I could not identify any other reason, and the only change from yesterday was the temp change. All other routines are the same for months. PH is still going up though above 8 so hopefully no fallout from this.I'd consider other factors.
I cannot say it is impossible, but it seems unlikely.
Curious why the temperature was increased 1 F.Quick question, I increased the water temperature by 1F from 78 to 79 yesterday, and overnight it seems as if this caused a bacterial bloom in a 9 month old tank. Is this a likely cause or should I consider other factors?
Great questions and alternative problem statement. I did not think of calcium carbonate precipitation.
Did not even think of changing controllers was the reason for the change.
I tested calcium (Hanna), magnesium (salifert), and alkalinity (Hanna), and it does not seem the numbers are odd - which I thought were all related to calcium carbonate precipitation.
The tank does have various types of filtration (carbon, GFO, filter floss - last change this Saturday, skimmer, etc.), is away from the window, approx. ten feet away from the window, and I would be sincere if I did not spend enough time on maintenance, but this does truly not apply. I spend a significant amount of time each day, specifically on the weekend (1h per weekday and 2+ hours each Sat and Sunday). And overfeeding, well, this is relative. Still, we feed half cube daily of frozen food San Francisco Bay brand multi-pack for the following fish - two clowns, one blenny, one firefish, one Randall goby, and one court jester goby - overfeeding?
carbon, GFO, filter floss - would be media and not filtration but used in filtration
I am coming around to bacteria bloom but thinking it is a coincidence. Another thought is that it might be possible to have not noticed periodic blooms in the recent past that were not quite visible. This last one just happened to be more intense, you noticed it, and thought it was a special event.
Understood. Thank you. It just came suddenly overnight, I could not find any dead animals, and we had also not changed the routine significantly for a few months, except adding more GFO a week ago since phosphate has not been dropping (0.28). I also thought that bacteria like warmer temperatures which was the only ‘real’ change I have made in the past 24 hours, and that it just passed a tipping point to trigger that - maybe just a too simple thought I had.
If you take a couple stacked coffee filters in a funnel and pour ~1Liter of water through them several times, until the filters start to slow a little bit, you might be able to catch enough material. I'm not sure this'll work - but a filter slowing would tell you it is working.
Of the reasons I can think of that would trigger a bacterial bloom, almost none of them are things you'd actually be likely to observe before it happened. So lack of observation tells you little.
If only fewer things happened, we might have better odds!
Thanks, I knew you had some ideas. I like the coffee filter idea. For fun, I might take it up a notch and push all my aquarium water through one (or until it clogs) and see what I collect.If you take a couple stacked coffee filters in a funnel and pour ~1Liter of water through them several times, until the filters start to slow a little bit, you might be able to catch enough material. I'm not sure this'll work - but a filter slowing would tell you it is working.
If the material is green - then it's an algae bloom
If the material bubbles when you pour vinegar on it, it's mostly precipitation.
If the material is pale/yellow/tan and doesn't react with vinegar, then I'd bet a bacterial bloom.
alternately, if you fill a glass beaker and it's almost totally settled and clarified in an hour then I'd bet precipitation.
Of the reasons I can think of that would trigger a bacterial bloom, almost none of them are things you'd actually be likely to observe before it happened. So lack of observation tells you little.
Precipitation from elevated temp in my system happens on the heater surface - not in the water.
If only fewer things happened, we might have better odds!
Could have been snails releasing sperm/eggs in the water stream. This happened to me the other day actually.
I believe now that this is what happened. Thanks so much!
