I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a tank that has been set up 4 months. And water is cloudy. My Amonia, Nitrite and nitrates are 0 but tank has been cycled. I did the first water change last weekend and about 15-20 gallons and another last night of 20 gallons. I tried a Focculant earlier in the week and vaccumed the accumuli in yesterdays change. I also added a UV sterilizer to my sump on Saturday afternoon. It is a smaller 13W Aquatop, I probably should have gone bigger but I figure for $100 it was worth trying and easy all in one. So after all of this i still have cloudy water. I read on here somewhere that a water change wont help if it is an algae bloom. I am looking for someone who really knows what they are doing to help me out and either reply or DM me. I can send pics if you need or give more info.
Still have cloudy water
- Thread starter sgterik
- Start date
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just rip clean the tank, which means wash all your substrate and change all the water and its fixed. we have a 30 page thread doing this without a single loss in tanks 2 days old out to 15 years old.
if your tank is too big to rip clean, then you have to wait. but if you can simply change it all, that doesn't harm the bacteria. the only tanks that have to wait are the ones so huge you can't reasonably force a new direction. in two hours flat/no wait literally. you don't have to progress through stages where you dislike the tank/buy things/do random actions and hope for change. you can simply command change right now, if you'd like.
You have future access needs that are remedied by making the tank uncloudy by actually removing waste vs just burning off growths that capitalize on it. When you do water changes, kicking up the sand can repeatedly cloud in some setups we've collected...its nice to be able to have motion in the tank including cleaning access not cause headaches. There is no benefit to keeping the cloudy agents in the sand and rock and water, do consider that option before your tank is heavily stocked and even harder to access.
if your tank is too big to rip clean, then you have to wait. but if you can simply change it all, that doesn't harm the bacteria. the only tanks that have to wait are the ones so huge you can't reasonably force a new direction. in two hours flat/no wait literally. you don't have to progress through stages where you dislike the tank/buy things/do random actions and hope for change. you can simply command change right now, if you'd like.
You have future access needs that are remedied by making the tank uncloudy by actually removing waste vs just burning off growths that capitalize on it. When you do water changes, kicking up the sand can repeatedly cloud in some setups we've collected...its nice to be able to have motion in the tank including cleaning access not cause headaches. There is no benefit to keeping the cloudy agents in the sand and rock and water, do consider that option before your tank is heavily stocked and even harder to access.
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themcnertney
Valuable Member
I recently as of a couple weeks ago went through the same thing. Filter floss and water changes is what I credit for solving the bloom in my case.
www.reef2reef.com
Relocated tank
Hello. I just, as of yesterday, relocated my 220 gallon w/ 75 gallon mixed reef. The whole process took about one week. I had totes set up to store coral, rock and fish. Last night I filled the tank and add everything. The smell coming from the sump is pretty bad. The water is pretty cloudy. I...
www.reef2reef.com
themcnertney
Valuable Member
Doesn't look all that bad. Are you using RODI?it is a whitish tint. I have a sock with floss, a KLIR 4" roller for more mechanical as well. Then carbon and some Chemipure
MichaelReefer
2500 Club Member
Thats not that bad...lol. I have had a WAY worse bacterial bloom in my Freshwater. Looked like someone poured milk in it lol. Just run that UV Sterilizer 24/7 and keep the tank as clean as you can until it boils over.
Give it a week or two. Will clear up.
Give it a week or two. Will clear up.
Glott3133
Active Member
I would say that because your tank is only 4 months old, there are still some things that your tank may be going through that can cause this cloudiness. Your tank is not fully mature at this point.
put a stick in, shake a bit of sand from the middle sections and see if a big cloud erupts still. if its not bad then at least the sand can be ruled out/current impacting the sand causing the sustained cloud. even if a small cloud erupts, it wont be a big deal in this new tank merely a helpful assessment. if the sand is the contributor, then re rinsing it can stop the issue.
agreed, we don't see 4 mo sustained bac blooms in cycling. could be sand silt+ current interactions. quick disturbance test, film it for a quick easy video to see/curious
we have on file a 120 gallon rip cleaning/total clarity cleanup event. sixty more gallons added to the job isn't a dealbreaker if required.
agreed, we don't see 4 mo sustained bac blooms in cycling. could be sand silt+ current interactions. quick disturbance test, film it for a quick easy video to see/curious
we have on file a 120 gallon rip cleaning/total clarity cleanup event. sixty more gallons added to the job isn't a dealbreaker if required.
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I had the same thing and was cloudy for weeks. I tried water changes but every time my nutrients had dropped and didn’t like that. I finally got around to installing the uv sterilizer and after about 3 days water was drastically clearer. I feel like it was the sole reason for the clearing. I run mine in line direct return at around 1500 gph. I would make sure u run your uv at recommended gph for bacteria issue. Hope this helps and if you need any more details.
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MichaelReefer
2500 Club Member
Did you rinse your sand? Sometimes new sand will put a lot of "dust" in the water column and it can take a while to all clear out, especially if your power-heads are turned up too high.
