Recurring Bacterial Bloom

[D_0827]

Hi,
I wanted to share a tiny success that I’ve had with a recurring bacterial bloom.

My tank is about 5 months old, never have had crystal clear water which I’ve been told it’s kind of normal in a new tank. Redsea reefer 170.
Recently after adding more live rock (not sure if it’s related somehow) I started experiencing back to back bacterial blooms. It looked horrible and was pretty frustrating.. I added carbon (it did nothing) but decided I would ride out the bloom. This was going on for a month and a half.
Water changes didn’t help (normal when it comes to BBs).

Anyways the solution that I came across that has helped for anyone going through this was Seachem Clarity. I added 3 bottle caps and about 36 hours later my tank was clearing up and a whole lot of gunk in the filter sock which I’m still changing out every 2 days.

I’ve added a before and after video. The lighting doesn’t give a clear picture of what the tank was going through but I couldn’t even see the power head standing from the front of my tank.

Good luck to anyone going through this same issue and hope this helps someone a bit.

 

[Spare time]

How often do you change the filter socks?


I would get a cheap UV.

 

[D_0827]

How often do you change the filter socks?


I would get a cheap UV.

Normally once a week.

After the bacterial bloom I was changing out filter socks every single day.
Now Im changing every 2 days.

 

[Spare time]

Normally once a week.

After the bacterial bloom I was changing out filter socks every single day.
Now Im changing every 2 days.

Usually these blooms come from something rotting, so adding scavengers and cleaning socks frequently should help prevent them. You can always buy a cheap UV sterilizer to help. It might not be a bad idea to run the UV at night as a precaution (as that is when oxygen is lowest and the blooms become dangerous) if these blooms are frequent and you cant identify the source.