Cloudy Water Persisting

[RhynoNynja]

I have a 150 gallon tank that has been up and running for almost 3 months. Has a 1” deep Caribsea Arag Alive sand bed, roughly 70lbs of Caribsea Life Rock and an 8” x 8” Marinepure block. I’m running my skimmer full time and i am running GFO and Carbon. Tank has been cycled and has been doing great. All major parameters are in line. This past weekend I performed about a 20% Water change and siphoned the sand bed. When siphoning the sand bed I did siphon the entire depth of the bed, which I have read (after the fact) that you should really only siphon the top layer. Anyhow, ever since doing this my tank is super cloudy. I can literally see what looks a white smoke in the water column. I did the water change on Sunday and the tank is still extremely cloudy tonight. There has been very little improvement. I did a 10% Water change tonight and plan to do one again Friday or Saturday. Does anyone know what could be causing the persistent cloudiness or have you had this issue? I’ve read it could be a bacterial bloom, but my nitrites are 0 and my nitrates are at 5 ppm. I do have a mild diatom bloom, which is why I was siphoning the sand bed to begin with, but it is about gone.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[Jvesche20]

How fine of sand are you using?

 

[Big G]

Very common for young tanks to experience a bacterial bloom. Very common. Usually takes a few days for the bloom to dissipate.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Off topic , but why are you running gfo in a new tank ? If you strip the Po4 to undetectable levels tou run the risk of dinos.


I think your just stirring up silt.
https://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSe...MI8KaH9ceF4AIVEyhpCh0JwQDDEAQYASABEgLr_vD_BwE
Some of this. You don’t need that big. A bottle though.


And yes You vaccume the whole thing unles it’s a deep sand bed.

 

[RhynoNynja]

How fine of sand are you using?

I’m running Fiji pink, which is between .5mm and 1.5mm

 

[RhynoNynja]

Off topic , but why are you running gfo in a new tank ? If you strip the Po4 to undetectable levels tou run the risk of dinos.


I think your just stirring up silt.
https://www.marinedepot.com/CaribSe...MI8KaH9ceF4AIVEyhpCh0JwQDDEAQYASABEgLr_vD_BwE
Some of this. You don’t need that big. A bottle though.


And yes You vaccume the whole thing unles it’s a deep sand bed.

I am running GFO because, honestly, I didn’t know better. How long should I wait before running GFO? And thank you for the info. When I originally placed the sand in the tank I used that clarifier, it came with one packet per bag.

 

[Jvesche20]

I don’t think this has much to do with it but If you stirred up the sand and it’s super fine and you have power heads flowing then it might take a while for the sand to settle. Not sure if this is exactly what the problem is but when I first added sand it took a few days to clear up. I use thicker sand so not sure how your sand is.

With the gfo I would recommend using if your phosphate levels are high and you wanna make them come down

 

[RhynoNynja]

I don’t think this has much to do with it but If you stirred up the sand and it’s super fine and you have power heads flowing then it might take a while for the sand to settle. Not sure if this is exactly what the problem is but when I first added sand it took a few days to clear up. I use thicker sand so not sure how your sand is.

With the gfo I would recommend using if your phosphate levels are high and you wanna make them come down

It doesn’t appear to be the actual sand that is in the water column, it looks like a white smoke in the water. Just like it looked when I first put the sand in the tank. I think it is the silt that got stirred up as saltyfilmfolks suggests. It’s just odd that it didn’t do this for any previous water change I’ve done where I siphoned the sand bed.

 

[Jvesche20]

Do you have any pictures?

 

[Rakie]

Off topic , but why are you running gfo in a new tank ?

BRS, or old school reefers.

Off topic, but I remember a thread from a guy about running chaeto before he even had a tank up.. Research is good.. Not knowing when to apply that knowledge is how tanks die before they start.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I am running GFO because, honestly, I didn’t know better. How long should I wait before running GFO? And thank you for the info. When I originally placed the sand in the tank I used that clarifier, it came with one packet per bag.

No buld up or slime on the rocks ?like a bacterial bloom.
If you touch the sand it’s not slimy feeling?
Blooms will look like fog , sand will look like smoke with specks.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I run an oversized skimmer for my tank (a 200+ gallon Reef Octopus on a 125 gallon tank). The skimmer did an excellent job of pulling silty fines out of the water when I first added sand.

What kind/size of skimmer are you using? Maybe the skimmer is undersized?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

If it is particulate running 50-100 micron filter socks will pull it out over the course of a day or two. If it's bacterial filter socks will be useless. Check all the parameters and see if anything is amiss. If all is well there, then you can try dosing a low concentration bacteria starter like SeaChem Stability or something similar to offset the current bacterial bloom. If it is bacterial it will eventually sort itself out and the bacteria will die off once the food source they are on is depleted and your skimmer will do the rest. Be sure to keep a close eye on your fish for any signs of stress like labored breathing etc.

 

[RhynoNynja]

I run an oversized skimmer for my tank (a 200+ gallon Reef Octopus on a 125 gallon tank). The skimmer did an excellent job of pulling silty fines out of the water when I first added sand.

What kind/size of skimmer are you using? Maybe the skimmer is undersized?

I am running a Nyos 160 which is rated for up to 250 gallons. The tank has looked great until this last water change.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

As long as you didn't disturb the sand bed when you did the water change then I'd say it's a bacterial bloom. Do you filter your own water, or get it from a LFS?

 

[RhynoNynja]

As long as you didn't disturb the sand bed when you did the water change then I'd say it's a bacterial bloom. Do you filter your own water, or get it from a LFS?

I have my own RODI system. I am beginning to think it has to be a bloom because it’s still not much better and I am running 200 micron filter socks. It doesn’t look like particulates. It looks like a cloudy milky substance in the water column. Like white smoke in the water is the best way that I can describe it.

 

[reeftivo]

I have my own RODI system. I am beginning to think it has to be a bloom because it’s still not much better and I am running 200 micron filter socks. It doesn’t look like particulates. It looks like a cloudy milky substance in the water column. Like white smoke in the water is the best way that I can describe it.

any translucent slime on the rocks? sounds like it may be bacterial. do you have access to a UV sterilizer. UV sterilizers knock down bacterial blooms quick

 

[RhynoNynja]

any translucent slime on the rocks? sounds like it may be bacterial. do you have access to a UV sterilizer. UV sterilizers knock down bacterial blooms quick

I don’t see any slime on the rocks, at least not to my naked eye. I do have a HOB filter with a UV sterilizer that I use on my QT, but I doubt it would make a dent on my DT. I think it’s rated for 40 gallons.

 

[reeftivo]

I don’t see any slime on the rocks, at least not to my naked eye. I do have a HOB filter with a UV sterilizer that I use on my QT, but I doubt it would make a dent on my DT. I think it’s rated for 40 gallons.

if it's still persisting it still should help if indeed it is bacterial. i ran a 9 watt on a 75 gal net system to clear up a bloom and it knocked it down the next morning.