Continuous bacterial blooms. How to get rid of it?

[ReeferHolland]

Hello all. My 200L DT had a few bacterial blooms during startup, and is again having one right now. I don't know what causes this and why it keeps coming back and never really solves.
The strange thing is that my 45L QT tank also had a bacterial bloom 2 days ago. So I took another clean QT tank, new clean heater, filter and other stuff, new RODI water and salt, I drip acclimated the 2 fish, then I made sure nothing of the water went into the new QT tank. The water was crystal clear but now after 1 day I already see the white stuff forming again in the water column. I didn't feed the fish yet.

I use tropic marin pro reef salt. I make my own RODI water with aqua medic easyline 300 + DI resin filter.

How is this possible? All the time I thought it had something to do with overfeeding but there are 0 nutritions in a new sterile QT tank so where does the bloom come from?

 

[ReeferHolland]

Is stove elevating the temperature when used?
What test kits are you using ?
What is your rodi TDS ?

No please read back in this thread. Someone else had the same issues with the tank close to the kitchen. When baking the fumes might cause it. But I'm not sure yet I have to test this by not cooking for a few days or longer.

I didn't test my tds. Will buy a tds meter asap. But the filters are quite new so how can it have high tds?

 

[vetteguy53081]

No please read back in this thread. Someone else had the same issues with the tank close to the kitchen. When baking the fumes might cause it. But I'm not sure yet I have to test this by not cooking for a few days or longer.

I didn't test my tds. Will buy a tds meter asap. But the filters are quite new so how can it have high tds?

If incoming water source is very high, it can be possible but Im giving you the many possibilities for process of elimination

 

[Widdlyscudds]

I had the exact same problem, 0 nutrients but multiple bacteria blooms, I highly recomend just getting a UV sterilizer. completely solved my problem, tbh I believe that it just takes a long time for bacteria levels to equal out in a new system, I started with dry rock and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. I run my sterilizer for 12 hours a day and it keeps the tank crystal clear. I went through almost every possible scenario of how it was happening but I found nothing that should have been contributing to a bacterial bloom.

 

[ReeferHolland]

If incoming water source is very high, it can be possible but Im giving you the many possibilities for process of elimination

I will probably buy a tds meter tomorrow to be sure about this. Are those cheap $10 tds meters good enough?

 

[vetteguy53081]

I will probably buy a tds meter tomorrow to be sure about this. Are those cheap $10 tds meters good enough?

Yes- not expensive for what it does.

 

[ReeferHolland]

I had the exact same problem, 0 nutrients but multiple bacteria blooms, I highly recomend just getting a UV sterilizer. completely solved my problem, tbh I believe that it just takes a long time for bacteria levels to equal out in a new system, I started with dry rock and I'm sure that had a lot to do with it. I run my sterilizer for 12 hours a day and it keeps the tank crystal clear. I went through almost every possible scenario of how it was happening but I found nothing that should have been contributing to a bacterial bloom.

Did you try not running the UV sterilizer anymore after the bacterial bloom was gone for a while? And if so, what happened?
Why do you still keep running the UV sterilizer now?

 

[Widdlyscudds]

Did you try not running the UV sterilizer anymore after the bacterial bloom was gone for a while? And if so, what happened?
Why do you still keep running the UV sterilizer now?

I have stopped using it for about 3 weeks and everything was fine didn't have a recurring bloom but tank water is always going to be ever so slightly cloudy and i love the aesthetic of crystal clear water where it looks like the fish are just floating on air. this was after 3-4 months of use btw and the tank was around 6 months old at that point.

 

[ReeferHolland]

I have stopped using it for about 3 weeks and everything was fine didn't have a recurring bloom but tank water is always going to be ever so slightly cloudy and i love the aesthetic of crystal clear water where it looks like the fish are just floating on air. this was after 3-4 months of use btw and the tank was around 6 months old at that point.

I think this might be the best solution for me then. What salt are you using btw? And what sand, which dry rock, food and bacteria did you use? Was your RODI water 0 TDS? Im just trying to find any similarity with other tanks that have had blooms.
And is your tank close to your stove?

 

[Widdlyscudds]

I think this might be the best solution for me then. What salt are you using btw? And what sand, which dry rock, food and bacteria did you use? Was your RODI water 0 TDS? Im just trying to find any similarity with other tanks that have had blooms.
And is your tank close to your stove?

I use reef crystal salt, the rock is carib sea south seas dry rock, I did not use any bacteria to start the system, I added 2 hermit crabs to introduce bacteria when I started the tank, RODI is 0 TDS and I feed pelleted food, Xtreme nano pellets, hikari seaweed extreme, and nori. tank is 45 gallons, the stocking level when I was having the issues was 2 clown fish. Stocking level now is 2 clowns, 2 chromis, 1 neon dottyback, and 1 tomini tang.

 

[Widdlyscudds]

I think this might be the best solution for me then. What salt are you using btw? And what sand, which dry rock, food and bacteria did you use? Was your RODI water 0 TDS? Im just trying to find any similarity with other tanks that have had blooms.
And is your tank close to your stove?

sand is carib sea ocean direct, sorry forgot to add that

 

[ReeferHolland]

sand is carib sea ocean direct, sorry forgot to add that

Thats the only similarity. But I dont understand how my QT tank gets a bloom after 1 day. Its 100% clean and new and it doesn't have sand or rocks. I'm still suspecting it's something from the air. Is your tank close to your kitchen? And do you cook often?

 

[Widdlyscudds]

Thats the only similarity. But I dont understand how my QT tank gets a bloom after 1 day. Its 100% clean and new and it doesn't have sand or rocks. I'm still suspecting it's something from the air. Is your tank close to your kitchen? And do you cook often?

I cook constantly and no it's not it's in my bedroom. The sand might very well be the problem. has a bunch of gunk in it and I seriously doubt the amount of bacteria that survives shipping/handling. Tank as of today, you can see the sterilizer on the right, sorry for the bad camera

 

[Fugie]

@ReeferHolland Did you ever recover and figure out your issues with the cloudy water?