Cloudy water

[santeeeyyy]

Just filled up a new tank with water. I used old sand and tried cleaning the rock and sand the best I could. I assume it’s just a bacterial bloom, right. I put in some live rock from my other system and then dumped some bacteria in a bottle. No live stock. Filled the tank with RO then dumped salt in there the other day. Should I do anything else or just wait?

 

[bubbgee]

Waiting is best. If no corals, just leave the light off for a while. Worst case, you need a cheap UV sterilizer that you can remove after that bloom.

 

[santeeeyyy]

Waiting is best. If no corals, just leave the light off for a while. Worst case, you need a cheap UV sterilizer that you can remove after that bloom.

yea, I have no live stock at all so I have no light as well. was gonna slap my radion on it when I move my coral. I do have a 30w LED with a gooseneck I was planning on putting on when I first introduce a couple of fish and cc to get coraline growing.

 

[santeeeyyy]

Are bacteria blooms supposed to smell so bad? this water smells like sewage

 

[UncommonSense]

Are bacteria blooms supposed to smell so bad? this water smells like sewage

If I read your original process correctly; you put cycled live rock in the new tank, then filled the tank with fresh water, then mixed the salt in…

My immediate guess would be that the smell is from the die-off of life on the once cycled rock from being effectively freshwater dipped!

 

[fish_collector]

There's organic material on the rocks that's decaying. In your OP you said you put in some LR from another system along with some bottled bac, then filled it with RO and then added salt? If that was the sequence you used the life on the rock has died and is where the odor is coming from.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Sounds like bacterial die off if you ask me.

 

[santeeeyyy]

There's organic material on the rocks that's decaying. In your OP you said you put in some LR from another system along with some bottled bac, then filled it with RO and then added salt? If that was the sequence you used the life on the rock has died and is where the odor is coming from.

kinda, I used "cleaned" dead LR and cleaned sand and then did RO, did salt, and then my water was blurry, salinnity was good so I dumped my bottle of bacteria and used some LR from another system, the water is becoming clearer since then

 

[fish_collector]

Yeah it sounds like there's some organics that are decaying. It might take a few weeks but it'll clear out. Sand is really hard to get it clean too especially the fine stuff.

I didn't get some rock clean enough once and it stunk up the room the tank was in lol. Nowadays I use bleach in the water to clean rock (not in the tank but in a bucket or whatever), then rinse well and let it air dry.

 

[Spare time]

Make sure to do a big water change when you are done. Add some carbon in the filter to help with the smell.

 

[santeeeyyy]

Make sure to do a big water change when you are done. Add some carbon in the filter to help with the smell.

Yeah, I put in carbon.