My aquarium is cloudy.....Calcium precipitate??

Larry101 · Apr 7, 2020

Hello, my 15 gallon nano tank became cloudy after I dosed polyp one 4 times between 5 hours because my calcium levels were low and my coral frags were coming in the mail. I knew my calcium levels were low because I started my aquarium with salt that didn’t have any trace elements such as calcium or alkalinity. I switched to reef crystals two weeks prior but only did 20 percent water changes weekly (only 2 water changes) then I got my frags. After I spiked the alk, calcium, and magnesium I waited 3 hours and then put my corals in. The corals are doing fine but the next morning my water was very cloudy. I assumed this was probably calcium precipitate caused by the polyp lab one because I dosed it multiple times within a couple hour span. I proceeded to do 2 20% water changes spread over 2 days. That is where I am today. My water looks better than it did, but it still looks cloudy. I finally got my calcium test kit today and my calcium is at 420ppm so pretty normal. My alkalinity test kit is coming Friday so I will wait and see what that will be at on Friday. Here is a picture of my tank right now, I got the best picture I could get of the cloudiness.

Rmckoy · Apr 7, 2020

First thing that comes to mind ....

Rule#1
Do not dose anything you haven’t tested a need for it .

it’s risky dosing blind not knowing what any values are .

Spieg · Apr 7, 2020

Agree with Rmckoy... never dose what you didn't test for. Seems like you put the apple cart in front of the horse by ordering coral before you verified your water parameters. Reef keeping is a marathon, not a sprint, so don't get in a hurry right out of the gate.

What type of filtration do you have? Precip usually appears instantly when dosing and tends to filter/settle out pretty quickly. My primary suspect for your cloudy water would be some type of bloom (algae or bacteria), or maybe just stirred up the sand bed somehow.

Larry101 · Apr 7, 2020

Yeah that was by far the stupidest decision I have ever made on my tank. It was the biggest gamble ever that could have ended in a catastrophe. But by some odds I somehow didn’t crash my tank, and I definitely learned my lesson - make sure water parameters are good before adding corals and don’t dose anything you can’t test for. As for filtration I am running an aqua clear 50 filter with the addition of carbon and GFO. Do you think changing out my carbon would do the trick??

Tahoe61 · Apr 7, 2020

Pretty much any salt mix will mix to support a new tanks coral growth. You do not need to dose typically.

I would leave the carbon.

Looks like a new tank, let it settle. You will end up focusing more on alk values.

Rmckoy · Apr 7, 2020

How long are you letting the new saltwater mix before water changes ?
If it’s not given enough time to mix ,

let the ph and alk settle it will make the after cloudy .

What was the other salt mix that didn’t have any essential elements required for reef keeping ?

Larry101 · Apr 7, 2020

I let it mix for 7 hours with a powerhead in the bucket along with the heater. The other salt mix I was using was sea salt by instant ocean which is more for a fish only setup and not so ideal for a reef tank. Also my tank has been running for a solid 3 months.

Larry101 · Apr 8, 2020

Larry101 said:
I let it mix for 7 hours with a powerhead in the bucket along with the heater. The other salt mix I was using was sea salt by instant ocean which is more for a fish only setup and not so ideal for a reef tank. Also my tank has been running for a solid 3 months.

Should I just wait it out?