Bacteria or Phyto bloom coming back.

[fishbox]

Tank is a new 29g that's been up and running for about 3mos. I recently had a bacteria or phyto bloom (not sure which one). It started after I added pods & phyto to the tank. It started off as slightly cloudy water and within a week turned to a very greenish murky water. I couldn't see two inches into the tank. I know this can be a normal process with a newer tank. So I just let it run its course and continued to dose the phyto as I figured everything would balance out on its own. After a week of the green murky water, on Friday it turned crystal clear. Clearer than it's ever been! So I continued dosing the phyto. Well today (4days after the clearing) the water is starting to get cloudy again and I'm hoping it won't turn into the green murky water again. My question is if it is normal for these types of blooms to come and go and come back again? Should I discontinue the phyto?

 

[Hyde2406]

Do you have anything in your tank? Fish coral etc, what are your parameters and lighting schedule etc

 

[fishbox]

2 clowns
1 six line wrasse
1 engineer goby
A couple snails / crabs
1 RBTA
1 Litho frag
1 Favia frag
1 sm Goni

Lighting is a 16" MarsAqua
Blues on from 12-11
Whites from 2-10

Temp 79
Salinity 1.026
Nitrite and Ammonia 0
Nitrate 20
PH 8.0
Alk 12

Sent from my LG-H343 using REEF2REEF mobile app

 

[Hyde2406]

@lionfishlair or sometime else with more knowledge would know better but that seems like a ton of fish in a 29 gallon, 3 months is a very young tank, I've never had my water turn green in 8 years but I've only cycled 4 tanks, but I didn't put fish in for a long time. Are you sure you finished cycling, did the ammonia spike and then drop? I don't add a bunch to my tank though, water changes replenish all of the stuff you need. Sorry I'm not more help but I'm sure lionfishlair will know or have someone else chime in, Goodluck

 

[fishbox]

Thanks.
I should clarify that the tank finished its cycle 3mos ago. I let it cycle for 2.5mos before that. So it's been up and running for 5.5mos and 1st fish was added 3mos ago.

 

[fishbox]

[emoji115]

 

[Hyde2406]

Yeah sorry still no idea and can't believe no response from anyone else..... wish I had more knowledge for you but this is over my head....
Maybe reef squad?

 

[fishbox]

I bumped the thread because it has went from cloudy again to that green murky water again. [emoji21]

 

[Hyde2406]

I figured if we keep it at the top maybe someone will help......here's to another bump

 

[CastAway]

I'd definitely stop the phyto. Is it store bought phyto, or home grown? What exactly are you dosing it for?

 

[CastAway]

To elaborate:

The phyto is grown by feeding it inorganic nutrients. When you dose it, the phyto is either consumed or dies and in either instance releases most, if not all, of the nutrients into your water. Moreover, in the case of store-bought / professionally grown phytoplankton, most of the nutrient rich media is removed from product, but In the case of homegrown cultures there is no practical way to remove the nutrients from the media and it's ultimately added directly to the tank along with the phyto.

Here's how I personally look at phyto; phytoplankton feeds zooplankton and zooplankton feed corals and fish. You could never add enough phytoplankton to a tank to maintain a sustainable population of zooplankton without totally polluting the tank. Thus, zooplankton cultures are best done separately.

Although some corals do consume phytoplankton directly, my understanding is that it's questionable whether or not they digest it, and, of what benefit it is as that appears to be very coral species specific.

So, depending on what your intention is by adding all the phyto, you might want to consider not adding any more, and feeding what fish and corals you have very lightly, and see if the pattern continues to repeat itself.

I suspect you are seeing a bacterial bloom, as bacterial contamination is the number one risk in phytoplankton cultures. The bacteria are always present but most often are out competed by the phytoplankton. That is, perhaps, at least until the phyto dies in your tank and the bacteria can take over.

We'll see what the experts say. #reefsquad

 

[fishbox]

Thanks for that info. The phyto was store bought. It actually came free with an order of pods I made from Algae Barn. I read that the pods would feed on the phyto. So that was my purpose of dosing. But I'm stopping now!!

 

[Ashish Patel]

I am having a similar issues as you.. I had a bacteria bloom before I added salt to my water and it subsided after a week. I have about 10 fish now and going on 2 months. NO coral. I added some Reefpods this week and few days later tank because more cloudy (milky). Even when it clears up its still not crystal clear like I have been accustom to seeing. I have never experienced bacteria bloom in all my years in the hobby. The main things I have done different is not using a UV to start and using 100% dry rock to avoid those dreaded aiptasia! I ordered a UV sterilizer and having used these in the past with no problem with bacteria bloom, I feel this will clear it up indefinitely. I can't stand cloudy water, not even for a few days! I won't even use my new Par meter or add any coral until the water is crystal clear!

 

[fishbox]

Yeah after everything said and done, it was the uv light that finally did the trick

 

[fishbox]

And I lost my RBTA

 

[fishbox]

And I lost my RBTA

 

[fishbox]

And I lost my RBTA

 

[Stolireef]

So, first thing you want to do is stop dosing phyto. If you are dosing to the point where your water is clouding, you are way way way outside what your tank can handle. If you are dosing to feed your pods, don't bother. As mentioned above, you'd have to dose at very unhealthy levels for the rest of the tank to really make a difference in your pod population. If you're dosing to feed phyto eating livestock (sponges, some softies, etc) , you're better off spot feeding with a baster and maybe a 2 litre coke bottle. Also, the dose should be really small.

IMHO, phyto is like some of the other magic elixirs on the market unless you are using it for a very specific reason.