Bacteria bloom or calcium precipitation help plz...

fishrambo · Sep 13, 2016

My tank has been milky white few several weeks now i have done 50 percent water change but still has not cleared up yet i really started noticing it when i started dosing kalkwasser with my ATO. That what leads me to believe its calcium precipitation but if this is the problem how do i clear it up. I just add chemipure elite 3 days ago and doubled up on filter floss and started wet skimming it showing a little bit of result but it also has not cleared it up.

Feed once a day myisi shrimp and OMEGA ONE garlic pellets.
2 clowns
1 sixline wrasse
1 frogspawn
1 small cup coral
2 hermit crabs
1 nassarius snail

PH 8.0
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0ppm

Calcium 430
Alk 10 / 179 ppm
Can not test Magnesium

Temp 78 f

Salinity 1.025

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 13, 2016

I don't see any reason it would be bacterial. Id pull the chemipure, i don't believe it would help with either.
have you noticed and white dust build up in lower flow areas?

@Randy Holmes-Farley

fishrambo · Sep 14, 2016

No i haven't seen no dust build up but their are sorta white spots on my power head and return nozzles. If i pull my chemipure should i replace it with some other carbon or just remove the carbon all together for now.

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 14, 2016

fishrambo said:
No i haven't seen no dust build up but their are sorta white spots on my power head and return nozzles. If i pull my chemipure should i replace it with some other carbon or just remove the carbon all together for now.

Darn, I was hoping Randy would jump in.

I honestly dont know how to clear precipitation if that's what it is. I believe you just have to clean it. Worth researching.

I also dont know why it (kalk) would do that. Did you put the Kalk powder directly in the ato? or mix it separately and only use the dissolved solution.?

You said its been weeks, did you stop the kalk addition? What salt are you using?

I suggested pulling the chemipure as It wont clear the precip, neither will carbon. Also with such low nutrient numbers I personally wouldn't recommend using it as it will strip the nutrients from the water, and as you have so few, there will be no food for the coral and bacteria for that matter.

fishrambo · Sep 14, 2016

I used a 5 gallon bucket to mix kalk with and let it set for a day then put my ATO pump a few inches from bottom of bucket and increased dosage weekly with another separate bucket that was also prepared a day early the kalk brand is KENT MARINE and yes i decreased the dosage until it was level with salt mix which is INSTANT OCEAN sea salt. Also thanks for trying to help me and not throwing me under the bus and making me feel stupid for trying lol

gonna pull the chemipure ASAP makes sense i tried it because i read it on another forum. I hope i don't have to do anything as drastic as 100 percent water change because i am afraid it may stress corals. O i don't think i mentioned that it a 28 gallon jbj nano cube.

saltyfilmfolks · Sep 14, 2016

you dont know the depths of stupid I have personally reached

Your set up isn quite making sense to me.
Your dosing strait kalk with the ato?
or is it a combined or watered down solution.

its either way, too much i think(unless the tank is using that much), or you keep getting the settled particulates from the container.

hey#reefsquad help a brother out. I should have called sooner.
Clearing up particulates or precip

Looking at the numbers its not dangerous , but honestly Ive not dealt with it.

reeferfoxx · Sep 14, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
you dont know the depths of stupid I have personally reached

Your set up isn quite making sense to me.
Your dosing strait kalk with the ato?
or is it a combined or watered down solution.

its either way, too much i think(unless the tank is using that much), or you keep getting the settled particulates from the container.

hey#reefsquad help a brother out. I should have called sooner.
Clearing up particulates or precip

Looking at the numbers its not dangerous , but honestly Ive not dealt with it.

I'll try and chime in. I followed a thread similar to this once. The calcium precipitation is remedied by a water change and then letting the calcium drop naturally. It shouldn't hurt anything if it is that.

I noticed Instant ocean being the salt used. Double check mixing instructions and make sure everything is mixed correctly. You might be doing water changes with incorrect mixing procedure.

reeferfoxx · Sep 14, 2016

The rock in your picture looks new as well. Curious as to why you think you need to use kalk?

fishrambo · Sep 16, 2016

Yeah guys it was just one of those deals where I read into it to much the plan was to raise my ph and calcuim levels because my calcuim was reading around 380 that was the whole reason behind that and tank is just over 3 months old should I continue wet skimming and how much of a water change I do a weekly change of 5 gallon the tank is 28 I am mixing correctly could it be a bad batch of salt and if I should try another brand what to you recommend I've used instant ocean for 4 years now but this my first time trying lps coral. Agian thanks for input anything helps I have just read so much that my Brain is fried lol on this subject could I our should I put everything in a quarantine tank and clean tank and start over just a thought I really don't wanna rush anything.

Bunnee911 · Sep 16, 2016

Ok, they are going to want to know some stuff.
What do you check specific gravity with?
What test kits are you using?
Et cettera. Et cettera.

Stop adding kalk. Make sure your substrate isn't a brick.
Water changes will be plenty enuff to keep your parameters in line for now.

fishrambo · Sep 19, 2016

Sorry for replying so late just have been busy but i have some good news i researched and researched and researched some more and took in everyone's input here on the forum and decided that i would trying something a little unorthodox and it paid off the water is absolutely beautiful very pristine looking. What i did was unplug skimmer and feed heavy for a few days then plugged skimmer back up it ran all day and i seen some improvement and cleaned the cup out once then that next morning i woke up boom presto their was barley any cloudiness at all then it was time for my weekly water change after i done that and woke the next day it is very very clear just hoping it stays this way and i have know ideal what happened but my reason for feeding and non skimming was to let the good bacteria stand a chance and win the battle and maybe thats what happened i dunno i hope this helps somebody that ever encounters this problem and thanks to all that helped in forum hopefully this is the last we have seen of this in my tank.