Water quality / parameters HELP

[KameronManning]

Hey everyone! I need some helping solving some water quality issues my tank is starting to get noticeably cloudy. All of the data is below . Cheers!

Parameters :
Ammonia: .25
Nitrate: 10 ppm
Ph: 8.0
Nitrite: 0 ppm

Tank and Filtration:
20 gallon
Marineland HOB FILTER
1 chemi pure elite
1 chemi pure blue
15 bio balls
2 marine
Life rock (not live)
Live sand

livestock:
1 clown
1 green spotted mandarin
1 Feather duster
2 cleaner shrimp
2 hermits
4 turbo snail
Gsp
Acan



Possible issues In my opinion:
Water parameters, but i feel my filter setup and water change schedule wouldn’t allow them to

I can’t find one of my small hermits coud him being dead damage water quality this much?


Bacterial bloom( but wouldn’t my parameters be fine?)

I was 2 days late 2 water changes ago

Every water change has been 50% since April (could that be too much ? I set the tank up in early March )

I will post a picture below but under the gsp is pretty much the mandarins home could he be constantly discarding waste under there that I don’t siphon that would cause the bad parameters ?

algae bloom?


I just replaced all filter cartridges and chemi pures about a week and a half ago . I change them out every 3-4 weeks .

Everyone is eating and corals are always out looking great so I’m not extremely concerned but I want to get ahead of the game here.

I appreciate all the help on solving this issue pics below!!!

 

[James M]

Are you using API test kits ?

 

[KameronManning]

Looks cloudier in person but here ya go

 

[KameronManning]

Are you using API test kits ?

Yes

 

[James M]

Yes

The API test kits are really inaccurate and give false readings all the time.

 

[KameronManning]

.

 

[KameronManning]

The API test kits are really inaccurate and give false readings all the time.

I’ve been hearing that. I’ll go to my lfs and see if they have some other brands , if the paremeters are worse then what they read what do you suggest?

 

[Sleeping Giant]

I'd hunt down the missing crab, remove it if dead and do a 10% water change, 50 seems way to high

 

[KameronManning]

I'd hunt down the missing crab, remove it if dead and do a 10% water change, 50 seems way to high

Thanks for the advice!

 

[James M]

I’ve been hearing that. I’ll go to my lfs and see if they have some other brands , if the paremeters are worse then what they read what do you suggest?

I doubt your parameters are bad as all livestock is good

 

[brandon429]

That’s accurate. Ammonia isn’t a concern here, nor nitrite. Skip those don’t even get a second opinion on them, ammonia can’t drift out of spec in a reef tank even with a dead crab, our tanks process loss waste same as if no loss happens. It’d take a huge dead tang to overcome that systems surface area with rocks and sand. The water isn’t cloudy in pics, that can be sandbed silt clouding around due to water pressure or it might be feed induced bac bloom. Keep water changes like you’re doing, nothing is wrong with that tank.

the ammonia level in your reef tank is in the thousandths ppm safe zone, we can tell by pics, and by comparing to all reefs running seneye ammonia (seneye shows that no reef is different from another in ammonia control. It doesn’t vary, when surface area is rocks and sand plenty like that above) to get a second ammonia opinion from lfs, not using seneye, is to repeat the loop. Any form of of nitrate or phosphate adsorbing media can cause minor clouding, but above it looks clean. Additionally, lots of cloudy tanks are actually clean water but hazy glass. Make sure wipe off all glass scum when drained for water change.

 

[brandon429]

Not one reef tank on this site, including new ones cycling, is above thousandths ppm, it’s that tight of a control across tanks. There can be quarantine tanks not compliant, those are missing surface area but if a reef has rocks and sand the ammonia isn’t even in the hundredths ppm, and it’s certainly never in the tenths. For sure they’re posting readings as we speak of tenths ppm, but they’re all false reads. Last month we caught a seneye out of spec, not working, cuz it reported hundredths ppm daily vs thousandths. The owner emailed seneye, the calibration was off. Ammonia doesn’t vary in reef tanks unless the death loss is massive, multiple fish at once left to degrade. A big stinky turbo snail is a powerful strong source of ammonia if it dies, we’ve still never seen one crash a reef or cause it to run errantly, it’s rot ammonia is simply converted by all the extra surface area we use.

for sure people are dosing 2 ppm ammonia initially + bottle bac in cycles, tenths are hit indeed at the start. But with seneye, youd be amazed how long that reading stays in the tenths, only hours not ever ever ever days *because of the power that today’s bottle bac lends. I have threads of bottle bac carrying multiple fish anemones and corals on day one of a dry start, ShoelaceIke’s tank. Biospira was the instant start bac.

On any tank with surface area and bac boosting or active bac, ammonia cannot hold in the tenths ppm.

 

[KameronManning]

That’s accurate. Ammonia isn’t a concern here, nor nitrite. Skip those don’t even get a second opinion on them, ammonia can’t drift out of spec in a reef tank even with a dead crab, our tanks process loss waste same as if no loss happens. It’d take a huge dead tang to overcome that systems surface area with rocks and sand. The water isn’t cloudy in pics, that can be sandbed silt clouding around due to water pressure or it might be feed induced bac bloom. Keep water changes like you’re doing, nothing is wrong with that tank.

the ammonia level in your reef tank is in the thousandths ppm safe zone, we can tell by pics, and by comparing to all reefs running seneye ammonia (seneye shows that no reef is different from another in ammonia control. It doesn’t vary, when surface area is rocks and sand plenty like that above) to get a second ammonia opinion from lfs, not using seneye, is to repeat the loop. Any form of of nitrate or phosphate adsorbing media can cause minor clouding, but above it looks clean. Additionally, lots of cloudy tanks are actually clean water but hazy glass. Make sure wipe off all glass scum when drained for water change.

Thank you for the info! I’m going into month 4 here so still have a lot to learn . Appreciate all the help!