Daily Evening Haze

[wickedxreef]

Hello Fellow Reefers,

I'm hoping you can help me with a persistent issue I've been experiencing since setting up my tank about a year ago. Every evening, around 7 p.m., the tank develops a haze that progressively worsens throughout the evening.

Here are my current parameters:

* Salinity: 35 ppm
* Alkalinity: 8-8.5
* Calcium: 430-450
* Magnesium: 1350-1400
* Nitrate: 5 ppm
* Phosphate: .08-.12
* ORP: 350-370
* Temp 77-78

I have a fairly decent fish load and feed twice a day with Benepets pellets. I've also tried frozen foods in the past without any change to the haze.

Please note that my tank runs on a no-water-change method, using Tropic Marin to replenish elements.

Here's a list of things I've already tried to resolve the issue:

* Kalkwasser
* BactoBalance
* UV sterilizer
* Ozone
* Carbon
* Power filter (wool)
* Changing flow through the sump
* Changing lights from XR30s to a Meridian light fixture
* Various lighting schedules
* MB7
* ICP - nothing came back in the RO/DI water and no stray metals

And here's my current hardware setup:

* 220.6 Waterbox
* 34 Synergy Sump
* Reef Octo Elite 220 SSO Int protein skimmer
* 2x Red Dragon Eco 5 return pumps
* BRS carbon reactor
* Ozone (direct injection into skimmer)
* 36x UV sterilizer (I've also tried other higher wattage models with the same results)
* 2x Nero 5, 2x Nero 7, and Orbit 4 powerheads
* Reef Octo cr2000 Calcium Reactor
* Neptune Dos (Dosing 10ml Tropic Marin A and 10ml Tropic Marin K)

Any help would greatly be appreciated. TIA!

6pm water clear

9pm

 

[Rocks reef]

It looks like the light is just reflecting off particles in the water. When my lights are ramping down in the evening, close to when they turn off and the violet light is prominent, I get a slight 'haze' as well.
I'm leaning towards this since you state it's been happening for about a year at the same time, which leads to your light cycle.

 

[BryanM]

Looks like you have a lid.... I wonder if its just light diffraction with the lower intensity of the lights... Just taking a stab.

 

[wickedxreef]

It looks like the light is just reflecting off particles in the water. When my lights are ramping down in the evening, close to when they turn off and the violet light is prominent, I get a slight 'haze' as well.
I'm leaning towards this since you state it's been happening for about a year at the same time, which leads to your light cycle.

this totally makes sense and seems to happen when the ramp down hits a certain point. I'm wondering, If I balance out the whites coming down with the rest of the colors, if this will truly help balance it out?

 

[wickedxreef]

Looks like you have a lid.... I wonder if its just light diffraction with the lower intensity of the lights... Just taking a stab.

thank you! I run those fitted lids with the mess netting, but that is a good thought because it's possible they're distorting the blue/uv's some. I'll try pulling them off and see what happens.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It’s presumably not a problem to adjust the color balance at noon and see if the haziness appears immediately. :)

 

[wickedxreef]

It’s presumably not a problem to adjust the color balance at noon and see if the haziness appears immediately. :)

Didn’t think about that. :-) I have it adjusted right now and seeing how this evening goes. I have the uv backed off and white matching the rest of the ramp down period.