Cloudy water problems

Koh23

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Hello!

I know, not cloudy water topic again... :)

But, water is cloudy for two weeks now, i did several smaller water changes, cut down feeding, nothing is helping.

I have enough flow, surface agitation, dont dose anything, below is list of water parameters

Salinity 35ppt
Temperature 25C
No2 0
No3 around 5
Ph 8.2
Kh 10dK
Gh 7dK
Co2 2mg/l

Only thing that i didnt test is po4, waiting for test kit to arrive.

I use active carbon in reactor (fluval carbon), skimmer is running and pulling greesnish-brown goo, change filter fleece everyday.

Two clowns, two mollys, 3 crabs, some snails, some corals (anemone, sinularia, variety of zoas, anthelia, xenia, briareum, gorgonia....) - all doing great, no algae anywhere, except diatoms on samd and rock, but slowly it goes away. Tank is almost five months old, dry rock, live sand used, cycled for two months with shrimp method, at beginning i have 2 days cloudy water, then later was crystal clear, until 2 weeks ago, when i added some corals, first fish was added after 2,5months of cycling...

In sump i have chaeto and more rock, some dry, some live rock pieces.

So i'm now sure and have no idea whats causing cloudy water, and how to eliminate that, so if anyone could help with some advice, thoughts, ideas....

Uv sterilizer is last option, hard to find here and very expensive.

I only didnt try to run some po4 remover, only thing i have available at this moment is fluval clearmax, i wonder if i should try to put one bag (100grams) in reactor, can that be solution to my problem?

Only thing that comes to my mind as possible cause is votka dosing, at some point i have very high no3, so i dosed some votka, per instrucions, after two weeks no3 level drop, then i made mistake (probably) by stoping dosage, few days after i stop - cloudy water.

Should i start to dose again?

Gratefull for any help...
 
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Koh23

Koh23

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Thank you, i started with basics, run carbon from day one, regular water changes...nothing helped.

Uv is really not an option for now, unless it becomes clear that this is only solution....
 

Evo R

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Firstly from what i read in your first post it could be one of two things;

Either bacteria bloom because you stopped the vodka dosing and the different bacteria strains multiple anywhere from 4 hours up to 30 hours. And suddenly you took their excess abundance of food away from them, while they are still multiplying, and now they are left suspended in the water Colom without excess food to consume. Only real cure is to do one massive water change. Like 80 to 100% if possible. Because doing small water changes you are just diluting the problem little by little. And in doing so just wasting your time and money doing small water changes.

Secondly it could be that the flow is to much in your carbon reactor and the carbon bits are grinding against each other and turning into fine dust, escaping the reactor sponge and entering your water Colom.

So without pics of your cloudy water, not knowing the color of the cloud, and seeing your carbon reactor, can we say for sure the problem is this or that.

Hope this helps.
 
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Koh23

Koh23

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Its white cloudy, i ruled out carbon reactor, carbon is tightly packed within sponges and plastic cutouts, so carbon dont tumble, also flow is kinda low.

Ok, if bacterial bloom is caused by stoping votka dosing, how long (if ever) it will clear itself out, i noticed that water changes does nothing (small or large %), should i increase feeding, or stop feeding?

Any other method?

Heres pic of tank, not sure what is visible, lights is low now, and water is cloudy.....
 

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REEFTIDE

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Generally when I've had this issue I just let the tank deal with it on its own. Water changes could make it worse(get milkier) and if the corals don't look upset id probably just wait.

Is there any chance this could be caused by your snails? Sometimes, when mine decide to have adult parties in the tank it'll get pretty murky
 
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Koh23

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Not sure, i think not, i only have 3 snails that i'm aware of.....

Beside, it last far too long in my opinion. Corals are happy, everything is open, but i never had situation like this, long ago on previous tank i dosed votka, even run biopellets, and when stoped, nothing hapened, so im frustrated by this situation....
 

Evo R

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How big is your tank? Because if its a small nano, even though you only have three snails....im also leaning towards a snail adult party as mentioned above.

But test your Ammonia, if its zero or below 0.5 and corals and fish and inverts are fine and feeding....leave it. your filter floss/socks and carbon will filter the cloud out in a few days time.
But if its a bacteria cloud it could lead to an sudden ammonia spike, so be prepared for a big water change just incase. But if no ammonia detected or spiked....ride it out.
 
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Koh23

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Tank is 500l, around 130g, with sump around 50g, so i assume theres about 100-110g of total water, not sure exactly....

No2 are 0, no3 is low, around 1 at this time, maybe i'm wrong, but if theres no no2 and no3 are low, there shouldnt be amonia, or?

At least, this cloudyness last about two and a half week now, so by now, if amonia is present, everyrhing will be long gone and dead ;)

Dhnguyen yes, ro/di, tds 0, resin cartridge is new, rest of unit is 5 months old....
 

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Mikeymikemike on youtube has a video that taught me a cool trick to safely and cheaply get very clear water.

You can buy powdered calcium carbonate like this:
NOW Supplements, Calcium Carbonate Powder, High Percentage of Calcium, Supports Bone Health*, 12-Ounce

Mix very well about 6oz per liter rodi. Then dose ~10ml of this white liquid per 100 gal. The tank will turn milky white at first which was alarming the first time I did it. But after a few hours this clears up. Next day the water was very, very (very) clear. I now do this maybe once a week, doesn't seem to harm anything
 
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Koh23

Koh23

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Thank you.

Sadly, i doubt that theres similar product in my country, and shipping from usa is insane.....

In my country, there's very limited options and things to buy....

I mean, if i come to conclusion that uv is only way, then i will buy uv sterilizer, but this is not my first tank, newer used uv before, never had problems with cloudy water, parasites, diseases....

So, im very very confused.....
 

Evo R

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Tank is 500l, around 130g, with sump around 50g, so i assume theres about 100-110g of total water, not sure exactly....

No2 are 0, no3 is low, around 1 at this time, maybe i'm wrong, but if theres no no2 and no3 are low, there shouldnt be amonia, or?

At least, this cloudyness last about two and a half week now, so by now, if amonia is present, everyrhing will be long gone and dead ;)

Dhnguyen yes, ro/di, tds 0, resin cartridge is new, rest of unit is 5 months old....
Going on your reply, 3 snails cant adult party that many liters of water for two and a half weeks straight.
so that rules that out.
If it was an ammonia spike and left untouched you could have had a total tank wipe within a week.
So that rules ammonia out.

Then it must be an bacteria bloom of the hypertroph (Mind the spelling) bacteria. The ones that breaks down the waste/matter into ammonia so the nightrifyer bacteria can convert to No2 and then to No3.

In essence harmless...but unsightly in your tank. Try the Calcium Carbonate as mentioned above. I also watched that same video and im keen to try that too.
 

Evo R

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Thank you.

Sadly, i doubt that theres similar product in my country, and shipping from usa is insane.....

In my country, there's very limited options and things to buy....

I mean, if i come to conclusion that uv is only way, then i will buy uv sterilizer, but this is not my first tank, newer used uv before, never had problems with cloudy water, parasites, diseases....

So, im very very confused.....
Leave the UV. Im not a fan of it either. It will work, but at the cost of losing a small percentage of your other strains of bacteria too.

I too battle to get most of the products used and or discussed on R2R in my country and yes shipping from amazon plus the stupidly high import tax here is sometimes double the amount of the purchase price of the product you want to import.

But......you will be amazed at what a little bit of ingredient research and a visit to your local pharmacy/chemist can yield!!!!
 

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Thank you.

Sadly, i doubt that theres similar product in my country, and shipping from usa is insane.....

In my country, there's very limited options and things to buy....

I mean, if i come to conclusion that uv is only way, then i will buy uv sterilizer, but this is not my first tank, newer used uv before, never had problems with cloudy water, parasites, diseases....

So, im very very confused.....
Powdered calcium carbonate is a common dietary supplement. Try any drug store, or possibly even grocery store.
 
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Koh23

Koh23

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Thank you, i'll go tomorrow and try to get some of that.

Nice anegdote, because of some local laws regarding "dangerous supstances", in my pharmacy store once asked me my id, personal data and i need to sign some form that i will not use that product for illegal stuff. What i buy, u may aksing? Few grams of NaHCO3

On another time, they refused to sell me few drops of chloroform, to glue some acryl pieces.....

So, i'll try....

As far as cloudines goes, its always the same, less noticeable at lower light settings, but the same....

Thank you all for your help!
 
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Koh23

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Quick question, if it is bacterial bloom, should i feed less or more to clear?

Tnx!
 
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Koh23

Koh23

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Ok, calcium quest gets me nowhere, so i gave up, situation i tank is terrible, milky water, all white, despite that, what can i see - corals are great, but...

I got 15w uv, how much flow i need, i read that for bacterial removal you cant have too much flow, is that true?

Will 1500 liter per hour be enough, or i need more...or less flow?

Thanx!
 

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