My tank went cloudy white

[Justin James]

Well as the title says my 150 gallon reef went all cloudy with a white kinda looking tint to it. This tank is only a couple months old and only has a couple corals in it but the skimmer is performing normal and all the livestock is acting normal. My tests came up normal too. This is weird. The strangest thing is that I just added some actinics to the tank last night and now today it has become more cloudy by the hours that pass by. Could it be the actinic addition??? For any of you who add purple up coraline accelerator my tank looks like I just dosed a bunch of that in it but I havn't added any of that for days.

I was thinking about adding some activated carbon to my sump tomorrow, any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Justin James]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[joebo1717]

My tank actually did the same thing a few weeks ago. At first i thought the cheto went sexual but that was not the case. I added carbon and did an immediate w/c and it cleared up in a few days. I still do not know why this happened, one thought is my corals breeding but i am still not sure

 

[bertoni]

There are some fairly common causes for a cloudy white tank. Assuming the substrate didn't get disturbed, I'd suspect either a bacterial bloom or a precipitation event. Do you have calcium and alkalinity results for the tank? Purple-Up might cause such problems.

 

[Justin James]

I don't have results for calcium or alkalinity. Perhaps I have too much calcium and all of a sudden it showed it's face???

 

[sabodish]

maybe some type of spawning event? have any clams??

 

[Justin James]

Nope, the only corals I have so far are a colt coral and a couple mushrooms. I'm just starting this tank off. I also have an anemone but it and all the other livestock doesn't seem to be effected by it.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10088502#post10088502 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justin James
I don't have results for calcium or alkalinity. Perhaps I have too much calcium and all of a sudden it showed it's face???

that would depend on the magnesium levels --you really should test for magnesium, calcium and alkalinity levels to know for sure

if your calcium is precipitating out then eventually you should see a white coating or powder over everything

 

[Justin James]

I don't want to sound stupid but what is this Calcium Precipitaion? I've never heard of it before.

 

[Justin James]

By the way, i'm not seeing any white powder on anything but I am seeing more cyano poping up.

 

[Billybeau1]

Read up Justin

Precipitate in the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-07/rhf/index.htm

 

[digger328]

try reading this thread ?http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1134791

 

[Shift_9k]

Maybe try ALGONE?

 

[Justin James]

Well thanks guys thouse were all good reads but I must say I am leaning towards a bacterial problem since my cyano is going nuts at the same time. I added carbon today.

 

[Icefire]

get a UV

 

[Justin James]

I read in the past that the uv lights can cause damage to the benificial bacteria colony. I think the carbon is helping because I can see through to the other end of the tank now. Well at least I hope it's working.

 

[bertoni]

The nitrogen cycle bacteria live on rock surfaces, not in the water column, so UV is fine to use, although I don't think it's generally going to do much. It might be useful in this situation.

 

[Billybeau1]

I use a uv and my water is clearer when it is running.

That said, your cyno problem is probably being fueled by phosphate.

Do you test for Po4 ?

Give this a read.

Phosphorus: Algaes best friend
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/sept2002/chem.htm

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10089475#post10089475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Justin James
I don't want to sound stupid but what is this Calcium Precipitaion? I've never heard of it before.

very basic chemistry: there are three kinds of solutions--unsaturated, saturated, and supersaturated. In an unsat soln you can add more solid and it will dissolve, in sat soln no more can dissolve and it won't mix, a supersat soln is created when more solid is dissolved in a soln that it can hold at given temp--we create this by heating a soln up or adding a chemical like magnesium in the case of our tanks.
If more solid is later added to a supersat soln which is already supporting more solid then it normally can-- the solution forms crystals or realeases the solid in the form of a precipitate.
In the case of our reefs it is important to maintain a level of around 1300 for magnesium---that allows us to maintain higher then normal calcium levels without it precipitating out.
Hope this helps---but read any article that the guys suggest written by Randy.
If you go into the chemistry form there is a posted list of this articles
Scott

 

[Justin James]

Well looks like the carbon worked. My tank is clear now after only using the carbon for 24 hours. I do still have the cyano problem though.