Extremely Cloudy Water!!!(pic)

[Lowman]

Oh and are you using ro/di water?

[reefnjunkie]

Okay, I should have been a slight more specific, I only kept a handful of gravel from my fw tank, so you can only see a few pebbles here and there. I've had sand since the start. ANd I did NOT rinse the rock in freshwater. What I did was a water change and collected the water I siphoned out into a bucket, then scrubbed them in that bucket of water and restored the loss of water with new water. So I cleaned them up in salt water!

 

How much would a hang on uv sterilizer cost??

 

Could not answer that-I have an inline that I got WITH a canister filter online at a certain site that has auctions-both ran me 60.00 plus shipping.

 

I would not start "jumping" to "solutions", the UV is a nice addition but many will say they are "snake oil" no truth to them-Gotta love opinions-everyone has one.

 

I agree with Bob if this is something you have been battling for awhile-3 weeks or more-My first thoughts were

 

FW to SW bad-but you cleared up the fact that you basically started all over, Hopefully emptied and boiled all the rock, rinsed, rinsed and rinsed again.

Then started from scratch.

 

Next thought was your nem died and has melted and is polluting everything-(make sure your nem is alive) I agree not enough light for a nem-IMO-I think I recall you asking about lights/nems, maybe not.

 

So if you are using RO/DI water which I recommend being in the area you are and your tests kits are reliable, and your bulbs are new (6 months or newer)

 

A lot of folks have touched on what to do, so weigh it all out and see what sounds right or makes sense-my first hunch was like I said FW to SW not rinsing or cleaning-BAD, you cleared that up.

 

Next thought and still curious, is the nem alive or melting- Algae is one thing, the cloudy water????

 

You may want to try the question in other forums as well-Get as many answers as you can and make an educated "guess"

 

Good luck

[Gill]

There is a lot to be said for a low budget system. IMO you can get away with it if you are vigilant, cautious and roll with the punches. Don't give up on your set up just yet. I really believe your major problem here is the 12 hour light cycle. We just need to get you through this and then you can experience red slime LOL.

 

When I bought my hang on the back UV it ended up costing my 175$ with the pump. That being said I bought it at what is arguably the most expensive LFS in oregon (IMO they are also the most knowledgeable). So i'm sure you could pay less online or better yet used!!! Also see if someone might lend one to you. You will not need to run it for more than a month. My offer to let you have mine still stands but I see you are in bend so that does present a problem.

 

There are a million high tech gadgets for your tank, but it is amazing what you can do with none of them. Don't get discouraged don't overfeed, and don't buy anymore fish LOL

[Mandinga]

are you using CARBON?!?

 

ALSO, some salt brands are known to cloud up water for lengthy periods of time...If your parameters are all ok, I wouldnt freak and start your whole system over. take your time...especially if things look healthy...give it a few more days....but definitely throw in a double dose of carbon ASAP.

[Gill]

If you do decide to buy a sump, better lighting ect. you will save a lot of money in the long run if you save up and buy a complete system used (either from the classifieds on this site or craigslist).

[reefnjunkie]

I run 12 hour photo periods on 2 tanks, on 20 gallon MH only 12 hours a day and the main display 10 hours MH 12 actinic.

 

Lighting might be adding to an issue but in the long run, after this issue is solved 12 hours a day is fine-IMO

 

reducing the photo period should certainly help but until they cause is discovered it may just return-

 

Never a black and white answer in this hobby-WAY to many varibles

[Gill]

I don't mean to be offensive if this in fact not an attempt at a low budget system. It just all seams very reminiscent of my first set up which was very low budget.

[grassi]

I run 12 hour photo periods on 2 tanks, on 20 gallon MH only 12 hours a day and the main display 10 hours MH 12 actinic.

 

Lighting might be adding to an issue but in the long run, after this issue is solved 12 hours a day is fine-IMO

 

reducing the photo period should certainly help but until they cause is discovered it may just return-

 

Never a black and white answer in this hobby-WAY to many varibles

 

Me too. I run my lights 10 (MH) + 2 (vho) with no problem. This is what I've seen as a photoperiod in the most beautiful and healthy tanks.

IMO lights should be run less or none only if temp goes to high, algae bloom and cycling/aging of a new tank.

I would suggest what Lowman suggested: it is easier and you will have good results in the long run.

[Berger9953]

My rock was brand new too, all cured. My nem is very healthy in spite of the algae bloom, there is no algae on the sand or rocks, just in the water column. I cannot do a sump for sure. I was running activated carbon, but stopped because it didn't seem to help anything. Thank you all for the advice, but I'm still very confused about what to do.

 

P.S. I bought a brand new skimmer, the brand is unknown, but it takes out alot of bad stuff, it does a good job.

[ReeFit]

the other question i would pose, which is nearly always a cause of algae blooms. Is the tank anywhere near direct sunlight? cut the light off the tank for a few days. if you have carbon, don't use it, especially if its low budget carbon, if its saturated or old it will leach phosphates back into the water. clean your filtration alot. GFO is probably something you should try to reduce your phosphates. don't use tap water or well water if its not run under a RODI system. Decaying organic matter creates phosphates which is the primary source of the algae growth. my bet is also on the freshwater gravel or a source of organic material leeching from something.

[Gill]

Wow I had no idea you guys were running such long photo periods!!! Your corals must love you!!! Your water must be perfect no phosphates ext. Do you both run RODI with vigorous skimming???

[Rick]

Whatever is causing this will probably require drastic measures to stop unless it is something simple. (Like pouring new water into the tank every few days and stirring up the sand or dosing the tank with too much carbon) I.E. Either start over or shut all the lights off and cover the tank for a month to kill everything and then seed it again to start fresh.

[Rick]

.... there is no algae on the sand or rocks' date=' just in the water column....[/quote']

 

The only time I have seen an algae bloom in just the water column is when there was an excessive dose of carbon in the tank. I get this when I dump a couple of tablespoons of sugar into the tank. (About 200 gallons so it wouldn't take that much in a smaller tank) It clears up after a day though.

[DennisW]

Go down to FantaSeas and get a bottle of "Clarity" by SeaChem. It is an anti-flocculating agent. It will clear the water rather quickly. Definitely wont solve your problem in the long run but, it WILL clear up your tank.

 

Dennis

[ReeFit]

Go down to FantaSeas and get a bottle of "Clarity" by SeaChem. It is an anti-flocculating agent. It will clear the water rather quickly. Definitely wont solve your problem in the long run but, it WILL clear up your tank.

 

Dennis

 

that would be quite the drive from bend oregon. LOL

[jackaninny]

I think that length of light is too much for a younger tank. I would cut the light cycle in half and then increase it really slowly over the next few months - maybe 15 min every 2 weeks.

 

You might also make sure you've got some good seed rock in the tank and drop another 5 lbs of cured live rock in the tank.

 

Also, I'm pretty sure I remember another thread where you mentioned that you were not using RODI water. Do you have a good 4 or 5 stage filter currently? When did you last change the filters?do you have a TDS meter?

[grassi]

Wow I had no idea you guys were running such long photo periods!!! Your corals must love you!!! Your water must be perfect no phosphates ext. Do you both run RODI with vigorous skimming???

 

Yes, water perfect. All zeros

I was running just a RO until a few months ago, then I had some algae. I don't know if that was the cause because I took many actions (GFO, carbon, more flow, DI). I also skim a lot and wet. I empty the 5 gallon bucket every other week, with a total volume of about 100 gallons of water. And I do weekly water changes too.

I think you can even have a 14 hours of light, if you take care of the effects of it somewhere else.

[Berger9953]

Thanks guys, I'm using a 4 stage ro water system I got from the pure water club. My rock was from a established aquarium from my lfs, only a handful of gravel from my fw setup was kept, the only reason I did that was so that the cycle would speed up because of the bacteria on the gravel. I'll cut down on my lights.

[DennisW]

that would be quite the drive from bend oregon. LOL

It's worth it

 

Dennis

[jgf86123]

The problem is that freshwater bacteria and saltwater bacteria aren't the same......

[Gill]

It's worth it

 

Dennis

 

+1 on that LOL

[Berger9953]

And my tank isn't in sunlight at all maybe for 10 min in the morning, but that is it. I've set my timer so I only have about 8 hours of light, should i reduce it more? Thank you all so much for trying to help! I really have a big problem here and I couldn't do it without all of you guys!

[reefboy]

if there are no corals in the tank turn lights off and run carbon it will clear within a week if not sooner

[Berger9953]

I'll put the carbon back in. I have the Tetra carbon.

[7Max-GTE]

Tetra is low grade carbon. It can leach phosphates and silicates into the water. Go with Marineland Black Diamond carbon or something better quality along those lines. Also freshwater gravel will erode in saltwater and leach silicates. Lastly cutting your photoperiod back from 10 hours to 8 hours will have a HUGE impact on the algae, and will not affect coral. Coral is only photosensative in that it needs at least 8 hours of light a day. Anything more doesn't really do much for them. Hope that helps!