Bacterial bloom?

[Will7642]

Is it normal to have a bloom like this 3 months into the life span of a new tank? It has been like this for 5 days.

 

[laezur]

More info needed, what changed have you made recently

 

[Will7642]

I haven’t changed anything recently, I purchased a hammer coral the day before it started, other than that I’ve kept to my normal maintenance.

 

[laezur]

I haven’t changed anything recently, I purchased a hammer coral the day before it started, other than that I’ve kept to my normal maintenance.

So you definitely haven’t added any sort of chemicals, bacterial additives, dosing etc? Prime? Anything like that? NoPox?

 

[Will7642]

So you definitely haven’t added any sort of chemicals, bacterial additives, dosing etc? Prime? Anything like that? NoPox?

I’ve been dosing chemicals to help stabilize calcium and Ph, but I’ve been doing that since I got the tank.

 

[Roatan Reef]

I’ve been dosing chemicals to help stabilize calcium and Ph, but I’ve been doing that since I got the tank.

What about bacterial additives?

 

[Will7642]

What about bacterial additives?

No I haven’t added any

 

[sixty_reefer]

Can you tell us your parameters before and after the bloom?

 

[LeftyReefer]

Is the hammer coral still alive?
what else is in the tank with it as far as inhabitants? fish? other corals?
What are you dosing for calcium and pH?

 

[Will7642]

Can you tell us your parameters before and after the bloom?

Yesterday my parameters were
Ph 8.2
AMMONIA 0.0
NITRITE 0.0
NITRATE 0.0
KH 210
PHOSPHATE 0
CALCIUM 399
MAGNESIUM 1400

 

[Will7642]

Is the hammer coral still alive?
what else is in the tank with it as far as inhabitants? fish? other corals?
What are you dosing for calcium and pH?

As far as I can tell everything is still alive

 

[G Santana]

I had a bloom a few months into the setup that would not go away, after a few weeks I bought an inexpensive UV and it was gone two days after I installed it.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Yesterday my parameters were
Ph 8.2
AMMONIA 0.0
NITRITE 0.0
NITRATE 0.0
KH 210
PHOSPHATE 0
CALCIUM 399
MAGNESIUM 1400

Did you had any detectable nitrates and phosphates before this had happen? Your results are indicating that you have a possible heterotrophic bacterial bloom that is normally caused by excess organic carbon available in a system.
Are you sure that you haven’t dosed a source of carbon, snail died or macro algae that lost its colour?

 

[ff2807]

As far as I can tell everything is still alive

Mine looked like that after someone poured a coke in it

 

[sixty_reefer]

Mine looked like that after someone poured a coke in it

Coke is a source of organic carbon

 

[ff2807]

Coke is a source of organic carbon

Maybe but my corals like sprite

 

[sixty_reefer]

Maybe but my corals like sprite

You should see how mine do after a few vodka shots

 

[Will7642]

Did you had any detectable nitrates and phosphates before this had happen? Your results are indicating that you have a possible heterotrophic bacterial bloom that is normally caused by excess organic carbon available in a system.
Are you sure that you haven’t dosed a source of carbon, snail died or macro algae that lost its colour?

I have a bag of carbon the media rack but I’ve had it in for around 2 months now, a snail could have died but I haven’t seen a dead one. And I did not have detectable nitrates and phosphates

 

[SlugSnorter]

Is it normal to have a bloom like this 3 months into the life span of a new tank? It has been like this for 5 days.

along with what others have said, don't add more bacteria, even "good" bacteria. adding too much "good" bacteria can also cause this.

 

[Will7642]

along with what others have said, don't add more bacteria, even "good" bacteria. adding too much "good" bacteria can also cause this.

Should I just wait it out? Or is there anything I can purchase to clean this up?