Slightly cloudy water

[S.Pepper]

I've had my system up for almost 8 weeks. Everything has gone as planned... well, kinda. My water was clear... so I thought, until I added some Rox 0.8 to my spyglass reactor about 1.5 weeks ago. Then it became crystal clear and has remained so. Until this morning. I wake up and it's slightly cloudy. I did a 10% water change yesterday and checked all of my water parameters in anticipation of adding fish today. The only thing I can think of that has changed is I've had my AI 16HD lights on a regular schedule for the last 3 days. But my water was crystal clear when I went to bed last night at 12:30am and I wake up to a slightly cloudy water this morning. A little freaked out as I am getting ready to add some fairly expensive clownfish to my system today--my first fish. Any thoughts?

 

[Retro Reefer]

Probably a bacterial bloom which is common with new tanks, I would wait a day or so and see if it get worse before adding new fish because if it get bad enough it can strip oxygen out of water.

 

[S.Pepper]

Probably a bacterial bloom which is common with new tanks, I would wait a day or so and see if it get worse before adding new fish because if it get bad enough it can strip oxygen out of water.

That's encouraging news. Literally no issues like this until this morning. I went to bed, like i said, and it was all "clear," and i wake up and i have a bacterial bloom. lol Let me drink a little more coffee and think about this.

 

[Retro Reefer]

If it is a bacterial bloom It’s not a big issue but also not the ideal environment for a new fish, because of potentially lower oxygen levels.. these blooms typically go away in a few days or you can run a small inexpensive UV system eliminate them quickly.. pointing power heads towards water surface and increasing flow can help with oxygen levels during a bloom.

these work great for quickly clearing bacterial blooms, you can find them cheaper just sharing example from quick search.

 

[S.Pepper]

If it is a bacterial bloom It’s not a big issue but also not the ideal environment for a new fish, because of potentially lower oxygen levels.. these blooms typically go away in a few days or you can run a small inexpensive UV system eliminate them quickly.. pointing power heads towards water surface and increasing flow can help with oxygen levels during a bloom.

these work great for quickly clearing bacterial blooms, you can find them cheaper just sharing example from quick search.

thx, Retro. I have, what i consider, some serious water flow in my system. It's almost like the ocean during a hurricane. I'm getting the fish from Pacific East Aquaculture. PEA isn't around the corner, but close enough that I'm going, if only to take a look around. I'm going to talk to Dr. Mac and see what he has to say. The last thing i want to do is to put $217 (and that's with 25% off) worth of fish in my tank and find them dead. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. Have a great day.

 

[ScottR]

IME, microbes and animals are fighting to establish their place to be the king in a new system. As algae, other bacteria, and countless others gain in numbers, they’ll outcompete the bacteria and the bloom is just a bloom. Adding fish to the system might stress them but it’s always good to keep a UV filter on hand just in case. Btw, what’s your photo period like? Are you running it 10 hours or so? Or black out until you get fish?

 

[S.Pepper]

IME, microbes and animals are fighting to establish their place to be the king in a new system. As algae, other bacteria, and countless others gain in numbers, they’ll outcompete the bacteria and the bloom is just a bloom. Adding fish to the system might stress them but it’s always good to keep a UV filter on hand just in case. Btw, what’s your photo period like? Are you running it 10 hours or so? Or black out until you get fish?

As I said, I just started a light cycle 3 days ago. It starts at 9am and goes to 6pm with a 1 hour ramp up and ramp down time within that time frame. I am doing the moon only cycle from 6pm to 12am and then dark. I was only doing 40% blue and royal blue, no greens or reds, and 10% clear white and UV.

 

[Auquanut]

thx, Retro. I have, what i consider, some serious water flow in my system. It's almost like the ocean during a hurricane. I'm getting the fish from Pacific East Aquaculture. PEA isn't around the corner, but close enough that I'm going, if only to take a look around. I'm going to talk to Dr. Mac and see what he has to say. The last thing i want to do is to put $217 (and that's with 25% off) worth of fish in my tank and find them dead. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. Have a great day.

Sorry to hear about the setback, but that's all it is. A minor setback. Could be a bacterial reaction to the recent lighting addition? Sounds like you have a solid plan for moving forward. Good luck and keep us up to date.

 

[MrsBugmaster]

I agree with it probably being a bacteria bloom.

 

[ScottR]

As I said, I just started a light cycle 3 days ago. It starts at 9am and goes to 6pm with a 1 hour ramp up and ramp down time within that time frame. I am doing the moon only cycle from 6pm to 12am and then dark. I was only doing 40% blue and royal blue, no greens or reds, and 10% clear white and UV.

Sorry. I guess I missed that in the thread. The reason I mentioned the photo period is because certain organisms take hold in the presence or absence of light and this could be the reason you are seeing this out of the blue. Nothing to worry about and it will work out eventually.

 

[S.Pepper]

Sorry. I guess I missed that in the thread. The reason I mentioned the photo period is because certain organisms take hold in the presence or absence of light and this could be the reason you are seeing this out of the blue. Nothing to worry about and it will work out eventually.

thx, Scott.

 

[S.Pepper]

LOL. So I figured I would change out the socks because they looked a little dirty. And now my skimmer is going crazy. I think I'm going back to bed.

 

[King Turkey]

When you change socks it's normal for skimmer to go crazy. If it's a bacterial bloom strong surface agitations to promote gas exchange helps and running skimmer wet.

 

[PaddSter]

Hi all!

Instead of starting new thread I thought I would continue this one as my problem(?) Is similar.

My tank has been going on for about 2 months and just recently I am waking up to slightly cloudy water.

This tank has all live rock and small part of sand from my old nano tank.
It has gone through small cycle as the Cyano and diatom did appear for a few days and went away.
Since them for the last 6-7 weeks water was crystal clear, parameter all good except phosphate slightly raised (separate topic- I know the cause of this and manage it)

Now I don't have any UV sterilizer.

In the past 2 weeks I woke up to slightly cloudy water first thing in the morning. It usually clear up after 2-3 hours after the lights came on.
Nothi g really changed in the system apart from adding couple of emerald crabs (cloudy water appeared before adding them) and some GSP.

I have quiet a few corals a fish and I am hoping this won't affect them As they have been there for a while and are already settled. Same with all the corals.

Any thoughts about UV sterilizer?
Do I run it non stop or just when cloudy water appear?
II would have though it's best to run it for at least a period of time but again, never used it.
Any pros and cons? Any way it can affect fish / corals? If so, positively / negatively?

Thanks for all help