So I think I caused a mini cycle...

[Milkmanskid]

I've never had one before but I'm betting this is what has happened. I cleaned my tank VERY well last week as it just needed a good going through instead of the usual water change and a little scrape of the glass as per my usual maintenance. I noticed after a couple days my two digitata sps were not looking that great and my zoa garden wasn't looking to hit either. I let it go as to not over react and make a problem worse.

The next day, my digitata's and my acro were solid white[emoji17]. It also claimed my Kenya tree. I knew if I had killed that thing something was certainly wrong. Anyways, I had already tested the usual stuff mag, alk, salinity, and calcium. Everything was right where it normally is. Something told me to check ammonia. Gut instinct I guess and yep! 1.0 on the scale! I instantly put in prime and I have done a 15 gallon water change as of last night. All fish, lps, and other sps coral seem to be fine. One of my anemones moved slightly but stayed out otherwise. Are zoa's and GSP that sensitive to changes such as this?

I will say I have never seen my tank this cloudy when cleaning before and I should have known better but it just wasn't something that really crossed my mind at the time. The only thing that made me think was the smell. It smelled like concentrated sea water but no stinky smell. I ad never smelled it that strongly. Gut tells me I threw my tank into a cycle. So do the diatoms on my sandbed now. The only other change was I had dosed two days apart 5 ml vinegar each of the two days and adjusted flow in the tank. What do you think and how do I not cause further damage besides keep doing what I'm doing with prime and water changes? Would you continue to vacuum the sandbed in the future?

80 gallon SCA cube (100 gallons total volume)
Cheato in sump and SCA-302 skimmer
Sal: 1.025
Cal: 425
Alk: 8.4
Mag: 1125
Phos: 0.1
Ammonia: 0 now (used prime though)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

 

[Mr. Bill]

Yes, keep doing what you're doing with Prime and water changes. And yes, to prevent another such occurrence, keep your sandbed clean, but only vacuum 1/4 to 1/3 with each water change, unless it's a deep sandbed. You should never touch a DSB, but instead, add Nassaurus snails or a Fighting Conch to slowly keep it clean.

 

[Tahoe61]

Had you dosed Vinegar before? Almost sounds like a bacterial bloom from too much carbon dosing and that would also explain the ammonia level.

 

[brandon429]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

That's multi tanks rip cleaned no recycle

Doing partial cleaning is what got you, it takes courage to do the full clean all at once, it seems to be destabilizing, but that collection there shows otherwise. The full cleaning is the safer mode.

Stirring the top layer of sand occasionally during water changes is okay only if you start off with a sand bed that cannot cloud in the first place.

There are ways you can partially clean a sand bed back into compliance that was allowed to accumulate but it's not as safe as a thorough one time cleaning

The type of sandbeds that run fully untouched should be in a remote chamber or a bucket, not in the main display tank where fish waste and feed compound issues. You have the option of running a reef tank with no dangerous zones that you have to be leery of

 

[Milkmanskid]

Had you dosed Vinegar before? Almost sounds like a bacterial bloom from too much carbon dosing and that would also explain the ammonia level.

Yes I had. Slowly ramped up from 1 ml to 5 ml

 

[Milkmanskid]

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/t...ead-aka-one-against-many.230281/#post-2681445

That's multi tanks rip cleaned no recycle

Doing partial cleaning is what got you, it takes courage to do the full clean all at once, it seems to be destabilizing, but that collection there shows otherwise. The full cleaning is the safer mode.

Stirring the top layer of sand occasionally during water changes is okay only if you start off with a sand bed that cannot cloud in the first place.

There are ways you can partially clean a sand bed back into compliance that was allowed to accumulate but it's not as safe as a thorough one time cleaning

The type of sandbeds that run fully untouched should be in a remote chamber or a bucket, not in the main display tank where fish waste and feed compound issues. You have the option of running a reef tank with no dangerous zones that you have to be leery of

Got ya. Yes I should have rinsed the sand before I put it in the tank to help avoid the mud issues. I usually vacuum the sand bed but I never thoroughly stir it up and vacuum sand bed after. That's what leads me to believe it could have been that. I've never seen the tank that cloudy besides when I put the sand in during setup

 

[brandon429]

I think the handiest takeaway is that wherever detritus goes, the recycle risk follows (need to be able to account for all fish too) and where it is absent, the only thing you can do to cause a recycle and even a mini cycle would be to dose antibacterial medications, given all large animals are accounted for


It's neat to know that cycles are so predictable we don't ever have to own an ammonia test kit, in the end it gives total confidence to your reefing regarding control over all cycles. Other than the immediate loss your tank is ready to go within 24 hours

Hey if it still has that potential, wanna do a full cleaning like this one:


https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/383430-brown-cloudy-water/