Reef Tank is Suddenly Cloudy with Unhappy Coral

[Scott Christenson]

Hi Folks,

This is my first time posting in this community, looking for some guidance from pros please...

Please see below for the details on my reef tank. The issue I face is that the tank suddenly and quickly became fairly cloudy and some on my corals and not happy at all. I'm testing like crazy to try and find the culprit.

Any suggestions please?

75g Reef Tank

Parameters:
Salinity – 1.024
ORP – 4476
PH – 8.48
Temp – 76
Alkalinity – 10
Calcium – 390
Ammonia/Nitrates/Nitrites = 0

Hardware:
Apex Controller
LED Lighting
Eshopps – RS-300 Sump
Octo Classic 150-INT Protein Skimmer
Octo AQ 2000S Skimmer Pump
Supreme Aqua-Mag 700GPH Return Pump
AquaTop MR-20 Multimedia Reactor
2 Cobalt Neo-Therm 150w Heater
Eshopps Over Flow Box 200G

Coral:
Green Star Polyp
Duncan
Star Polyp
Zoanthid Green Super
Toadstool Mushroom Leather

Fish:
1 Rainford Goby
1 Watchman Goby
1 Yellow Clown Goby
1 Yellow Watchman Shrimp Goby
1 Domino Damsel
2 Clownfish
1 Firefish Goby
3 Green Chromis
1 Green Mandarin Dragonet
2 Lyretail Anthias
1 Yellow Tang

Inverts:
4 Tiger Sand Concg
1 Blue Linckia Starfish
1 Brittle Starfish
1 Chocolate Chip Starfish
1 Cleaner Shrimp
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
1 Pencil Urchin
1 Pincushion Urchin
Various Snails

 

[TUSI]

possibly a bacteria bloom. how old is the tank

 

[Scott Christenson]

6 months old

 

[dansreef]

How old is the tank? What have you added or done to the system in the last few days?

I had a couple of urchins in a 72 bow front.... and one day my tank did something similar to yours. As I was staring at the tank and pulling my hair out.... I saw the urchins were spawning.... They were long spine urchins.... I hated the darn things... as I would get poked on occasion. I got rid of them and the problem went away. They spawned in the evening... as the lights started to wind down.

 

[Florida Sunshine]

I would get some carbon going and do a water change. Could be anything from a spawning event to the leather shedding.

 

[Scott Christenson]

I have a large leather and that is the one that is mainly unhappy. How long does a shed last?

 

[Scott Christenson]

The large leather is the unhappiest. How long does a shed last?

 

[dansreef]

I have a large leather and that is the one that is mainly unhappy. How long does a shed last?

Depends... I have toadstools that will go dormant for weeks. I also have devils paws that seem to shed all the time.

 

[Scott Christenson]

How old is the tank? What have you added or done to the system in the last few days?

I had a couple of urchins in a 72 bow front.... and one day my tank did something similar to yours. As I was staring at the tank and pulling my hair out.... I saw the urchins were spawning.... They were long spine urchins.... I hated the darn things... as I would get poked on occasion. I got rid of them and the problem went away. They spawned in the evening... as the lights started to wind down.

6 months old, no changes recently

 

[AngryMike2016]

FYI, that chocolate chip starfish may start eating corals at some point.

 

[Scott Christenson]

I just discovered that my Apex probe is incorrectly reading ph and my true ph is 8.48. Should I try and lower that a bit?

 

[Katrina71]

I would change water and add a bag of carbon

 

[Bradley Keck]

I have had my toadstool shed a couple of times. It is about 6in in diameter and it has never clouded my water, but that could be a possible cause. The most common cause of this I would think is an algae bloom of some sort. What do you use to check nitrate and what are your phosphates running? I agree that a water change will help some. Carbon too. Can you see any particles in the water? Any change or tint to the water? How has your algae situation been thus far?

 

[Scott Christenson]

Nirates/Nitrites/Ammonia/Phosphates are practically 0. I use a Hagen Master Kit and have tested once yesterday and twice today.

The only algae I ever get is brown film algae on the glass. I use a heavy duty protein skimmer and a Reactor with carbon and phosphate remover.

I have recently increased my alkalinity from about 8.5 to 10.

This cloudiness came on very fast today, almost instantly.

 

[beaslbob]

I just discovered that my Apex probe is incorrectly reading ph and my true ph is 8.48. Should I try and lower that a bit?

No!!!!!

 

[beaslbob]

try killing you lights and see if it clears up.

my .02

 

[Scott Christenson]

No!!!!!

Wow, 5 exclamation marks, so can I assume that you like 8.48 for a ph?

 

[KrisReef]

Interesting.
If your leather is the only coral looking funny, they do that.
Cloudy water is generally bacteria, or Ammonia spikes. You said your ammonia is Zero, Good!

What do you have in the media reactor?
What other corals are looking funny, or is it just the leather?
Don't start making a bunch of changes to fix this. You could easily cause more problems trying to adjust pH, or adding whatever. Do not go crazy. It is not time for that yet.

Oh, and I don't believe your ORP number at all.

 

[Scott Christenson]

Interesting.
If your leather is the only coral looking funny, they do that.
Cloudy water is generally bacteria, or Ammonia spikes. You said your ammonia is Zero, Good!

What do you have in the media reactor?
What other corals are looking funny, or is it just the leather?
Don't start making a bunch of changes to fix this. You could easily cause more problems trying to adjust pH, or adding whatever. Do not go crazy. It is not time for that yet.

Oh, and I don't believe your ORP number at all.

I have carbon and phosphate remover in the reactor.
It's mainly the mushroom that is not happy at all.
I'm not very happy with my Apex $800 system. The only probe that seems to work ok is the temperature. For $800 you would expect better.

 

[beaslbob]

Wow, 5 exclamation marks, so can I assume that you like 8.48 for a ph?

that's a fine pH.

Plus high pH is caused (other than overdosing kalk) by low carbon dioxide. Low carbon dioxide is hardly something you would want to correct.

plus (2 LOL) you could wind up chasing pH where it is actually fine to start with.

my .02