Having some water quality / alk issues

[Calpoly2103]

Hello everyone,

I'm having a few issues with my Nuvo 40. 1) water is cloudy 2) Alk is being depleted, and I dont have many coral. 3) very little nitrate and phosphate available.

My tank has been up for 2 months (rock curved for 6 weeks before this), I've had livestock in it for about 3 weeks. 2 clowns, 1 shrimp, 1 small goby, zoas, 6 trochus 2 turbo 3 cerith 5 nassarius.

SG: 1.025
Nitrate: 1 it was around 5, but now declining down to 1.
Alk: 8.3 I dosed it back up to 9.
Cal: 440
Mg: 1400
Phos: maybe 0

Filtration: seachem matrix, chemipure elite, purigen, filter floss. Water: red sea coral pro. Flow: 2 mp 10's running 40-60%.

I'm not sure why, but my alk is being depleted by something. I dont have many coral. My water has also turned cloudy and I'm not sure why. Lastly, I had a pretty bad algae bloom because I was leaving my lights on too long. Now down from 12 to 8 hours a day. (Kessil A360X) now after this my nitrate is testing close to 0. I feed 2x per day.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Calpoly2103]

Here are some pics

 

[lapin]

In my opinion the water is not very cloudy. It is prob a minor bacterial bloom. In a new tank., like yours, alk will bounce all over for the first 6 months. Things grow you cant see. 8.3 is not a bad number.

 

[Calpoly2103]

How about regarding the nitrate/phosphate levels? From what I understand you want to have some phosphates and at least 5 nitrate. I will likely have mostly softie and LPS, so I'm concerned the water is too clean.

Is my filtration over the top?

I'm also a bit concerned regarding the little Monti frag I got. It seems to be going downhill. How exactly can I tell if its bleaching?

 

[Auquanut]

Chances are that the algae bloom is depleting your NO3 and PO4. Once you get that under control, your numbers should start rising. It's going to take a while for your tank to stabilize. I wouldn't do anything too drastic right away.

 

[Calpoly2103]

Chances are that the algae bloom is depleting your NO3 and PO4. Once you get that under control, your numbers should start rising. It's going to take a while for your tank to stabilize. I wouldn't do anything too drastic right away.

Thank you, that makes sense. I had a big bloom last week that cleared up in the last couple days. I suppose I'll continue my regular water change schedule and feeding schedule until I get over this bloom. I just really hope that my coral will be okay

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The coralline algae in that pictured tank will rapidly deplete alkalinity, and I would expect to need to frequently dose alkalinity and calcium. Alk always "appears" to drop faster, but both are being used.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you, that makes sense. I had a big bloom last week that cleared up in the last couple days. I suppose I'll continue my regular water change schedule and feeding schedule until I get over this bloom. I just really hope that my coral will be okay

Bacterial blooms do not usually hurt corals. They are probably food for them.