Cloudy Water

christyj3 · Feb 25, 2023

I have a nano tank that's been up and running for about a year now. The water started getting slightly cloudy about a week or two ago, so we tested the water and did a water change. Water cleared up for a few days and then started getting cloudy again. Then, we woke up to find that our wavemaker got clogged up throughout the night and the water was so cloudy that we couldn't see anything in the tank. We immediately started moving all livestock into our QT tank. We tested the water again and removed 3/4 of it and replaced it with fresh saltwater. DT tank has been running for 48 hours now with no livestock and it's crystal clear. Now our QT tank is cloudy. Wavemaker has been running the whole time. We have two clowns and three hermit crabs. We've experienced bacterial blooms in the past, and we increased surface agitation with an additional wavemaker and increased filter density by adding polishing pads. During the bacterial bloom our clowns would gasp and seem stressed, but with whatever is happening now, it doesn't seem to be affecting them. Help! I'm at a loss. I'm so thankful that we haven't lost any livestock during this.
Parameters at the time of the incident with the DT:
PH: 8.2
Amonia: 0-0.01ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5.0-10ppm
Phos: 0.25-0.50
Salinity: 34-35
Specific Gravity: 1.025-1.028
**The photos are before and after we removed the livestock from the DT.**

Dan_P · Feb 25, 2023

christyj3 said:
I have a nano tank that's been up and running for about a year now. The water started getting slightly cloudy about a week or two ago, so we tested the water and did a water change. Water cleared up for a few days and then started getting cloudy again. Then, we woke up to find that our wavemaker got clogged up throughout the night and the water was so cloudy that we couldn't see anything in the tank. We immediately started moving all livestock into our QT tank. We tested the water again and removed 3/4 of it and replaced it with fresh saltwater. DT tank has been running for 48 hours now with no livestock and it's crystal clear. Now our QT tank is cloudy. Wavemaker has been running the whole time. We have two clowns and three hermit crabs. We've experienced bacterial blooms in the past, and we increased surface agitation with an additional wavemaker and increased filter density by adding polishing pads. During the bacterial bloom our clowns would gasp and seem stressed, but with whatever is happening now, it doesn't seem to be affecting them. Help! I'm at a loss. I'm so thankful that we haven't lost any livestock during this.
Parameters at the time of the incident with the DT:
PH: 8.2
Amonia: 0-0.01ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5.0-10ppm
Phos: 0.25-0.50
Salinity: 34-35
Specific Gravity: 1.025-1.028
**The photos are before and after we removed the livestock from the DT.**

What the are things you add to the aquarium, including food?

christyj3 · Feb 25, 2023

Dan_P said:
What the are things you add to the aquarium, including food?

They get a small amount of flakes in the morning along with a pinch of pellets for the hermits. At night they get a small amount of either mysis, brine, or PE Calanus with a pinch of pellets.
Normally we use prime, stability, and pristine. To try to clear the water we’ve used clarity and polishing pads.

vetteguy53081 · Feb 25, 2023

christyj3 said:
I have a nano tank that's been up and running for about a year now. The water started getting slightly cloudy about a week or two ago, so we tested the water and did a water change. Water cleared up for a few days and then started getting cloudy again. Then, we woke up to find that our wavemaker got clogged up throughout the night and the water was so cloudy that we couldn't see anything in the tank. We immediately started moving all livestock into our QT tank. We tested the water again and removed 3/4 of it and replaced it with fresh saltwater. DT tank has been running for 48 hours now with no livestock and it's crystal clear. Now our QT tank is cloudy. Wavemaker has been running the whole time. We have two clowns and three hermit crabs. We've experienced bacterial blooms in the past, and we increased surface agitation with an additional wavemaker and increased filter density by adding polishing pads. During the bacterial bloom our clowns would gasp and seem stressed, but with whatever is happening now, it doesn't seem to be affecting them. Help! I'm at a loss. I'm so thankful that we haven't lost any livestock during this.
Parameters at the time of the incident with the DT:
PH: 8.2
Amonia: 0-0.01ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5.0-10ppm
Phos: 0.25-0.50
Salinity: 34-35
Specific Gravity: 1.025-1.028
**The photos are before and after we removed the livestock from the DT.**

Looks like an algae bloom and first suspect will be filter/filtration - What filters are you using and has the filter itself become soiled or has the pumped slowed down ?
Is tank at or near a window?
Are you missing any inverts or fish which may have decayed?
What are your nitrate and phosphate level ?

When a sudden increase in the number of bacterial colonies generates and becomes suspended in the water column, it grows so quickly that it becomes more visible causing the water to become milky and hazy in appearance due to an increase in the nutrients in the water especially nitrates and phosphates.

Idech · Feb 25, 2023

You might be feeding too much. What’s »a pinch of pellets » ? Hermit crabs are scavengers. They don’t need to be fed. Flakes are the worse to dirty a tank also. They’re really easy to overfeed.

I would stop the pellets and be very careful with the flakes. Maybe even stop them and replace by frozen foods.

You might also want to try Microbacter 7 to help with water clarity. It really is an amazing product.

Dan_P · Feb 25, 2023

christyj3 said:
They get a small amount of flakes in the morning along with a pinch of pellets for the hermits. At night they get a small amount of either mysis, brine, or PE Calanus with a pinch of pellets.
Normally we use prime, stability, and pristine. To try to clear the water we’ve used clarity and polishing pads.

I don’t know what caused your bloom. Your food input seems normal. Kudos for feeding your crabs.

Did you add all those Seachem products before the bloom or after?

Could the cloudiness be an algae bloom instead of bacteria? Was the cloudiness definitely not green or yellow green?

TokenReefer · Feb 25, 2023

So the cloudy water followed the fish, so to speak to the qt tank? That's cloudy now, and without doing anything the fishless dt cleared up by itself?