Cloudy tank

[m and m]

What could be the causes of a cloudy tank? its not crazy clear just not what im use to. Its almost liek a whitish haz. I dont run a cal/kalk rax. Havn't added anything in about a week chem whise. Last water change was roughly 4 days ago only thing i added was single eye of fevia. Any ideas? im not realy crazyz about it because it's nt bad at all right now. If i come home from work today then ill be a little more wondering. But i have all polyp extension and everything just a little white.

 

[gilmour01]

something could have spawned

 

[Lazys Coral House]

Something could have spawned as gilmour01 said or if you are adding vodka then it could be bacteria bloom.

 

[taichimaster]

Check you calcium levels. It could be that you have too much calcium in your tank. you need to provide your water parameters in order fo people to correctly assist witht the problem

 

[m and m]

All parameters are in check or where i have kept them my hole time in this hoby that was my first look. Cal or alk i though spawn but how long does that last?

 

[m and m]

Another weird thing my GF just noticed there is almost like a white slime coming off a few of my acro's. The slime isn't crazy alot but there are some string like things coming off.

 

[gilmour01]

spawn can last hours. happens about once a month in my tank. it usually happens at night, but the cloudiness lingers into the daytime.

 

[shapermike]

what is your skimmer doing? the skimmate should be really wet if somthing spawned. you could put a new 200 Micron filter for a few hours the help get some of the larger particles out and some new carbon.

when this happens to me my skimmer goes nuts and skims really wet. U use this as a way to do a water change. well good luck

 

[SPStoner]

I had a friend with a similar scenario. Turned out his wife had used Windex on the tank and some had got into the water. It was an ammonia spike which caused the cloudiness.

Any chance someone used window cleaner on, or near the tank? You have an ammonia test kit?

 

[cloakerpoked]

Check you calcium levels. It could be that you have too much calcium in your tank. you need to provide your water parameters in order fo people to correctly assist witht the problem

A test wouldn't reveal the problem. When calcium precipitates out of the water column though, it will typically settle as a white precipitate on your sand bed/bottom of your tank. This wouldn't be the case if you didn't have any dead spots and had a lot of flow though.

In a precipitation event, essentially what happens is that your magnesium levels aren't high enough to keep the calcium and carbonate separate. They form a precipitate and are thus removed from your water column (i.e. untestable).

After kalkwasser (which I immediately think of due to nuking a tank with it once and killing all my SPS with 10+ pH) I would think it could be precipitate or spawning, depending on skimmer condition and evidence of the precipitate settling somewhere (maybe in the sump?)

 

[CoralBandit]

I have had the same problem since i moved my tank I have no idea what causes it I have tried to narrow it down to everything the only thing I can come up with is high CO2 b/c tank went from house to apartment. High CO2 in my thinking would cause pH to lower and therefore your sand would dissolve causing increased Carbonate levels to bind to the Ca2+ causing the cloudiness. I have not gotten any plants yet but i intend to.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason to its going away though. One day its there then the next its not. On and off for 3 months now.... It has slowed down a lot I think due to opening windows since im in FL if your in PA though you probably have been hibernating in your house causing CO2 to climb. Which is why you have suddenyl experienced the same problem.

 

[CoralBandit]

I also use oolite sand so once the finer microscopic particles dissolve thoroughly it should slow down more.

 

[CoralBandit]

And yea my fish and corals have all been fine and growing so not too worried there.

 

[CoralBandit]

Does anyone agree... disagree... have a similar experience.

 

[cloakerpoked]

Human respiration alone wouldn't cause the CO2 to climb to the point where pH should be effected. If your furnace wasn't vented properly, that could be a problem..but I honestly doubt if any of this is a problem or cause. I'd look at spawning events before I started testing the atmosphere around the tank.