Cloudy Water...Help

FoD · May 1, 2016

I have been dealing with a cloudy water issue for a few months. I have tried multiple methods to remedy. I have changed 90% of the water, changed all rock, wet skimmed, filter socks, carbon, blackout...

All livestock are fine. No erratic behavior. Temp controlled, salinity controlled. Lots of flow. NO3: less than 5ppm. PO4: 0.04. Cloudy water is clear (white), no traces of green, meaning not a macro sexual bloom. I have no macros, no fuge. I went to bare bottom after the rock change. Using Real Reef Rock this time. I change 40 gallons every two weeks. I cannot figure this out. Ideas?

jsker · May 1, 2016

Do you run a skimmer? You can run some carbon to clean the water if have not tried yet.

FoD · May 1, 2016

Covered in first post. Neither have effect. I run a Vertex Alpha 250. Rox 0.8 carbon.

jsker · May 1, 2016

FoD said:
Covered in first post. Neither have effect. I run a Vertex Alpha 250. Rox 0.8 carbon.

Sorry, skimmed over the first post. I looked up wet skimming. Stupid question time; from what I just read, you are adding water more then dry skimming? and if you are adding water, then your adding salt? could it be the salt not mixing? what salt are you using.

ngvu1 · May 1, 2016

how cloudy? Are you just being picky or it is REALLY cloudy? Do you see small particles everywhere in the water? Sometimes micro bubbles can be confused with small particles...

saltyfilmfolks · May 1, 2016

How old is the tank. And are you using any bacterial supplements or dosing.
I've read here several cloudy water issues with real reef rock and bac dosing probs.

FoD · May 1, 2016

jsker said:
Sorry, skimmed over the first post. I looked up wet skimming. Stupid question time; from what I just read, you are adding water more then dry skimming? and if you are adding water, then your adding salt? could it be the salt not mixing? what salt are you using.

I wet skim over two weeks with a volume of over 300 gallons. Does not affect salinity. I use Red Sea Salt (blue bucket).

ngvu1 said:
how cloudy? Are you just being picky or it is REALLY cloudy? Do you see small particles everywhere in the water? Sometimes micro bubbles can be confused with small particles...

Not a micro bubble issue. It is cloudy. Across a 5 foot tank, I can only see a blurry outline of the Vortechs.

saltyfilmfolks said:
How old is the tank. And are you using any bacterial supplements or dosing.
I've read here several cloudy water issues with real reef rock and bac dosing probs.

Tank is 9+ months old. Had the same issue BEFORE changing to Real Reef Rock. I did "cycle" with Dr. Tim's after rock change. Rock change occurred 2 months ago. Changed 90+ % of the water, and went bare bottom. Cloudy water originally showed up 5 months in.

ngvu1 · May 1, 2016

how is your PH swing through out the day?

hybridazn · May 1, 2016

This may sound odd but is the tank glass or acrylic? If glass it's quite possible that the glass itself has become etched and developed a haze to it that can't be removed.

sheepdog76 · May 1, 2016

I had a similar issue with one of my tanks after trying most everything ended up tying some "stability" by seachem and it cleared up in about two days.

jsker · May 1, 2016

This is a job for @Randy Holmes-Farley to get into this one. @FoD this is interesting one, and I can understand your frustration.

FoD · May 1, 2016

ngvu1 said:
how is your PH swing through out the day?

I'll check that over this week. I took my CaRx offline months ago...no corals currently.

hybridazn said:
This may sound odd but is the tank glass or acrylic? If glass it's quite possible that the glass itself has become etched and developed a haze to it that can't be removed.

Glass. And no, the sump and acrylic frag tank, and water change tubs show the same haze.

sheepdog76 said:
I had a similar issue with one of my tanks after trying most everything ended up tying some "stability" by seachem and it cleared up in about two days.

I will look into this. I assume you never found a cause?

jsker said:
This is a job for @Randy Holmes-Farley to get into this one. @FoD this is interesting one, and I can understand your frustration.

Bring on the pros!

Thanks to everyone for the thoughts and replies!

hybridazn · May 1, 2016

What salt are you using?

FoD · May 1, 2016

hybridazn said:
What salt are you using?

Red Sea Blue Bucket. Have been for 4 years.

hybridazn · May 1, 2016

FoD said:
Red Sea Blue Bucket. Have been for 4 years.

No experience with the blue bucket, but I know the coral pro will mix up and stay cloudy if mixed too long or heated too early while mixing. Could this be an issue?

FoD · May 1, 2016

I mix either the day of, or night before. My maintenance has not changed over the years. For the first 3 months, this tank was Ozone clear! Then it slowly started with this murky water. It looks like a bacterial bloom...but never goes away.

FoD · May 1, 2016

I use the Blue bucket for lower Alk. I used to run ZeoVit, and vodka dosed prior to that. Alk is at 8, and tested before each change.

FoD · May 1, 2016

I think I can rule out the salt mix, and some other items. I use the same RO, same salt, same container (for changes), and same pump to initiate changes. The DT, sump, and Prop tank are all cloudy...all are tied together in the same system. The QT is crystal clear, and standalone.