One minute it's clear, the next it's cloudy...

[ShoniNikki]

So I was just wondering why my tank would be Crystal clear all day long then around 6pm (mst) it clouds up?! What would cause this? My levels ars all great, no algae build up, nothing new put in! Any ideas?

 

[ss95003]

What do you have in your tank? Something probably spawning.

 

[ShoniNikki]

Clean up crew, which is snail's crabs and shrimp then I have Duncan coral, leather coral, green ricordea, green star polyp colony and red macro algae, coco worm 1 serpent star and I believe that's it!

 

[NanaReefer]

Micro bubbles?

 

[ShoniNikki]

Possibly that's kind of what I was going to say it looked like was teeny bubbles?!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Might also be phytoplankton which blooms when it is lit.

Is it at all greenish, or just white?

O2 supersaturation may also hit a peak late in the light cycle, and a powerhead or something similar may drive it out of solution, making bubbles.

 

[wings4wheels]

I am going to follow this one. I have a similar issue, as it seems that toward the end of the light cycle, my tank becomes more cloudy, but is crystal clear before the lights come on.

Looking forward to hearing what could possibly cause that.


++150 gallon mixed reef. Stocking Hammer, Frogspawn, Green Birdsnest, Candy Canes, Ricodera, Mixed Zoas, Yellow Polyps, Red Mushrooms, Xenia, Clarkii Clowns, Foxface, Dispar Anthias, Neon Dottyback, Tribal Blenny, Bangaii Cardinal, Yellowtail Damsel, Coral Beauty, Falco Hawkfish, Red Hawkfish. CUC with a huge Hermit crab.

 

[ShoniNikki]

I'm going to try to figure this out lol Google watch out here I come

 

[NanaReefer]

I'm going to try to figure this out lol Google watch out here I come

Lol-i'm waiting!!! Well??!!

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

It does sound photosynthetic, but you did not say if it was white or green.

 

[ShoniNikki]

It is white :) I can't find anything on Google dang it

 

[ShoniNikki]

Right now my tank is so Crystal clear it's amazing! But later it will get cloudy again I'm sure lol

 

[ReeferRookie]

Hm i was having this issue myself never found out why. But i got a uv sterilizer havnt seen it since

 

[ShoniNikki]

Hmmmmm I did just have trouble with Ich and Brooklynella so maybe it's the parasites going through the cycles?!

 

[ShoniNikki]

Also ever since this cloudiness started I've had an increase in diatoms?!?! Hmmmmmm

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

I think it might be the photosynthesis of the periphyton turning off when the display lights go out. When the display lights are on, the chlorophyll in the periphyton consumes ammonia out of the water; when the display lights go out, the ammonia is no longer consumed, and thus you get a bacterial bloom.

 

[ShoniNikki]

But it gets cloudy before the lights go out!?

 

[SantaMonica Verified Sponsor]

Well there might be a daily timing thing going on, where the photosynthesis slows down in preparation for the dark. Just a guess.

Nevertheless, it does seem like bacteria feeding, which just means high nutrients. If it were spawning, I would think it would not happen every day at the same time.