bacterial bloom-ish

[melonheadorion]

looking at my tank, i might have a bit of a bacterial bloom going. this tank is still going through the ugly stage currently.

as of yesterday, i put in some rowa-phos to try get help get rid of silicates, and did a water change later in the day.

the water isnt super cloudy at this point, see pic below, but it definately looks cloudy to me.

i did a test for ammonia, and ammonia is good, at 0.
i also checked for PH, and that is a bit low at about 7.6 ish. to help combat this, i increased surface agitation, and my skimmer has been on for a couple hours now, to help with aeration as well.
fish look to be doing ok, but any suggestions, or thoughts on what it could be from? my assumption is that diatoms might be dying off, and causing it, but im not an expert.

 

[ChuneReef]

It's hard to say exactly what's going onwith that pic... but I just beat back a bacterial bloom so maybe I can help.

Here were my steps, they may or may not apply to your situation
- Stop Carbon Dosing
- Removed carbon and GFO (Clogged from bacteria, no use in running them)
- Fed less, washed frozen food well because I had less nutrient export due to no GFO
- Ran skimmer wayyyy wetter and ran tube from collection cup to bucket

I've heard mixed opinions about water changes during bacterial blooms and I opted to skip it. For me, the bloom was over in 4 days.

 

[melonheadorion]

It's hard to say exactly what's going onwith that pic... but I just beat back a bacterial bloom so maybe I can help.

Here were my steps, they may or may not apply to your situation
- Stop Carbon Dosing
- Removed carbon and GFO (Clogged from bacteria, no use in running them)
- Fed less, washed frozen food well because I had less nutrient export due to no GFO
- Ran skimmer wayyyy wetter and ran tube from collection cup to bucket

I've heard mixed opinions about water changes during bacterial blooms and I opted to skip it. For me, the bloom was over in 4 days.

i tend to run a wet skim anyhow, so im good there.

since the GFO was just put in, i dont think its clogged. however, i removed it anyway, as well as the carbon because, heck why not. the GFO was just in there to try to remove silicates, so worse case scenario is that diatoms come back strong again. carbon was put in for smell, which also was not too long ago. maybe a full week ago, so since there is no smell right now, removing carbon wont matter, and if it is plugged, would be beneficial anyway. ive had a very good LFS nearby say that once you put carbon pellets in, it should soak up everything, almost immediately, so if its a week old, it might be due to be changed anyway.

i dont add anything extra other than that anyway, so if any of that was the cause, this should fix, i hope.

p.s. i might do a small water change. nothing really too much other than to vaccuum gravel, if there is dead algae/diatoms within it, seeping nutrients causing the bloom. wont be much, maybe 4 gallons

 

[melonheadorion]

reading some other info online, i found that a lower ph could cause a algae die off, which i have a lot of diatoms right now, so there is plenty to die off. i also found that rowaphos could lead to a short period of a PH drop. so, if what i read is right, considering this cloudiness is mostly from the point in which i added the rowa phos, the rowa phos in conjunction to the diatoms, is probably the cause. i guess we will see if it clears up now that i have removed it.

 

[melonheadorion]

so its a few days later, and the tank is still cloudy. with the stage im in, being the ugly stage, it is probably pretty safe to say its an algae bloom. i removed all of the rowa phoshowever, i havent changed anythign with my light cycle, so what i have done is that im going to eliminate the light for a few days (not a complete blackout) just to get the algae to subside. i dont have any corals in this one to worry about, so a blackout or lights out, wont kill any plant life.

i am going to do a water change today and sometime this weekend (probably sunday) if the lights out doesnt work. im already changing filtration often and all of the normal filtration maintenance. any thoughts on something that i can maybe do to help kill the algae bloom? im more interested in it not coming back, so i know a blackout/lights out will do that, but i want to avoid it returning. my diatom issue is most likely from silicates, is my assumption since its a new tank with new rock and substrate.
any thoughts on dosing anything, other filtration, dosing, etc. that you might suggest to avoid a reoccurance?

p.s. the water is not so cloudy that i cant see through, but it is definately hazy and cloudy. i would show a pic, but the camera doesnt show it well

for those that want to ask-
salinity- 1.025
ammonia-0
nitrate-5
PH-8.1/8.2
calcium-400
alk-9

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks to be Bacterial. The bacteria grows so rapidly that collectively they become visible to the naked eye, causing the water to become milky/cloudy/hazy in appearance. This condition most often is seen in a newly started aquarium, but can also occur in a tank in which there is has been an increase in the nutrients in the water, particularly nitrates and phosphates. Excessive feeding of fish without cleaning the debris can also cause a sharp increase in nutrients that results in these blooms .
There are two types of bacteria at work in aquariums:

• Autotrophic Bacteria: Bacteria capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy. The beneficial bacterias are autotrophs.
• Heterotrophic Bacteria: Bacteria that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition. The heterotrophs in the aquariums mineralize the organic waste (break down the uneaten food, fish waste, dead plant matter, etc. into ammonia).

It is more common that the heterotrophs are seen in bacterial blooms, not the trusted autotroph nitrifiers. It is the heterotrophs which are primarily responsible for creating the bio-film which is the slimy residue found on the tank walls and rocks. As the ammonia production increases due to the increased mineralization, the nitrifiers are slow to catch up and an ammonia spike occurs until the autotrophs reproduce enough to take care of it. Contrary to popular belief, bacterial blooms cause an ammonia spike, not the other way around.
It is unclear whether the autotrophic nitrifiers ever bloom into the water column or if they simply multiply too slowly to cause this effect.
Water changes will play a role as well as filter maintenance.

WHAT FILTER(S) ARE YOU USING ? . Also, , , is the tank at or near a window?

 

[melonheadorion]

Looks to be Bacterial. The bacteria grows so rapidly that collectively they become visible to the naked eye, causing the water to become milky/cloudy/hazy in appearance. This condition most often is seen in a newly started aquarium, but can also occur in a tank in which there is has been an increase in the nutrients in the water, particularly nitrates and phosphates. Excessive feeding of fish without cleaning the debris can also cause a sharp increase in nutrients that results in these blooms .
There are two types of bacteria at work in aquariums:

• Autotrophic Bacteria: Bacteria capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy. The beneficial bacterias are autotrophs.
• Heterotrophic Bacteria: Bacteria that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition. The heterotrophs in the aquariums mineralize the organic waste (break down the uneaten food, fish waste, dead plant matter, etc. into ammonia).

It is more common that the heterotrophs are seen in bacterial blooms, not the trusted autotroph nitrifiers. It is the heterotrophs which are primarily responsible for creating the bio-film which is the slimy residue found on the tank walls and rocks. As the ammonia production increases due to the increased mineralization, the nitrifiers are slow to catch up and an ammonia spike occurs until the autotrophs reproduce enough to take care of it. Contrary to popular belief, bacterial blooms cause an ammonia spike, not the other way around.
It is unclear whether the autotrophic nitrifiers ever bloom into the water column or if they simply multiply too slowly to cause this effect.
Water changes will play a role as well as filter maintenance.

WHAT FILTER(S) ARE YOU USING ? . Also, , , is the tank at or near a window?

I'm using a sump, so I have filter socks, pinky filter,and skimmer. In the bed room that I use as my office, it's further away from the window than it is near it. 0lus ghe shades are closed. Being winter, and no prominent sunlight, it's just getting minimal ambient light right now. I'm changing filter socks every other day rigjt now. I just got more socks in the mail today, so may even do every day

 

[vetteguy53081]

I'm using a sump, so I have filter socks, pinky filter,and skimmer. In the bed room that I use as my office, it's further away from the window than it is near it. 0lus ghe shades are closed. Being winter, and no prominent sunlight, it's just getting minimal ambient light right now. I'm changing filter socks every other day rigjt now. I just got more socks in the mail today, so may even do every day

You'd be surprised the strength of sun's UV which penetrate sahdes and blinds.
Filter socks help. Great on sump- Add a pouch of ChemiPure Blue and it will diminish this haziness greatly

 

[melonheadorion]

You'd be surprised the strength of sun's UV which penetrate sahdes and blinds.
Filter socks help. Great on sump- Add a pouch of ChemiPure Blue and it will diminish this haziness greatly

Would it be best to just black it out, or do bacterial blooms survive that? I won't mind blacking it out if it would benefit more

 

[melonheadorion]

alright, so some new stuff about all of this....

my diatom/new tank algae is starting to become lesser now. but still have cloudiness.

a couple things i have done is a couple water changes since wednesday. a 20% water change on thursday. today i will be doing a smaller water change of about 10%. (rodi water)

my lights come on at 8am. the water is cloudy. currently, it is 1pm. water still cloudy. in about another hour or two (or just later in the day), the water will get considerably clearer. this is the odd part. normally, i would think that a bloom would be there all the time, until it went away.

im not dosing anything. equipment schedules are the same regardless (skimmer stays on). ammonia is still 0. PH as of a minute ago is 8.2 (while the water is cloudy).

i dont seem to have any crazy algae's going at the moment. i still have diatoms, but they are significantly less than just before this started. and when i say significantly less, its like night and day. before, it was really heavy stringy (if i let it sit long enough), almost like dinos, where now, its just light brown on the bottom, like normal diatoms.

i suspect that the bloom i have, has something to do with the new tank algaes, and their die-off. just before all of this, i had read that adding some beneficial bacteria might help with the process, so i had added some of that just before all of this started. i suspect that also may have something to do with it.

currently, im just sticking to filter changes, skimming, water changes. any other suggestions at this point? IE: adding some fritzyme 9 bacteria or anything like that?