Super cloudy water for days

[saltnewbie101]

PH is pretty high. Everything else is good and within parameters..

 

[ScottJ]

Hey, out of curiosity, exactly what and how much do you feed. I don't know if this has been asked before of you. If it has my apologies.

 

[saltnewbie101]

Usually half to a full cube of frozen brine shrimp or mysis shrimp. Throughout the day I'll throw in a few pellets..

Water is still super cloudy but nothing had died.. all parameters are fine. I don't get it..

 

[Dacotahk]

Since my tank water was very cloudy likely from a bacterial bloom, (I couldn’t see the fish unless they were near the glass) it was suggested to add UV. I am 3+ hours from a store that could offer any assistance and I was not confident in my plumbing skills, I purchased a Green Killing Machine which is an internal UV filter. It was a $100 purchase and worked as advertised. It does take a few days to clear, but it worked wonders for the water clarity and was an inexpensive fix. Once water clears, just remove it until needed again.

 

[saltnewbie101]

Since my tank water was very cloudy likely from a bacterial bloom, (I couldn’t see the fish unless they were near the glass) it was suggested to add UV. I am 3+ hours from a store that could offer any assistance and I was not confident in my plumbing skills, I purchased a Green Killing Machine which is an internal UV filter. It was a $100 purchase and worked as advertised. It does take a few days to clear, but it worked wonders for the water clarity and was an inexpensive fix. Once water clears, just remove it until needed again.

So first thank you!! The only uv light I was able to find that actually hooked into my plumbing won't be here until the 22nd of January. So considering it's been 7 days with my water looking like this I'm willing to try almost anything.

I had left petco maybe 8 minutes before reading your reply, looked online while I was waiting in the drive thru and it said the petco I had just left had one in stock. A quick possible fix. So I went and bought it. I hope this works, and for the other newbies out there who know about as much as I do(which isn't squat) and run into this problem I hope they find this thread. Pictures attached of the Green Killing Machine and my tank after 7 days.

I'll report back the results tomorrow morning, evening and Thursday afternoon.

 

[Toob]

UV is the answer if you want to clear this up quickly. You have a severe bacterial bloom that’s probably lingering because you lack typical means of filtration (skimmer, etc).

Sounds like you have a UV on the way. These blooms don’t really cause much harm other than the light they block, but that’s probably not going to be a huge issue for a couple weeks in a new tank. Wait for the UV and relax in the meantime.

Edit - just saw you picked up a green killing machine. I have one of these too and put it on my nano tank to clear up Dino and bacterial blooms. It works! Might take a while on a tank your size, but should get the job done. Keep us updated and good luck!

 

[saltnewbie101]

UV is the answer if you want to clear this up quickly. You have a severe bacterial bloom that’s probably lingering because you lack typical means of filtration (skimmer, etc).

Sounds like you have a UV on the way. These blooms don’t really cause much harm other than the light they block, but that’s probably not going to be a huge issue for a couple weeks in a new tank. Wait for the UV and relax in the meantime.

Edit - just saw you picked up a green killing machine. I have one of these too and put it on my nano tank to clear up Dino and bacterial blooms. It works! Might take a while on a tank your size, but should get the job done. Keep us updated and good luck!

In regards to "typical means of filtration" do you mean a sump with a skimmer and uv light?

I ask because when I look at a sump set up it seems like a normal filter, water enters one end goes through the media and exits back into the tank. Is the skimmer really that important? I have one on the 13 gallon hospital tank I just set up but I still don't know what it does or how it works. I didn't think the UV would be that important but it seems to be so maybe the skimmer is just as important.

I'm getting ready to build a 250G and will definitely have a sump with a skimmer and all the fun stuff in it. So good rittance to this tank in the next 60 days.. I may turn this one into a regular fish tank so I can have all of the fish that aren't reef safe..

 

[ronaldo_720]

UV is the answer if you want to clear this up quickly. You have a severe bacterial bloom that’s probably lingering because you lack typical means of filtration (skimmer, etc).

Sounds like you have a UV on the way. These blooms don’t really cause much harm other than the light they block, but that’s probably not going to be a huge issue for a couple weeks in a new tank. Wait for the UV and relax in the meantime.

Edit - just saw you picked up a green killing machine. I have one of these too and put it on my nano tank to clear up Dino and bacterial blooms. It works! Might take a while on a tank your size, but should get the job done. Keep us updated and good luck!

UV in my opinion is a must for the cloudy water. Had a bacterial bloom about three weeks ago where I think the main cause was stirring up the sand bed too much while also adding my carbon source (to bring down my nitrates) and during this time my UV bulb needed to be replaced therefore it was turn off. Within 8 hours my tank was as cloudy maybe even worst because I couldn’t see inside at all. It caused some of my sps corals to bleach and brown out and even lps were closed up. Anyways after putting my UV back online I saw results in hours and after changing my filter floss as soon as it clogs, water was crystal clear within 2 days and after a three weeks even thing seems to be going in the right direction. Hopefully it works out for you well.

 

[rd62rdstr]

I don't have any UV set up, I've thought about doing it though.. Hopefully the water change will help a little today. I'll have him address the filter, maybe replace the carbon pads.

Definitely no buildup on the glass, wiped it down yesterday just to clear my mind of that.

If I'm running this fluuval filter, where would I put the UV?

When’s the last time the filter was cleaned? Those are amazing filters and do very well at cleaning water crystal clear. They must be maintained at a higher frequency with saltwater though.

 

[rd62rdstr]

I don't have any UV set up, I've thought about doing it though.. Hopefully the water change will help a little today. I'll have him address the filter, maybe replace the carbon pads.

Definitely no buildup on the glass, wiped it down yesterday just to clear my mind of that.

If I'm running this fluuval filter, where would I put the UV?

When’s the last time the filter was cleaned? Those are amazing filters and do very well at cleaning water crystal clear. They must be maintained at a higher frequency with saltwater though.

 

[saltnewbie101]

When’s the last time the filter was cleaned? Those are amazing filters and do very well at cleaning water crystal clear. They must be maintained at a higher frequency with saltwater though.

It was cleaned Friday and again Monday.. before I set up the Green Killing Machine I thought it was the filter. But seemingly, no filter will kill a bacterial bloom. Gotta have the UV light. Or so it seems..

 

[saltnewbie101]

Just wanted to post an update about what it ended up taking to clear up the water.

After two water changes and patience for 7 days it had 0 improvements and actually got worse.

1st- on the 7th day(lol) I bought a Green Killing Machine 20W for up to 120gallons -started helping but I'm not patient enough. This was Tuesday night about 7pm.

2nd- added a second 120 gallon power head for more circulation

3rd- added a powerful bubbler in two the center and right corner of the tank

4th- learned to make my own saltwater and did a 20 gallon water change again today.

It has made significant improvements over the last 4 hours.. ill be posting again when it totally clears up. I'm starting to see corals I haven't seen in 7 days and so far everybody still looks healthy.

 

[Charles Zinn]

Hey guys, I can't figure this out or clear it up.

Had my tank cleaner here Tuesday he did a waterchange and cleaned the tank. It's always a little cloudy for at least an afternoon after a cleaning. This time was a little different though, I asked him to bring a soft toothbrush and brush all of the alge off the rocks because it was caked on pretty gnarly.. (had a previous post about the alge and why it was getting so bad in such a short period of time) other than scrubbing the rocks off nothing about this cleaning was different.

The next morning (wednesday) my wife and I noticed our elegance was dead and decaying on half of its body. So, RIP we took it out. The water was still cloudy, hadnt really subsided from the cleaning. The next morning (2 days later, thursday) I noticed one of our rock flower anemones looking funny and kinda colorless. Tried to remove it and it balled up pretty good and wasn't having it so I left it alone. We had 2. That evening the water was still cloudy and I couldn't stop thinking about the rock flower anemones possibly dying and causing this plus poisoning my other corals so I went to work and finally got them both out. It was not easy.

Here we are Saturday morning and the water is still not cleared up. Everything is within parameters.

Calcium-420
Magnesium-1290
Alkalinity-10.2
Nitrates- 0
Phosphates- 0

We have 2 clowns, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 royal gamma, I diamond goby, 1 hippo tang. Tang and goby are the largest both just under 2 inches. Everything else is smaller. Cleaner shrimp are probably full grown. 125G tank. Been established 3 months almost to the day.

Before anyone says feed more, I give them either a half or a full frozen brine shrimp cube daily. All of the corals are going strong, zoas and Duncan's are growing. Acopora is even growing so I know I'm not starving anything. We also spot feed at least once a week.

Can anyone tell me what they think? I've read maybe alge bloom or bacteria bloom or corals spawning but I think I've ruled out corals spawning, not sure how that could happen. I've attached quite a few pics in different lighting to show how cloudy it is

Do you use Charcoal? Do you use pods? What do you have for clean up crew? Have you done an ICP test ? Elegence are really sensative

 

[Charles Zinn]

Did you use Bottle bacteria to start tank? Try adding some star fish...and turn off lights to control algae. Nutrients showing up zero cause algae is using it up.

 

[SWFT]

Just wanted to post an update about what it ended up taking to clear up the water.

After two water changes and patience for 7 days it had 0 improvements and actually got worse.

1st- on the 7th day(lol) I bought a Green Killing Machine 20W for up to 120gallons -started helping but I'm not patient enough. This was Tuesday night about 7pm.

2nd- added a second 120 gallon power head for more circulation

3rd- added a powerful bubbler in two the center and right corner of the tank

4th- learned to make my own saltwater and did a 20 gallon water change again today.

It has made significant improvements over the last 4 hours.. ill be posting again when it totally clears up. I'm starting to see corals I haven't seen in 7 days and so far everybody still looks healthy.

Glad to hear you are seeing improvements. Keep that UV running and install the other one as soon as you receive it. I’m almost positive the biggest improvement is coming from the UV you just installed. I may also suggest you run carbon filtration or change out your carbon filter if you already have one running. This will remove any yellow tint from your water.

Hope your tank recovers quickly.

 

[Roatan Reef]

Just wanted to post an update about what it ended up taking to clear up the water.

After two water changes and patience for 7 days it had 0 improvements and actually got worse.

1st- on the 7th day(lol) I bought a Green Killing Machine 20W for up to 120gallons -started helping but I'm not patient enough. This was Tuesday night about 7pm.

2nd- added a second 120 gallon power head for more circulation

3rd- added a powerful bubbler in two the center and right corner of the tank

4th- learned to make my own saltwater and did a 20 gallon water change again today.

It has made significant improvements over the last 4 hours.. ill be posting again when it totally clears up. I'm starting to see corals I haven't seen in 7 days and so far everybody still looks healthy.

Yep...yep...

You can do this for Freshwater or Saltwater as well..


In fresh.. when I've had to move my 125 acrylic bowfront tank...we got sand pockets that made for awful smells and cloudy water....always remedied by adding a literal sock full of Carbon and adding bubblers...like the ones you use for fishing.

Same is true for saltwater too. You can do just the same.

Glad to see you are having an improvement.

Also, I'd question your Tank dude

 

[saltnewbie101]

Yep...yep...

You can do this for Freshwater or Saltwater as well..


In fresh.. when I've had to move my 125 acrylic bowfront tank...we got sand pockets that made for awful smells and cloudy water....always remedied by adding a literal sock full of Carbon and adding bubblers...like the ones you use for fishing.

Same is true for saltwater too. You can do just the same.

Glad to see you are having an improvement.

Also, I'd question your Tank dude

What do you mean question the tank? Maybe I should..

 

[ScottJ]

Also, I'd question your Tank dude

What do you mean question the tank? Maybe I should..

I believe he meant;
Maybe you should question your tank (cleaning) dude.

 

[saltnewbie101]

I believe he meant;
Maybe you should question your tank (cleaning) a

I believe he meant;
Maybe you should question your tank (cleaning) dude.

After thinking about it a little bit I came to that conclusion also. Makes sense.

 

[Roatan Reef]

I believe he meant;
Maybe you should question your tank (cleaning) dude.

What do you mean question the tank? Maybe I should..

Correct,,my bad, I'd be questioning your tank cleaning person. No way your tank should have looked like that after.

Thanks @ScottJ