Reef Tank is Suddenly Cloudy with Unhappy Coral

[Scott Christenson]

How quickly should I increase Magnesium?

 

[Auto-pilot]

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

Sounds like you have a lot in a tank that is relatively new. Most of the time tanks that get cloudy like that are experiencing a bacterial bloom. UV lights seem effective on solving this problem. The Bacterial bloom is probably being caused by a large bio load in a tank that is relatively on the young side of things. If I were you I would wait the bloom out, if its not gone in a couple of days you might want to consider a UV light. Doing water usually are not really effective on bacterial blooms and can further aggravate corals. A word of advice would be to take your time in this hobby! Slow and steady really wins the race when it comes to coral and salt water aquariums. the Ph and alkalinity does seem high you might want to run the alk a little lower,Sea water is at 7 and that's where I keep mine and see great results. Thanks for posting!

 

[Scott Christenson]

Sounds like you have a lot in a tank that is relatively new. Most of the time tanks that get cloudy like that are experiencing a bacterial bloom. UV lights seem effective on solving this problem. The Bacterial bloom is probably being caused by a large bio load in a tank that is relatively on the young side of things. If I were you I would wait the bloom out, if its not gone in a couple of days you might want to consider a UV light. Doing water usually are not really effective on bacterial blooms and can further aggravate corals. A word of advice would be to take your time in this hobby! Slow and steady really wins the race when it comes to coral and salt water aquariums. the Ph and alkalinity does seem high you might want to run the alk a little lower,Sea water is at 7 and that's where I keep mine and see great results. Thanks for posting!

Thank You

 

[Auto-pilot]

How quickly should I increase Magnesium?

I would say you can raise it by 100 ppms a day with relatively minimal effects

 

[Hemmdog]

I would say you can raise it by 100 ppms a day with relatively minimal effects

+1

 

[Scott Christenson]

It's Forums like this that make this hobby fun and possible!!

 

[Hemmdog]

It's Forums like this that make this hobby fun and possible!!

For sure! It’s fun to see other successful tanks so why not share good advice !

 

[Lukas75]

Magnesium is only 1050

ag

Magnesium is only 1050

Magnesium acts as an anti-catalyst (can't think of the actual word, lol) for precipitation from calcium and alk. With it that low the magnesium isn't getting in the way of that reaction and you might be having precipitation issues. Take your time raising it up. You don't want to stress anything further by jumping it that high that fast. I would say over the course of a few days to a week bring in line with the other big two.

 

[lapin]

Howdy and all that stuff
Your tank is not that cloudy. Like mentioned above bacterial bloom or some coral shedding stuff into the water. And like posted above run some fresh carbon. It should improve. If not then we need to rethink this.
I think it might have something to do with raising your alk too fast. I personally always have problems if my alk is over 9. You run the risk of burning your coral if you have high alk and low nutrients.
I would also raise your mag as suggested. A little at a time. until you get it over 1400.

 

[Scott Christenson]

So my plan of attack on this is:
1: Run carbon
2: Slowly get magnesium to 1400
3: Slowly lower alk to 9 via water changes
Sound good?

 

[lapin]

yes

 

[SPR1968]

So my plan of attack on this is:
1: Run carbon
2: Slowly get magnesium to 1400
3: Slowly lower alk to 9 via water changes
Sound good?

Hi Scott

You will hopefully be quiet surprised at the difference you will see to coral health etc when your magnesium levels are raised back up. It’s a vital piece in the water/coral chemistry

And welcome to R2R as well, it’s great to have you with us

 

[Musovski]

Keep us posted on the situation. i want to see them leathers when they are open. im sort of a soft coral fanatic.

 

[Scott Christenson]

Good Morning All,

Update for you. I did a 20% water change overnight. Cloudiness is slightly better. Corals are the same, some are not happy, some seem great, see pics below. My Blue Linckia showed up during the night to express his disdain for my reef keeping abilities. All the fish are as happy as can be. My Mag & Cal actually dropped unfortunately.

My question is this; should I get the Magnesium to 1400 FIRST before I tackle the Cal and Alk?

PH - 8.4
Magnesium - 1020
Calcium - 375
Alk - 10.1

 

[beaslbob]

How quickly should I increase Magnesium?

look up and read dr randy holmes-farley's improved diy two part system.

here: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php

magnesium in increased by dosing Epsom salts and magnesium chloride. Epsom salts from the drug store. Finding magnesium chloride is more difficult. It is used as an ice melter in winter and also in landscaping for dust control. I finally found a local chemical supplier willing to sell m a 50 pound bag for ~$25 and not pay for shipping on their truck from another site.

It does take a lot to increase magnesium. Use the on line calculator to calculate. increasing my old 55g from 700-800 to 1350 required about 5 pounds for instance.

my .02

 

[vetteguy53081]

Sounds like a combination of bacteria bloom and higher range PH. I would do a small water change and add carbon in a mesh bag in the path of flow and even a filter sock to entrap fine particles. If no filter sock, you can use a clean nylon stocking at drain.
If this persists- consider a UV sterilizer unit run at 12 hours per day during the day

 

[Scott Christenson]

Sounds like a combination of bacteria bloom and higher range PH. I would do a small water change and add carbon in a mesh bag in the path of flow and even a filter sock to entrap fine particles. If no filter sock, you can use a clean nylon stocking at drain.
If this persists- consider a UV sterilizer unit run at 12 hours per day during the day

Should I consider lowering the ph?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Should I consider lowering the ph?

yes to the range of 7.8-8.0

 

[Scott Christenson]

yes to the range of 7.8-8.0

What is the safest way to do so?

 

[vetteguy53081]

How quickly should I increase Magnesium?

NEVER raise any level quickly but rather Gradually.