Cloudy Water

[nalamar]

I'm setting up a new tank and have ordered gulf live rock. I got everything setup and ready for my delivery however my water turned cloudy a couple days ago. I have absolutely nothing in the tank. I have increased service agitation, installed a uv sterilizer, and changed filter media. It's still cloudy, I'm thinking maybe calcium precipitation but not sure. Any recommendations on how to solve this issue?

 

[get-salty]

Howdy.

Do you know your water parameters?
Lets post them here and we can dissect the issues.

 

[nalamar]

Howdy.

Do you know your water parameters?
Lets post them here and we can dissect the issues.

I've only tested my SG 1.026 and my PH is 7.8-8

 

[BryanM]

I would test more than that, especially since you're having issues with nothing in the tank and you have expensive live rock on the way.

Did you use RODI water to make your salt water, or tap?

 

[W31Olds]

I recently received and order of TBS Rock and put it one of my holding QT Tanks. It sent the Phosphates and Nitrates through the roof. Stuff is dying off still but has slowed down.

 

[nalamar]

I would test more than that, especially since you're having issues with nothing in the tank and you have expensive live rock on the way.

Did you use RODI water to make your salt water, or tap?

Yes I use RODI to make my saltwater, using AccuraSea1 salt

What else should I test?

 

[BryanM]

I hate to say calcium because its a pain to test... You can start with alk first, but precip happens when alk or calc are too high.

Otherwise cloudy water is often associated with a bacterial bloom, which would be odd with a new setup and nothing in the tank.

 

[nalamar]

I hate to say calcium because its a pain to test... You can start with alk first, but precip happens when alk or calc are too high.

Otherwise cloudy water is often associated with a bacterial bloom, which would be odd with a new setup and nothing in the tank.

Would it be easier to scrap the water and put brand new water in?

 

[BryanM]

That is probably what I would personally do, but it would still be good to try and find the root cause.

 

[get-salty]

to clarify the current state of your tank.. there is absolutely nothing in tank but saltwater ?

have you added any turbo start ( bacteria in a bottle ) ?

 

[nalamar]

to clarify the current state of your tank.. there is absolutely nothing in tank but saltwater ?

have you added any turbo start ( bacteria in a bottle )

Only saltwater, haven't added anything to it.

 

[nalamar]

View attachment 20260226_095310_E3DEC443-1B5A-4C8D-80D1-11AA6DB7EE30.mov
Here’s a picture and a video that kind of shows something in the water column

 

[get-salty]

Here’s a picture and a video that kind of shows something in the water column

Honestly i dont see cloudy water. to me, thats just how saltwater under led light. now, it may be a tad bit cloudy and this is prob your filtration. Depends on how you setup your filter chamber back there but id up it.

 

[BryanM]

What filter media do you use? Any filter socks?

There's definitely "stuff" floating in the water... I wonder if running carbon might clean it up.

 

[get-salty]

What filter media do you use? Any filter socks?

There's definitely "stuff" floating in the water... I wonder if running carbon might clean it up.

right. im putting $2 bux on the filtration.

 

[JayReefs97]

I had this exact tank setup, it was cloudy until I honed in on filtration, I added big media bag of marine pure balls, filter floss on top of that and then put the pad that is included in the middle chamber. Another thing with this tank that makes it so that fine dust doesn't get sucked out is if the water in the back chambers is too high, you want the right chamber to be higher than the middle so that the water pours down about an inch or 2 into the middle chamber and hits the filter pad, if not the water will pour directly back into the return chamber. hope this helps

 

[nalamar]

Thank you, I am using the intank media tray with the water flow director. Chamber one is defiantly higher than chamber 2. I'm using the blue and white filter media

 

[JayReefs97]

I would definitely add some sort of porous media to the media tray, I put mine at the bottom, helps to give the smaller layout of the tank more of an area for beneficial bacteria to do its job. some extra type of floss or pad may also soak up some of the particulates.

 

[Roatan Reef]

I would suck all water out, put your sand/Rocks in, refill with saltwater then do exactly as @JayReefs97 said.

Honestly, doesn't make since to add water and nothing else, just reatart, but start it properly.

 

[Science/G]

Poorly mixed salt, or depending on how the tank was started, potentially a bacterial bloom