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.
Quick AI Prime 16 question for a new reef tank.
No corals yet — just copepods and clean-up crew.
I’m trying to keep the light low to avoid algae, but still make the tank look good.
Thinking:
RB 25 / B 25 / W 5
Everything else 0
5–6 hours/day
Light about 9–11” above the water
Is this a good starting point, or would you run it differently?
Day 30.
Only 3 fish, but lots of easy corals, copepods, some inverts and live rock. Plus a steady dosing routine of nitrification bacteria.
The "ugly" stage lasted less than a 4 days and I think I am most happiest with the growth of that patch of macroalgae which I am sure is ripping out the Nitrate and phosphate but is wiping out the pest algae.
The goni isn't thriving but a drop of manganese seems to be assisting now, and I should probably try and get the peppermint shrimp out now they took care of the aiptasia but are now free to harass the BTA. Which the Clowns are not impressed by.
Hey guys, im a month in with my first nano (80l) and hitting a bit of trouble which id love some advice on.
Currently no fish, but added 4 trochus snails 10 days ago to start getting some life in there once cycle was complete.
My LFS recommended adding 2 bags of copepods and 2ml of phytoplankton once a week whilst we don't have fish to (i think) speed up algae growth.
For the last 5/6 days the water has looked a bit cloudy and nitrates have dropped from 18 to around 2 or 3. Chat GPT is saying it could be a bacterial bloom.
Continued in comments...
Update on my 5 gallon tank! It’s running a still cycling and I added a mangrove and 2 balls of chaeto. Looking to add a lot more more macro algae. Also I added a damsel to help cycle and he is happy and eating so thank God!
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.
Looking for suggestions on beginner friendly fish and corals to start adding. Tank perimeters have been stable , tank is over a month old. I have not hit “the ugly stage” but I had a couple of very mature live rocks from day 1 in my tank (the 3 on the far left). I read with seasoned live rocks the ugly stage can be prevented or severely less (not sure it’s it’s true or not but not getting my hopes up) I do not have a clean up crew right now, LFS has said it’s to early to add as I don’t have any algae in my tank yet. I have had some orangey looking algae grow on the back of the plastic cover and on the output nozzle
Currently have:
2 black and white clown fish
1 green chromis
1 blue springer damsel
Corals:
2 toad stools
1 GSP
How often do you add copepods to your tank? I have a 175g display with a 30g sump. I have a mandarin, yellow coris wrasse and clownfish that prob pick at my pods but I don’t think I have anyone else in my tank that eats them. Really prob only the mandarin and maybe the wrasse. My tank was moderately stocked before I added them and I’ve added prob 7ish bottles (mix of algaebarn and ocean nutrition) over the last three months my tanks been up and running with fish. Could I get away with every other month at this point?