Bacterial bloom in established tank

[Denisk]

Hey all.

so I’m a little lost with this one but here is a what is happening. I have some macro algae in the tank and I noticed one day it grows well, the next day it’s covered in a white film. I notice I get white film on the glass and rocks as well as a cloudiness in the tank water. I also noticed my alk randomly went up and I don’t dose nor do carbon dose.

I have macro algae that grows and I mostly house sps in the tank. They look ok but were pale which I thought had to do with the strong lights. I had the ab+ program set to 30% intensity which I just turned down to 20% and raised the lights to 12 inches above the water. Not sure what is causing the the cloudiness as it’s not a new set up. The live rock came from Florida and has been set up for 2 years with me.


Current filtration and parameters
-22 gallon sumpless mr aqua
-xp ato which is made for sumpless tanks
-mp10

-2 adult clownfish
-1 yellow coris wrasse
-cleaner shrimp
-halloween hermit
-some hermits

-salinity 1.026
-ca 410
-alk 8.6 last time checked yesterday
-nitrate not sure
-p04 .03 but have some random brown looking hair algae and had some clumps of green algae on the sand


Really just curious what causes it and whether it sucks the oxygen out of the water column when this happens.

 

[MrGisonni]

The macroalgaes may have gone sexual. What your seeing may be spores clouding the water. What macros are you growing? Caulerpa does this.

 

[MrGisonni]

Caulerpa chemnitzia going sexual?

Is one of my Caulerpa chemnitzia (Caulerpa peltata) specimens going sexual? All of its blades are starting to look a little pale and splotchy. The specimen in question: Its healthy looking companion (and yes, I can see that Aiptasia):

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Denisk]

The macroalgaes may have gone sexual. What your seeing may be spores clouding the water. What macros are you growing? Caulerpa does this.

I actually took pictures of it today and ripped it out of the sand bed. Also not pictured I have some dictyota that seems super hard to get rid of.

 

[MrGisonni]

Ok then maybe a bacterial bloom. The question is why? Mechanical filtration will remove it over time. UV sterilizers work great also

 

[Denisk]

Ok then maybe a bacterial bloom. The question is why? Mechanical filtration will remove it over time. UV sterilizers work great also

Haha I wish I knew what could be causing it but I’m not sure.

 

[MrGisonni]

Did you disrupt the sand or rocks?

 

[Denisk]

Did you disrupt the sand or rocks?

The only thing is my sand was untouched for so long until I got my clowns like 2 weeks ago. They are adults and idk why but they seem to mess with the sand. I honestly didn’t think much of it.

 

[Spare time]

Ok then maybe a bacterial bloom. The question is why? Mechanical filtration will remove it over time. UV sterilizers work great also

Mechanical filtration can't remove bacterial blooms

 

[Spare time]

If it is a bacterial bloom, just rinse the socks/filter pads daily to prevent any further decay of matter which could feed the bloom. If its the macroalgae, then I don't know other than using a different species.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

I’m going through this also. Crystal clear water and then cloudy water and my glass needs to be cleaned twice a day. There’s rusty brown film (diatoms?) on the glass.

I started feeding pellets several times a day after seeing my phosphate has gone close to zero. Guess that might be the cause?

I’ve stopped the pellets…Will it just burn itself out at this point?

 

[Denisk]

If it is a bacterial bloom, just rinse the socks/filter pads daily to prevent any further decay of matter which could feed the bloom. If its the macroalgae, then I don't know other than using a different species.

I wasn’t using any mechanical filtration. But if I do, I’ll make sure to change it frequently.

 

[Denisk]

I’m going through this also. Crystal clear water and then cloudy water and my glass needs to be cleaned twice a day. There’s rusty brown film (diatoms?) on the glass.

I started feeding pellets several times a day after seeing my phosphate has gone close to zero. Guess that might be the cause?

I’ve stopped the pellets…Will it just burn itself out at this point?

Is your tank newer? Mine would be considered established which makes it tough to understand what’s going on.
I feel the same way that I need to clean the glass a ton and my algae is partially green partially brown. The last thing I want to do is bottom out my nitrate and phosphate and cause Dino’s but at the same time I don’t want to have this cloudy water

 

[sixty_reefer]

Hey all.

so I’m a little lost with this one but here is a what is happening. I have some macro algae in the tank and I noticed one day it grows well, the next day it’s covered in a white film. I notice I get white film on the glass and rocks as well as a cloudiness in the tank water. I also noticed my alk randomly went up and I don’t dose nor do carbon dose.

I have macro algae that grows and I mostly house sps in the tank. They look ok but were pale which I thought had to do with the strong lights. I had the ab+ program set to 30% intensity which I just turned down to 20% and raised the lights to 12 inches above the water. Not sure what is causing the the cloudiness as it’s not a new set up. The live rock came from Florida and has been set up for 2 years with me.


Current filtration and parameters
-22 gallon sumpless mr aqua
-xp ato which is made for sumpless tanks
-mp10

-2 adult clownfish
-1 yellow coris wrasse
-cleaner shrimp
-halloween hermit
-some hermits

-salinity 1.026
-ca 410
-alk 8.6 last time checked yesterday
-nitrate not sure
-p04 .03 but have some random brown looking hair algae and had some clumps of green algae on the sand


Really just curious what causes it and whether it sucks the oxygen out of the water column when this happens.

Any way to double check nitrates?

 

[Denisk]

Any way to double check nitrates?

I would have to buy a Hana checker since i never test for it over the last 10 years in the hobby but I can use my api one just to make sure I don’t have some crazy number. But this is my first sumpless reef and I figured there would be it’s own difficulties with it

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Is your tank newer? Mine would be considered established which makes it tough to understand what’s going on.
I feel the same way that I need to clean the glass a ton and my algae is partially green partially brown. The last thing I want to do is bottom out my nitrate and phosphate and cause Dino’s but at the same time I don’t want to have this cloudy water

Its 4 years old now…

 

[Denisk]

Its 4 years old now…

Oh darn well if anything changes for you, let me know! Maybe someone else can help the both of us.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I would have to buy a Hana checker since i never test for it over the last 10 years in the hobby but I can use my api one just to make sure I don’t have some crazy number. But this is my first sumpless reef and I figured there would be it’s own difficulties with it

Api will be fine, at this point there’s more chance you will find them to be zero. That could confirm a bloom of heterotrophic bacteria caused by some algae die off, macro algae is fairly rich in carbohydrates that can trigger this blooms as they perish.

 

[nuxx Verified Sponsor]

Had it pop up in my established tank, but after freaking out it just went away...

 

[Denisk]

Api will be fine, at this point there’s more chance you will find them to be zero. That could confirm a bloom of heterotrophic bacteria caused by some algae die off, macro algae is fairly rich in carbohydrates that can trigger this blooms as they perish.

Well you were spot on! Any suggestions as to how to fix this?