Can anyone help me figure out why my tank is so cloudy? Did a 15% water change yesterday hoping it would clear, but it's the same. We have a lot of hair algae (got a lawnmower blenny). We took the front rocks out yesterday and cleaned them (just with a toothbrush to get some of the algae off) in the water we took out.
Tank is 2.5 months old, has 3 fish and a bunch of CUC. I was adding Purple Up for a few weeks every 3 days or so and that was making it cloudy, but haven't added any in almost 2 weeks because of the constant cloudiness.
Please be kind, I'm still learning. My parameters are below and have been steady. We used Dr Tim's method for startup and have had 0 Nitrites and 0 Ammonia since mid-January.
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@Betos_Reef
1y
I've gotten a bacterial bloom like that from messing too much with the sand/rocks. Taking the rocks out and disturbing the sand likely disturbed the bloom.
@Razz05
1y
Thank you for the response. I'm going to give it a few more days to settle. It was cloudy before we cleaned it yesterday, so I'm not sure that was the culprit, but I'm sure it didn't help.
@ReeferMadness842
1y
It can take a couple weeks for a bloom to go down. As long as parameters are good just be patient and let it work itself out. Your tank is building its biodiversity. Eventually good bacteria will out compete it and it’ll clear out again. Biggest thing to keep an eye on is oxygen levels. The bacteria can really steal a lot of the oxygen in the water column and fish can struggle. I literally just got thru a bloom in my tank a couple weeks ago. All I did was continue my normal husbandry and be patient. It eventually cleared up but took a couple weeks.
@Razz05
1y
Thank you.
@BigCreamy
1y
Tbh I’ve also seen this when your magnesium gets too low. I tried to dose calcium before because it was low and I wasn’t checking magnesium and it made my whole tank cloudy like that until I got my magnesium up. I would check that too. Magnesium helps the calcium bond to stuff and if it’s too low, you’ll have a white “mist” in the tank from all the extra calcium that can’t be absorbed.
@Razz05
1y
Thank you. I'm going to give it a day or 2 to settle back out, then I can give that a try too
@BigCreamy
1y
Do you have a magnesium test kit?
@Razz05
1y
I tested the Mg, it's in the screenshot in my original post.
@BigCreamy
1y
Because I would at least have a test kit for (after cycled) Ammonia(only when you see things are upset) Nitrate, phosphate, calcium, magnesium, alkalinity, salinity, and PH
@BigCreamy
1y
Oh I didn’t even see the pic my bad
@BigCreamy
1y
Yeah calcium is on the high end and mag is pretty low. I’m willing to bet that’s it
@Razz05
1y
Could be. Thanks again, I'm going to give it a try.
@Nicholas378
1y
I know it doesn’t answer your question but I absolutely love the rockscape!
@Razz05
1y
Thank you. Here's a pic of it after I first set it up. I really don't know what I'm doing, so I just played with it til I liked it. There are lots of little caves to hide in.
@AnthonyStsnislawcyk63773
1y
This is part of new tank syndrome it is a bacterial time is the fix just make sure you salt levels stay consistent .025 and in a few day it will go away
@Razz05
1y
Thank you.
@ReefRox
1y
Most likely a bacterial bloom. UV will work right away. Keep your water oxygenated
@skebo
1y
Running activated carbon?
@Razz05
1y
Yes, it's been in the tank for quite a while.
@skebo
1y
Changing it out? It wears out. Makes your water yellow.
@Razz05
1y
We just changed it out yesterday for the first time. How often should we change it?
@skebo
1y
Depends on the size of the tank, frequency of the water changes etc. Every other week ish. Gotta see what works for your tank. If you just did this and your params are fine, and its in high flow area, give it 2-3 days and see if your tank clears. Though you'd see significant improvements everyday.
@Razz05
1y
It definitely looks better today than it did yesterday, but not cleared up yet. I have a 50 gallon tank and we do water changes every 1-2 weeks of about 15%. The carbon is in the back, it's an AIO tank, so water is flowing thru it all day. I was told I should change the carbon once every 4-6 months. I didn't realize I should be changing it so often.
@skebo
1y
Ops. Yeah bet thats all it was.
@skebo
1y
Yeah, bet that is all it was. More often. Polishes the water. Its its purpose.
@Razz05
1y
I'm back to cloudy as heck again today. I'm going to do some water tests. 👎🏻
@skebo
1y
Change the carbon again. If your tank had a lot of buildup and you weren't using much carbon.... just catching up. You were seeing results. But yes check params too
@Razz05
1y
I think there's too much carbon in there. My BF told me he put bags 2 in it the other day SMH (I didn't know this until about 15 min ago). My parameters are fine still (haven't had a chance to do the Calcium, Mg and Alk yet. My tank is still super cloudy.
@skebo
1y
Can't have too much carbon. It last longer but cant.over due. What kinda alge do you have?
@Razz05
1y
I'm not sure what the different types of algae are. I know we have hair algae because it's longer and stringier. I turned off all of the colors except the blue hoping it would help clear it up too, but it doesn't seem to be doing much.
@skebo
1y
Some alge don't need lights. Get a identification of your alge (microscope and reef forums) and treat w right treatment. Id keep or replace carbon. This hobby is slow....till its not.
@Juanpablo92185
1y
I got that a few days ago, i remove the skimmer and the carbon, only mechanical filter, and the pumps, in 2-3 days its going to be clear again, maybe its because you have 0 nitrate and 0 fosfate, that happens to me
@skebo
1y
How you doing w this op? Any improvements
@Razz05
1y
Just responded to your message.
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The only time I had cloudy water like this is when I had a large bio load of things dying. Like algae or snails dying. Running my skimmer for 48 hours completely removed all the biological material and then water cleared up. I’m not sure if you have a sump or skimmer already?
We have a skimmer running at all times. It's an AIO tank. No snails dying, but lots of algae (hence the lawnmower blenny). Might need more of a CUC.