Suddenly cloudy water and skimmer going nuts?

[Leyth]

So things have been quite stable in my 90 gallon tank for weeks. 8.5 Alk, 450 Cal, 1400 Mag. Everything was doing fine and I haven't touched the tank other than to feed it. All of a sudden I walk in one day and the skimmer is going nuts. I didn't have time to investigate so I turned the skimmer off. I left it off over night and the next day the water is super cloudy, but everything was fine. All the fish and coral seem unaffected.

I did a 30% water change and now I am noticing the cloudiness go away little by little each day. We are on day 4 now and I think the cloudiness will be gone by the weekend. I checked alkalinity today and it was up to 10. My tank is on ATI essentials and it's a 5ml dose everyday with 1ml being every few hours. My anemone's seem to be the only ones that are slightly unhappy.

The only theory that I have is that I have been finishing my basement. I've painted the walls, mopped the concrete floor with Nature's Miracle (https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Mira...+miracle&qid=1555627998&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-5), and I then applied primer to the concrete using Zinsser B-I-N primer. Initially I thought that it had to be the work I did in the basement. However, I have a 17 gallon reef right next to my 90 gallon that is completely unaffected and showing none of the same symptoms.

Any guesses or ideas as to what may of happened?

 

[ihavecrabs]

Bacteria bloom?

 

[dwest]

So things have been quite stable in my 90 gallon tank for weeks. 8.5 Alk, 450 Cal, 1400 Mag. Everything was doing fine and I haven't touched the tank other than to feed it. All of a sudden I walk in one day and the skimmer is going nuts. I didn't have time to investigate so I turned the skimmer off. I left it off over night and the next day the water is super cloudy, but everything was fine. All the fish and coral seem unaffected.

I did a 30% water change and now I am noticing the cloudiness go away little by little each day. We are on day 4 now and I think the cloudiness will be gone by the weekend. I checked alkalinity today and it was up to 10. My tank is on ATI essentials and it's a 5ml dose everyday with 1ml being every few hours. My anemone's seem to be the only ones that are slightly unhappy.

The only theory that I have is that I have been finishing my basement. I've painted the walls, mopped the concrete floor with Nature's Miracle (https://www.amazon.com/Natures-Miracle-Advanced-Eliminator-Severe/dp/B07263M9HC/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=nature's+miracle&qid=1555627998&s=pet-supplies&sr=1-5), and I then applied primer to the concrete using Zinsser B-I-N primer. Initially I thought that it had to be the work I did in the basement. However, I have a 17 gallon reef right next to my 90 gallon that is completely unaffected and showing none of the same symptoms.

Any guesses or ideas as to what may of happened?

Painting can cause the skimmer to go nuts.

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Zinsser BIN is a shellac based product - the solvent is 95% ethanol with a few denaturants thrown in. Pretty good bet that your skimmer pulled in enough ethanol to "carbon dose" your tank, which caused a bacterial bloom. Glad everything worked out, but there's a thread on Reef Central about a dentist's office with a large FOWLR. The restaurant next door caught fire, and a restoration company was called into the shopping center. To kill the smoke smell, they sprayed all of the ceiling tiles and the surfaces of the plenum with Zinsser, which nuked the dentist's tank - all inhabitants died.

Bottom line - probably best to turn off the skimmer and cover the tank with a sheet when applying any sort of coating with a high VOC content.

 

[Leyth]

Zinsser BIN is a shellac based product - the solvent is 95% ethanol with a few denaturants thrown in. Pretty good bet that your skimmer pulled in enough ethanol to "carbon dose" your tank, which caused a bacterial bloom. Glad everything worked out, but there's a thread on Reef Central about a dentist's office with a large FOWLR. The restaurant next door caught fire, and a restoration company was called into the shopping center. To kill the smoke smell, they sprayed all of the ceiling tiles and the surfaces of the plenum with Zinsser, which nuked the dentist's tank - all inhabitants died.

Bottom line - probably best to turn off the skimmer and cover the tank with a sheet when applying any sort of coating with a high VOC content.

Wow that is crazy. That would make sense because my 17 gallon does not have a skimmer. Do you think I should turn the skimmer off now then?

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Presuming that you're done painting/coating, and you've aired out the space, no, I would definitely not shut off the simmer. It's extremely important that you remove this bacteria from the system, because the respiration of this bacteria is what actually kills fish and other inhabitants from low oxygen levels. Turning the skimmer off now would make that worse.

If you've got other coating/painting to do, however, I'd turn the skimmer off, and cover the tank with something breathable, such as a sheet. Allow the coating/paint to cure with a window open and a fan blowing air inside, then uncover the tank and re-start the skimmer as soon as the air clears. I'd suggest that you want to complete this whole process within a couple of hours; depending on the bioload in the tank, I certainly wouldn't want to leave it covered with the skimmer off overnight.

One other way to deal with this that takes some of the pressure off; if you have an inexpensive air pump, a long piece of silicone airline tubing, and an airstone, you could put the air pump outside, run the tubing into the tank, cover it with a sheet, and do whatever coating/painting that you wish with the tank covered and the skimmer off at your leisure - the air from the pump will ensure that your system isn't starved for oxygen.

 

[ca1ore]

Perhaps a spawning event. I had a large pocilopora colony a while back that would spawn periodically, with attendant cloudiness and skimmer madness. Could be bacterial bloom, I suppose, it’s the de rigeur response to ‘my tank is cloudy’ on these boards LOL. I’ve never actually had one.

 

[Leyth]

Presuming that you're done painting/coating, and you've aired out the space, no, I would definitely not shut off the simmer. It's extremely important that you remove this bacteria from the system, because the respiration of this bacteria is what actually kills fish and other inhabitants from low oxygen levels. Turning the skimmer off now would make that worse.

If you've got other coating/painting to do, however, I'd turn the skimmer off, and cover the tank with something breathable, such as a sheet. Allow the coating/paint to cure with a window open and a fan blowing air inside, then uncover the tank and re-start the skimmer as soon as the air clears. I'd suggest that you want to complete this whole process within a couple of hours; depending on the bioload in the tank, I certainly wouldn't want to leave it covered with the skimmer off overnight.

One other way to deal with this that takes some of the pressure off; if you have an inexpensive air pump, a long piece of silicone airline tubing, and an airstone, you could put the air pump outside, run the tubing into the tank, cover it with a sheet, and do whatever coating/painting that you wish with the tank covered and the skimmer off at your leisure - the air from the pump will ensure that your system isn't starved for oxygen.

Nice, thank you for the information. Things are looking better today. My smaller tank is a little cloudy today so I put an airstone in since there is no skimmer. I am skimming on the larger tank. So far no casualties.