Cloudy Tank

JSB · Nov 17, 2013

Ok, I have just got back to the house to find out I probably made a mistake yesterday morning (36 hours ago). I did a water change at 7:30 yesterday morning and promptly left the house for the weekend. I returned to this evening to find the tank very cloudy. I have decent extension on the sps, lps and softies, I will admit the frogspawns are contracted a bit. The fish, most of which I have seen, seem fine, as do the inverts.

Yesterday, as part of the WC, I changed the carbon and GFO, but used a different technique than usual. My guess is that it did not get rinsed nearly well enough. I have rust colored skimate, however the cloudy water is just cloudy water, not rust colored. I have reduced the flow to help it settle out, but really don;t know what else to do.

Suggestions?

H@rry · Nov 17, 2013

If the temp is normal and no dead livestock I don't what else you could do. Good luck.

Small triggers · Nov 17, 2013

Pull it out and re-rinse it...that's the only thing I would do in my tank...

JSB · Nov 17, 2013

Temp and pH are spot on. Everything seems normal but the clouds.

a49panhead · Nov 17, 2013

do u use reef buffer for your ph? if u put it in before your salt desolves it will cause cloudy water.

JSB · Nov 17, 2013

No buffers or any other supplements. Salt has been dissolved for a month.

As for re-rinsing, I may give that a try.

ChrisKey · Nov 17, 2013

If it is a white cloud but rust colored sediment on pumps and such I think it is a bacterial bloom. I went through the exact same thing 3 weeks ago. Mine lasted for about 8 days and nothing you can do to help it. I didn't have any bad effects from it and they say it is completely harmless to coral and fish. But it was a pain trying to clean that stuff out of the tank.

I noticed a BAD Nitrate spike after it though so it may have led to a bacterial bloom.

JSB · Nov 18, 2013

Ok, I turned off the GFO reactor and slowed the Vortechs overnight and it is 98% clear (an estimate) this morning. I will repack my GFO canisters with some fresh clean GFO and carbon and start again. Thanks all for your input.