Never ending bacterial bloom that returns once UV is removed

[Druinz]

Another update, keeping the tank covered and without changing anything else, it got cloudy again the very next day and hasn't receeded. Tank is still covered to be thorough.
;Meh

 

[BillyD69]

I’m not sure what size uv you were using but if it helped at all I’d imagine an oversized one ran 24/7 365 would take care of the problem. Aqua ultraviolet makes a decent 15 watt uv. Combined with a low flow rate (200-300 gph) through it I can’t imagine any bacteria would be able to survive long enough in the water column to survive and reproduce In your size tank. Since you have a sump now you definitely have the room for it without it being obtrusive in your main display. If it fails you can usually resell stuff like that pretty easily without losing too much money. I had a problem similar to yours and only thing that helped was running the uv perpetually. Never had a problem since and the bulbs last over a year.

 

[Jimdh]

Druinz, I have had the same problem for close to 2 years at this point and have been following this thread hoping to find a solution. The problem has also followed me through a move so I do not think environmental issue are the cause.

Much like you I started with dry rock (never been in the ocean) due to pest issues in a previous tank. My question is did you ever try seeding your tank with a piece of good live rock?

I did this in a previous tank and never had these issues, but again it introduced pests.

I am also curious if it could have something to do with the small amount of sand in my tank, though I have tried to mitigate that with marine pure balls.

 

[Stoffale]

Ive had that white slime bacteria before years ago. Hell im sure i can find the forum i remember calling it something along the lines of "bacteria bloom of the gods" http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2514283 I FOUND IT LMAOOOO.... i had that exact same issue and my issue went away when a local reefer told me "bro your overcleaning and that lets that type of bacteria bloom" . he suggested i get the tank dirty by adding more fish and feeding more to get my nitrates and phosphates up and get algae growing and sure enough it got a bit ugly but as nitrates went up the slime dissipated and brown/green algae came out.

I remember when i had that stuff i would clean to the point of it being ridiculous and it would pop back up. I know the common thing is it must be dirty because the slime is growing but thats where that gets you. atleast thats where it got me, everyone kept telling me it must be my sand the rocks the water i make etc and i went around in circles for a year. Try feeding your fish more and DO NOT add corals of any type just get the tank naturally dirty grow algae.

Is this the slime you were talking about. I can’t get rid of this stuff.

 

[K7BMG]

Holly blank.
Send it to the microscope
Or a lab.
Need to identify what it is to defeat it.

 

[Paulie069]

Holly blank.
Send it to the microscope
Or a lab.
Need to identify what it is to defeat it.

Run my UV 24-7

 

[Ameer214]

Get to a detectable level of phosphate.

 

[Ky_acc]

I am dealing with a similar issue where I have a slight haze in my aquarium that never seems to go away.

It seems to help when I run a UV for a couple of days, but then the haze tends to reappear over time.

I live in an apartment and I am wondering if it could be something in the air after reading this thread.

I am thinking about going the 100% UV route and see if that helps - it would likely be good for my fish as well

 

[Shinte122305]

Is this the slime you were talking about. I can’t get rid of this stuff.

YESSSSS i had that stuff for YEARS. like literally 4 years. slime green/brown all jelly clogging up my entire system. i tried everything EVERYTHING. until a local reef store told me to stop everything i was doing add a ton of fish feed a lot and just let the tank mature. I bought 3 tangs i had only 1 ( i have a 100 gallon tank deep and wide, plus 30 sump.) i got 5 nemos and a bunch of other fish. I had 3 small tanks setup to quarantine them and after a month all went into display.

I started feeding fish 3 cubes of mysis a day and a half teaspoon of pellets plus nori and randomly i would drop more pellets. i watched nitrates and phosphates. as nitrates went up i started seeing brown/green algae the tank got ugly as hell but the slime started going away. within 2 weeks the slime was completely gone and i had to get more snails asap for all the brown algae.

its been well over a year my tank is clean no algae no slime nothing i got coralline algae everywhere and have never had slime since. My tanks stable at 5- 10 nitrates and phosphates 0.03-0.05. let me post pics of it now.

 

[Paulie069]

I am dealing with a similar issue where I have a slight haze in my aquarium that never seems to go away.

It seems to help when I run a UV for a couple of days, but then the haze tends to reappear over time.

I live in an apartment and I am wondering if it could be something in the air after reading this thread.

I am thinking about going the 100% UV route and see if that helps - it would likely be good for my fish as well

My UV light runs 24-7 past 5 months water is crystal clear

 

[Jimdh]

I have completely let my tank go for the past three months no testing, no water changes, no algae removal, no filter socks, and no skimmer. I have only added top off and started feeding about twice as much, one half to the display the other to the sump. The haze has finally cleared up completely.

I started algae removal and clean up about two weeks ago and have added a filter sock. My water has remained clear, knock on wood.

I plan to start small water changes and begin adding some more live stock (I have had two clowns in my 40 breeder through this process). I will keep you updated.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I have completely let my tank go for the past three months no testing, no water changes, no algae removal, no filter socks, and no skimmer. I have only added top off and started feeding about twice as much, one half to the display the other to the sump. The haze has finally cleared up completely.

I started algae removal and clean up about two weeks ago and have added a filter sock. My water has remained clear, knock on wood.

I plan to start small water changes and begin adding some more live stock (I have had two clowns in my 40 breeder through this process). I will keep you updated.

Thanks for the update.

Hopefully the water changes will not add back something the bacteria needed to thrive.

 

[Druinz]

Hey guys, time for an update. I think I might have a lead.
So I picked up a pair of clowns and have had them for a while. They seem nice and healthy, eat like sharks and seem to beg for food constantly.
I think the difference between now and in the past is that I have the skimmer to keep the water aerated, but I'll need to test Ph before I can confirm.

For ~3 days, I noticed my tank BEAUTIFULLY clear. I felt like I can finally START this hobby I've been trying for ~3 years. Now that my tank had my attention, I popped open the stand to check in on the sump.
I'm using a RaspBerry Pi with some program I wrote to manage ATO, light timers, etc. For some time, I hadn't noticed that I ran out of ATO water.
So, the water level in the sump was particularly low. However, when I measured with my refractometer, it measured the common 1.025. My theory is that I had tons of salt buildup on the walls and on the skimmer, so maybe it offset the evaporated.

Over the course of two days, I brought the water level back up to where it usually is, and made sure to measure (it was at about 1.024 at this point), so I felt all is well.

Literally the next day or two I'm back to it being cloudy. Which is leading me to suspect the ATO water. After testing it in the container, I hit 6 tds. However, I've had this cloudiness issue for over two years at this point, where I had 0 tds from the start with the same issue.

I'm not sure what this means but I'm sure its pointing me in the right direction.

Some more information:

• I've kept the UV on this entire time
• I'm running nylon filter socks
• No carbon
• No GFO, anything
• I'm skimming but have the little cap off so that it drains back into the tank (mostly just looking for aeration at this point)

For those wondering, I keep my ATO water in those 5-gallon water jugs that are often used for water dispensers. I've suspected them for a bit but I'm doubtful it is that.

Any ideas?

 

[MnFish1]

Hey guys, time for an update. I think I might have a lead.
So I picked up a pair of clowns and have had them for a while. They seem nice and healthy, eat like sharks and seem to beg for food constantly.
I think the difference between now and in the past is that I have the skimmer to keep the water aerated, but I'll need to test Ph before I can confirm.

For ~3 days, I noticed my tank BEAUTIFULLY clear. I felt like I can finally START this hobby I've been trying for ~3 years. Now that my tank had my attention, I popped open the stand to check in on the sump.
I'm using a RaspBerry Pi with some program I wrote to manage ATO, light timers, etc. For some time, I hadn't noticed that I ran out of ATO water.
So, the water level in the sump was particularly low. However, when I measured with my refractometer, it measured the common 1.025. My theory is that I had tons of salt buildup on the walls and on the skimmer, so maybe it offset the evaporated.

Over the course of two days, I brought the water level back up to where it usually is, and made sure to measure (it was at about 1.024 at this point), so I felt all is well.

Literally the next day or two I'm back to it being cloudy. Which is leading me to suspect the ATO water. After testing it in the container, I hit 6 tds. However, I've had this cloudiness issue for over two years at this point, where I had 0 tds from the start with the same issue.

I'm not sure what this means but I'm sure its pointing me in the right direction.

Some more information:

• I've kept the UV on this entire time
• I'm running nylon filter socks
• No carbon
• No GFO, anything
• I'm skimming but have the little cap off so that it drains back into the tank (mostly just looking for aeration at this point)

For those wondering, I keep my ATO water in those 5-gallon water jugs that are often used for water dispensers. I've suspected them for a bit but I'm doubtful it is that.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the update. even 100 (or more) TDS water is not cloudy - so I assume you meant something that you're measuring as TDS is causing a bacteria bloom? I dont know - 6 TDS is 'not that much' - Second - I would use your skimmer for what its designed (removing stuff from the water),Third-I would use carbon. My guess is without doing anything - it will be clear again in 2-3days. -

Suggest- Use the skimmer, add carbon - and make sure your RODI is 0. I would also make sure nothing is 'dead' in your tank - make sure you have plenty of flow. I Have a large discus tank - I changed from being planted - to not - I used some vibrant to kill algae (that was on some rock work) - it worked - but as the algae is dying - the water is not its usual 'crystal clear'. It will eventually balance out - in all probability.

Another possibility - is that when you're adding water - you're stirring up stuff from your sump-but I assume you would see that - one question - how long did it take after you added the ATO water to make it cloudy - and are you sure you're not overfeeding?

 

[MnFish1]

PS - what are your actual parameters - alkalinity,pH, nitrate. Sometimes - cloudiness can be precipitation of Ca and Po4

 

[Druinz]

I had the tank empty for the better part of several months (no feeding, nothing added) and it remained cloudy for the entire duration. Now that I have fish, I'm confident I'm not overfeeding.

I'll look into making sure my RODI water comes out 0TDS, and see if adding carbon helps. The water took ~one day to get cloudy once again when I topped it off.

As far as it getting clear in 2-3 days lol, I've heard that so much. I did the recommended rip cleaning that brandon recommends, I waited the time most people say it clears up in. Heck, I even restarted the tank completely with none of the same equipment 3 times. This isn't going away on its own, by any stretch of the phrase.

I'll see if I have some time to get some measurements in today so I can update with tank parameters

 

[Cory]

Hey guys, time for an update. I think I might have a lead.
So I picked up a pair of clowns and have had them for a while. They seem nice and healthy, eat like sharks and seem to beg for food constantly.
I think the difference between now and in the past is that I have the skimmer to keep the water aerated, but I'll need to test Ph before I can confirm.

For ~3 days, I noticed my tank BEAUTIFULLY clear. I felt like I can finally START this hobby I've been trying for ~3 years. Now that my tank had my attention, I popped open the stand to check in on the sump.
I'm using a RaspBerry Pi with some program I wrote to manage ATO, light timers, etc. For some time, I hadn't noticed that I ran out of ATO water.
So, the water level in the sump was particularly low. However, when I measured with my refractometer, it measured the common 1.025. My theory is that I had tons of salt buildup on the walls and on the skimmer, so maybe it offset the evaporated.

Over the course of two days, I brought the water level back up to where it usually is, and made sure to measure (it was at about 1.024 at this point), so I felt all is well.

Literally the next day or two I'm back to it being cloudy. Which is leading me to suspect the ATO water. After testing it in the container, I hit 6 tds. However, I've had this cloudiness issue for over two years at this point, where I had 0 tds from the start with the same issue.

I'm not sure what this means but I'm sure its pointing me in the right direction.

Some more information:

• I've kept the UV on this entire time
• I'm running nylon filter socks
• No carbon
• No GFO, anything
• I'm skimming but have the little cap off so that it drains back into the tank (mostly just looking for aeration at this point)

For those wondering, I keep my ATO water in those 5-gallon water jugs that are often used for water dispensers. I've suspected them for a bit but I'm doubtful it is that.

Any ideas?

Buy some distilled water and use that to see if it goes away.

 

[K7BMG]

Wow. I would get a microscope and see what you find.
Or post the pictures of what you find.

I would also considder sending a sample to a lab.

 

[Druinz]

As far as sending it to a lab, I don't have the issue with slime anymore, thankfully. Tomorrow I'm going to head to my LFS to get some RODI water. Gonna be topping off using that for a while to see if the cloudiness subsides. I'll also be adding some carbon to see if it helps pull out whatever might be causing it. If it does, I'm just going to toss my RO buddie and go for a proper 4-stage BRS setup.

At this point I don't know if I'll be annoyed or just relieved to have finally figured it out. It feels like a curse that's been going on for such a long time. I've nearly quit the hobby too many times from this.

I'll keep the post updated with my findings after some time.

 

[Druinz]

So I completely replaced my RODI unit as I had been suspecting that and read in several places that though I may have 0tds, there can be things that will not be measured that can cause this. One whole new RODI unit and a Booster pump later, I'm now down another 300$ and this the tank is just as cloudy if not more than before. ;Inpain

I have been running UV the entire time as well, still somehow cloudy. I've noticed still that at times when my ATO messes up (due to user error, will be fixing) and the salinity rises a bit, the tank will clear up for a bit. Is higher salinity the key here? I don't know anymore, this is ridiculous. I'm tired, I'm fed up. It's not the ATO source water, so that's another thing to the list.