideas...

Bloom still happening. Didn't kill my corals yet, but there is some color lost (either less light, or phosphates).

 

[rsaha]

I had a bacterial bloom that lasted 2 weeks. Different than yours because the cloudiness was pretty consistent. Borrowed a uv sterilizer and the water is back to crystal clear. I am not saying I fixed the underlying problem but at least I can work on that without worrying that my tank is O2 depleted.

 

[obaptista]

Could post a Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate reading? That may help folks zero-in on the problem. Also, did this seem to happen right after you removed the sand? Was there any live stock in the tank other than the sps?

 

[iwishtofish]

I had a bacterial bloom that lasted 2 weeks. Different than yours because the cloudiness was pretty consistent. Borrowed a uv sterilizer and the water is back to crystal clear. I am not saying I fixed the underlying problem but at least I can work on that without worrying that my tank is O2 depleted.

Yes, the coming and going seems to be what has most people stumped on this. Clear as a bell late last night (well, at least comparatively), and foggy as can be this morning.

Could post a Nitrite, Nitrate and Phosphate reading? That may help folks zero-in on the problem. Also, did this seem to happen right after you removed the sand? Was there any live stock in the tank other than the sps?

I can post nitrate and phosphate soon, I hope. The phosphate test will just be an API kit.

The sand had been removed for a while before this began to happen. I started to pull it out on June 6. On June 26, I added 10 snails (8 astrea), and on June 28 I began to run GFO. On the 29th, I began to run carbon. The fogginess started to come around between the 26th and the 28th. Prior to the snails, I just had a few hermits, mushrooms, GSP, and live rock critters.