Bacterial bloom

[bondno9]

Currently dealing with bacterial bloom. Tank is about 6-8 weeks old now. I believe I started it when I cleaned the sand bed a little bit during a water change on Sunday night (never doing that again). I threw a bag of chemi pure blue in the tank last night after 5 days of dealing with the cloudy tank. Has anyone experienced this before and used chemi pure blue? If so how long did it take for the chemi pure to clear up your tank?

 

[Dan_P]

Currently dealing with bacterial bloom. Tank is about 6-8 weeks old now. I believe I started it when I cleaned the sand bed a little bit during a water change on Sunday night (never doing that again). I threw a bag of chemi pure blue in the tank last night after 5 days of dealing with the cloudy tank. Has anyone experienced this before and used chemi pure blue? If so how long did it take for the chemi pure to clear up your tank?

Just a thought.

Maybe consider this a microorganism bloom. This will include algae as well as bacteria. I understand the temptation to call cloudy water that does not present a color a bacteria bloom, but not all algae blooms are dense enough to be noticeably colored. Also, in a new system, excess algae food is more likely than excess bacteria food.

I never had this issue but have read that persistent cloudiness can be helped with a UV sterilizer. Unless you are losing sleep over this or believe it is harming your system, hold off trying to fix it.

 

[bondno9]

Just a thought.

Maybe consider this a microorganism bloom. This will include algae as well as bacteria. I understand the temptation to call cloudy water that does not present a color a bacteria bloom, but not all algae blooms are dense enough to be noticeably colored. Also, in a new system, excess algae food is more likely than excess bacteria food.

I never had this issue but have read that persistent cloudiness can be helped with a UV sterilizer. Unless you are losing sleep over this or believe it is harming your system, hold off trying to fix it.

Thanks for the response. There is a brown tint to my water with the lights off. Before I left for vacation last week the ugly phase started coming in. I had a bunch of brown spots forming on the sand bed and rocks. I threw in 2 nassarius snails and 3 trochus snails before I left. When I came back 5 days later my glass had algae on it. It was time for a water change anyway so I cleaned the glass and while I was at it cleaned part of the sand bed. It’s been cloudy since.

 

[exnisstech]

Probably cloudy from stirring the sand

 

[bondno9]

Probably cloudy from stirring the sand

I agree. Think it started from that. How long does it take to clear up? Tomorrow will be one week.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Pics will help determine what it is.
Silt from the sand should clear in a few days.
Bacteria bloom should clear in a week to week and a half.
Algae bloom will continue without the adequate filtration to remove it.

 

[bondno9]

Pics will help determine what it is.
Silt from the sand should clear in a few days.
Bacteria bloom should clear in a week to week and a half.
Algae bloom will continue without the adequate filtration to remove it.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

It sort of looks like its clearing up, I would just wait a few days before doing anything.
That big window by your tank might also cause some algae issue's.

 

[TokenReefer]

Some interesting points from Dr. Craig Bingman here regarding the gas exchange capability of your system and bacterial blooms

 

[bondno9]

It sort of looks like its clearing up, I would just wait a few days before doing anything.
That big window by your tank might also cause some algae issue's.

It’s definitely clearing up. I got my protein skimmer going too to help out and add some oxygen to the tank. Fish are fine. I’m hoping by tonight or tomorrow it’s fully cleared up with the chemi pure blue in the tank. During the weekday I close my shades fully to block the light.