Hazy water after 4 day vacation.....

[JayM]

Tank was crystal clear Thursday night when I left town, Monday afternoon i came home to what I initially thought was micro bubbles. Shut down the protein skimmer and checked everything else I could think of that would cause bubbles. Didn't find anything out of the ordinary, and no change to the water appearance. Did a 20 gallon water change (80g tank) and still no change. Out of desperation I stuffed a couple of sacks of Chemi-Pure Elite between the baffles in my sump last night and awoke to crystal clear water.

You can see the white specs in the video (ignore the lousy background noise). I'll post, but the slight film that was on the water surface isn't really visible. Any ideas what it could have been or what would have caused it?

 

[JayM]

 

[JayM]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Tank was crystal clear Thursday night when I left town, Monday afternoon i came home to what I initially thought was micro bubbles. Shut down the protein skimmer and checked everything else I could think of that would cause bubbles. Didn't find anything out of the ordinary, and no change to the water appearance. Did a 20 gallon water change (80g tank) and still no change. Out of desperation I stuffed a couple of sacks of Chemi-Pure Elite between the baffles in my sump last night and awoke to crystal clear water.

You can see the white specs in the video (ignore the lousy background noise). I'll post, but the slight film that was on the water surface isn't really visible. Any ideas what it could have been or what would have caused it?

What are your parameters?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Looks like suspended matter/sediment and I would check filters for soiling/blockage. Can also be bacterial bloom, and check also your nitrate and phosphate levels. When an increase in the number of bacterial colonies generates quickly and becomes suspended in the water column, they multiply so quickly that they more visible causing the water to look milky and hazy in appearance due to an increase in the nutrients.

 

[JayM]

What are your parameters?

LOL. I knew that question was coming. Unfortunately I do not have the numbers in front of me, but I did check ph, nitrite and nitrate and nothing was out of the ordinary. Temp was just a touch over 78°, salinity is 1.025 and ammonia was undetectable. I don't have kits for anything other than what I mentioned above.

 

[JayM]

Looks like suspended matter/sediment and I would check filters for soiling/blockage. Can also be bacterial bloom, and check also your nitrate and phosphate levels. When an increase in the number of bacterial colonies generates quickly and becomes suspended in the water column, they multiply so quickly that they more visible causing the water to look milky and hazy in appearance due to an increase in the nutrients.

That's making me wonder if it was an auto feeder issue. I did some test runs on the counter pre-vacation and it seemed fairly consistent with the amount I normally feed, but considering I was using flakes, I imagine it could have ended up dumping larger amounts if smaller flakes ended up dropping more so than the larger ones.

Filter sock was changed the day we left, and immediately upon return, but didn't notice anything unusual (not that I'd really be able to anyway).

I'll double check parameters this afternoon. Hopefully it will not return as the GFO and carbon bags seemed to do the trick.

 

[vetteguy53081]

That's making me wonder if it was an auto feeder issue. I did some test runs on the counter pre-vacation and it seemed fairly consistent with the amount I normally feed, but considering I was using flakes, I imagine it could have ended up dumping larger amounts if smaller flakes ended up dropping more so than the larger ones.

Filter sock was changed the day we left, and immediately upon return, but didn't notice anything unusual (not that I'd really be able to anyway).

I'll double check parameters this afternoon. Hopefully it will not return as the GFO and carbon bags seemed to do the trick.

Feeder is very possible

 

[JayM]

Just tested water. Nitrite is .2, nitrate is 8, pH is 8.2, ammonia undetectable.