What triggers a bacterial bloom?

[Cory]

@Randy Holmes-Farley how did you recover when you over dosed on the vinegar? Do you just let it play out or do you use UV to kill off the bacteria?

You just lower the dose of vinegar, and they die down, because the skimmer pulls them out.

 

[Aliasger]

Can an addition of Fluidised sand filter trigger bacterial bloom in a marine tank?

 

[Aquatalk]

Here's a good example of a bloom. I just set my tank up three weeks ago. I let it cycle for a week with Dr. Tim's bacteria and then added two baby clowns after another week. At the end of two weeks I did a 20% water change (I now know that was too early). After the water change I added a frogspawn and then another bacteria bloom happened. This has been going on for three or four days now. Everyone keeps telling me that it will go away. Thoughts?

 

[Aliasger]

In your case, i think that the bacteria didn’t develop as it should have been and when you added the livestock. A sudden availability of nutrients drove them crazy. Then when this got settled. You added more livestock and again you got bloom.

More often, cloudy water also indicates the unequal balance of Calcium and KH. Did you check these parameters?

 

[DaddyDeet]

I'm in the middle of a blook, myself. Tank has been running for about 6 months, and no new livestock additions for a few weeks, which was just 1 fish. Bloom has been going on for about 3 days or so...
I did, however, JUST add a t5 hybrid fixture to my existing xr30s...this was about a week ago.
I wasnt sure if adding the light (didnt do the right thing and gradually increase photo period) would cause the bloom.
No special algae issues, just this milky water.
Livestock and corals seem happy....just an eyesore. Thought about getting a uv sterilizer, but am really a proponent of the "let it fix itself" school of thought if I dont NEED to intervene..

 

[Aliasger]

Parameters??

I'm in the middle of a blook, myself. Tank has been running for about 6 months, and no new livestock additions for a few weeks, which was just 1 fish. Bloom has been going on for about 3 days or so...
I did, however, JUST add a t5 hybrid fixture to my existing xr30s...this was about a week ago.
I wasnt sure if adding the light (didnt do the right thing and gradually increase photo period) would cause the bloom.
No special algae issues, just this milky water.
Livestock and corals seem happy....just an eyesore. Thought about getting a uv sterilizer, but am really a proponent of the "let it fix itself" school of thought if I dont NEED to intervene..

??

 

[Dramad1]

Reviving a somewhat older thread as I'm currently dealing with a heavy bacteria bloom.
I cycled the tank for 2 months using note out 11. No lights entire cycle. Added a few hermits after 1 month. Cycle only took 2 week. Lights out for another month of cycle. Dropped a few pellets once a week for the hermits.
Turned the lights on 2 weeks ago. Tank was clear for about 3 days, started to see some diatoms on the rocks. Found a few dead hermits, pulled them out.
I then did a 5g water change on this 40g tank. 2 days later, bacteria bloom. Green film onthe glass, hazy water column.
Used my mag cleaner on the front and side panels. 20mins later, green film again. Cleaned side and front panels a few more times, basted the rocks. 20mins later green film again.
Turn the lights off today thinking it was feeding the bloom. Came home from work today, worst I have seen it so far. Super hazy and that green film on the glass.
Any suggestions?
Turned up the power head. Still no live stock in the tank. Just one gorgonian. Ordered a clean up crew as well.

 

[dochou]

Reviving a somewhat older thread as I'm currently dealing with a heavy bacteria bloom.
I cycled the tank for 2 months using note out 11. No lights entire cycle. Added a few hermits after 1 month. Cycle only took 2 week. Lights out for another month of cycle. Dropped a few pellets once a week for the hermits.
Turned the lights on 2 weeks ago. Tank was clear for about 3 days, started to see some diatoms on the rocks. Found a few dead hermits, pulled them out.
I then did a 5g water change on this 40g tank. 2 days later, bacteria bloom. Green film onthe glass, hazy water column.
Used my mag cleaner on the front and side panels. 20mins later, green film again. Cleaned side and front panels a few more times, basted the rocks. 20mins later green film again.
Turn the lights off today thinking it was feeding the bloom. Came home from work today, worst I have seen it so far. Super hazy and that green film on the glass.
Any suggestions?
Turned up the power head. Still no live stock in the tank. Just one gorgonian. Ordered a clean up crew as well.

This is the same that happened to me. It's been going on for over a week.
@Dramad1, what was your solution?

 

[Jenuvio]

I dumped the water out of my biopellet reactor... and turned off my skimmer for a day.

I believe I now have a bacteria bloom(cloudy water). Does that sound logical?
I vacuum my sandbed weekly and 10% water change weekly, my husbandry is not an issue.

 

[Dramad1]

This is the same that happened to me. It's been going on for over a week.
@Dramad1, what was your solution?

I let it ride and it cleared up on it's own

 

[nkarisny]

Below some info that I had saved in a file.
Hope it helps


What is a Bacterial Bloom?

There are 2 types of bacteria at work in our tanks:-

Autotrophic Bacteria - Bacteria capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy. Our beneficial filter bacteria are autotrophs.

Heterotrophic Bacteria - Bacteria that cannot synthesize its own food and is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition. The heterotrophs in our aquariums mineralise the organic waste (break down the uneaten food, fish waste, dead plant matter etc into ammonia).

Contrary to popular belief, it is commonly the heterotrophs which are seen in our bacterial blooms, not our trusted autotroph nitrifiers.

It is the heterotrophs which are primarily responsible for creating the "bio-film" (slimy residue found on the tank walls and ornaments) which builds up in our aquariums.

The heterotrophs are generally bigger than the autotrophs and therefore don't attach themselves to surfaces with the same ease. They also reproduce much more quickly. Heterotrophs can reproduce in around 15 - 20 minutes, whereas autotrophs can take up to 24 hours to reproduce.

In a newly set-up aquarium, the heterotrophs get to work quicker than the autotrophs, causing the 'cycling bloom' we so often see. Blooms are almost certainly heterotrophic if they are caused by a build up of organic waste in the substrate, which most, if not all, are.

Bacterial blooms are common in tanks with apparently no organics present (for example, where all that is in the tank is water and ammonia for a fishless cycle). This is caused by the dechlorination of the water suddenly enabling the water to support bacterial populations. The heterotrophs immediately get to work on the organics in the water itself. The severity of the bloom and even whether a bloom happens at all is dependant upon the level of organics contained in the water supply.

Our autotroph nitrifiers are strictly aerobic (require oxygen), but the heterotrophs can be facultative anaerobic (they can switch between aerobic and anaerobic function depending on their environment). Therefore the heterotrophs in the substrate will be in their anaerobic state and breaking down the organic waste into ammonia, but if they bloom up into the water column, they will switch to their aerobic form and will start to convert the ammonia back to nitrite, although very inefficiently. The heterotrophs are around 1,000,000 times less efficient at ammonia oxidisation than our beneficial autotrophs as the heterotrophs are not true nitrifiers.


The Effects of a Bacterial Bloom

Most of the bacteria in the aquarium are aerobic as it is a oxygen dominated environment, and these bacteria require lots of oxygen. When the heterotrophic bacteria bloom into the water column and switch to their aerobic state, this is a big drain on the oxygen content of the water. Oxygen depravation is the only risk to the fish which i am aware of during a bacterial bloom, as the heterotrophs themselves are harmless to fish, so good advice is to increase aeration!

To help you to understand why bacterial blooms occur, overfeeding ,dead fish or dead plant matter will cause a rise in the reproduction of the heterotrophs in order to break down the organic waste, they re-produce too quickly to be able to attach themselves to a surface and this causes a bacterial bloom. As the ammonia production increases due to the increased mineralisation, the nitrifiers are slow to catch up (as i said above) and so you see an ammonia spike until the autotrophs reproduce enough to take care of it. Contrary to popular belief, bacterial blooms cause an ammonia spike, not the other way around.

It is unclear whether the autotrophic nitrifiers ever bloom into the water column or if they simply multiply too slowly to cause this effect.


Treatment and Prevention of Bacterial Blooms

A thorough gravel vac will certainly help the situation, as will trying not to overfeed. Also, increase aeration as I noted above. Water changes will probably not clear the cloudiness as when you remove the free-floating heterotrophic bacteria, the others will reproduce more to compensate. Given the reproduction rate of the heterotrophs, it would require a 50% water change every 15 - 20 minutes just to stop the bloom getting worse, and even more if you want to make any progress towards clearing the bloom.

However, water changes won't exacerbate the situation as it will be heterotrophs (which are producing ammonia) which are removed from the water column via the water change. A water change will remove virtually no nitrifying autotrophic bacteria from the tank at all as 99% of the nitrifiers are housed in the filter, not in the water column. Water changes are not essential in clearing bacterial blooms, as left alone, they will usually dissipate within a matter of days.

Reducing the amount of organic waste in your tank is the ultimate solution to treating a bacterial bloom, and avoiding a build up of organic waste in the tank is the best way to prevent a bloom. The best way to do this is to maintain a regular aquarium husbandry routine involving water changes and substrate vaccuuming.

As I said above, blooms are common in tanks with apparently no organic waste present, most commonly when only water and ammonia are in the tank for a fishless cycle. In this case, there are few easy ways to remove the organics from the water, and so my best suggestion is to sit it out and wait. Water changes with purified water would help as it would dilute the concentration of organics in the water. Reverse Osmosis water would be ideal in this situation, however i would suggest that patience is the cheaper and more environmentally friendly option.

A bloom in an established tank indicates that there is a problem which has allowed a build-up of organic waste, usually in the substrate. This can be caused by excess dead plant matter, over-feeding which leaves food lying around the tank, or leaving dead fish in the tank. None of these are desirable in an aquarium and a bloom in your established tank will certainly indicate one or more of these causes present in the tank. If you experience a bloom in an established tank, improve your husbandry.

i treated w hydrogen peroxide and killed my beneficial bacteria and now i have a bloom l. i ordered a canister filter from marine lane with pool filter aid . running this will help right .