Diatoms and cloudy water

[bdejong1112o]

So my tank is going through the diatom bloom. It started out as expected with the brown powder alge showing up. I added a small CUC to get started in cleaning it up and then the tank went cloudy. In the past I don't recall the tank getting this cloudy.

All my water is from an RODI system in my house and has been 0 TDS in the output.

Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 20
pH is 8
Temp is 79
Salinity is 1.026
PO4 is 0.056

Here are two pictures. From the front it's a bit hazy but viewed from the end, yuck... I read that I shouldn't do anything and that I should do everything, lol. So basically questions are should I let it run its course or should I start changing water?

 

[Brew12]

So my tank is going through the diatom bloom. It started out as expected with the brown powder alge showing up. I added a small CUC to get started in cleaning it up and then the tank went cloudy. In the past I don't recall the tank getting this cloudy.

All my water is from an RODI system in my house and has been 0 TDS in the output.

Ammonia is 0
Nitrite is 0
Nitrate is 20
pH is 8
Temp is 79
Salinity is 1.026
PO4 is 0.056

Here are two pictures. From the front it's a bit hazy but viewed from the end, yuck... I read that I shouldn't do anything and that I should do everything, lol. So basically questions are should I let it run its course or should I start changing water?

Changing water won't do much other than provide a very temporary improvement.

I would recommend adding filter socks if you aren't running them. If that isn't an option, I picked up one of these to help when my tank got a little to much floating in it. Works surprisingly well.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...and-magnum-polishing-internal-canister-filter

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Try putting a bag of gac on the return pump.

Check it out.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/turtles-deep-blue-sea.330024/page-46

A small reactor will work too if you want to buy stuff.

 

[John Hughes]

I use Seachem Purigen when my water needs a little polishing. Reusable too!

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I use Seachem Purigen when my water needs a little polishing. Reusable too!

Purigen works well, and it's a gac.

 

[bdejong1112o]

Ok, i will change the media in my reactor. I am usimg the BRS mini reactor right now but have the full size GFO and Carbon eeactors comming since the mini is a bit undersized for my tank. Go figure...

Plus BRS has an awesome sale on GFO and carbon right now so.....

 

[bdejong1112o]

Changing water won't do much other than provide a very temporary improvement.

I would recommend adding filter socks if you aren't running them. If that isn't an option, I picked up one of these to help when my tank got a little to much floating in it. Works surprisingly well.
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...and-magnum-polishing-internal-canister-filter

Lol, I picked that up last night, Amazon had same day deliveey for 48.00 so i figured why not. Ran it with the micron filter but just changed it over to the carbon canister and poly filter along with changing the media in my reactor. Will watch it today and see if it helps.

 

[bdejong1112o]

Oh, and i am running filter socks on the drains right now.

 

[Brew12]

Lol, I picked that up last night, Amazon had same day deliveey for 48.00 so i figured why not. Ran it with the micron filter but just changed it over to the carbon canister and poly filter along with changing the media in my reactor. Will watch it today and see if it helps.

If the particles are too fine you can turn it into a diatomaceous earth filter, too. Just clean it out, put it together, and let it run in a bucket of water with around 1 tablespoon of diatomaceous earth until the water is clear. This will provide very fine water polishing ability.

 

[bdejong1112o]

I saw a video on that. I just need to get out to the pool store and get some.

 

[bdejong1112o]

Charging up the filter now. Once the water clears up it goes back into the tank. Will show updates as it maybe works?

 

[bdejong1112o]

So here is where its at now. Same light setting as this mornings pictures. I have a switch for daylight type of lighting that overrides the corallabs profile. To me it's showing improvement. It is not perfect but the clarity is deeper into the tank from the end view.

 

[bdejong1112o]

The good news is that as the snails clean up the diatoms they are not comming back to those areas. Each day the rock is getting cleaned up and the diatoms are not retaking any ground. All of this filtering talk and workmis purely for the poor pajama cardinals that are already in the tank. They deserve the best water I can provide and no matter the cost or work thats what I will do for them...

 

[bdejong1112o]

So here it is now. Much better. Will see how it holds through the weekend. Still a bit cloudy in the view down the king side of the tank but much improved over this mornings ugliness. You can at least see all the way through it. I think I saw a small parade of the PJ's tonight.

 

[bdejong1112o]

So I pulled the magnum filter out this morning to clean the filter cartridge. Wow, that thing was loaded with gunk. Charging it with diatomaceous earth really did make a huge difference in the filters ability to do its job. The first night I just ran the plain cartridge and it was barely dirty in the morning. You can see below that charging it then running it really did the trick. Going to leave it out of the tank for a bit to see if it remains clear.

 

[Royce White]

I had the same problem a few weeks back and cleared it up over night with a $20 UV sterilizer ordered from Amazon. I had had the milky water for several weeks. My water was more cloudy than what yours looks like.