Zrial0509 Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 I had this bacterial bloom that seemed to last a month but then I got a uv sterilizer and it cleared up in a day, well the uv sterilizer isn't working atm and this bacterial bloom came back. the water is a milky white and I can only see the outlines of things in the tank. My tank is a 20g long mixed reef my levels are as follows. how do I get rid of this thing besides buying another uv? ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate under calcium 450 ppm dkh 12 phosphates 0 Link to comment
BulkRate Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Perhaps a dose of chemi-clean or a near total water change might get it in check. But if you have the UV sterilizer and know it works for this, why not replace the bulb? Or if it's completely failed contact the manufacturer - one month is usually within any warranty period offered. More importantly why is it coming back? What are you feeding and how often? Link to comment
joy13 Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 What type of bacterial bloom? I ask because my friends tank gets a bacterial bloom from those plug in fresheners it took us a while to figure it out but with the help of google we found an article on it. It was a white slimy bacteria the built up. Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 I don't feed heavily at all, once a day usually a little bit of freeze dried for the fish (yellow tail damsel, orchid dotty back, and clown) and once maybe twice a week i feed frozen mysis, but not much. Well the uv is the aqua top pf-uv hob filter and the motor isn't working, and theres another post on that in the equipment section but I figured it was better to find out the source of the bloom. Link to comment
joy13 Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Is it a white slimy bacteria bloom? My friend has that again. Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 no its cloudy white, there some white slime on the glass but not a whole lot. Link to comment
joy13 Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 That is what he has. Air fresheners and rubbing alcohol is the 2 main things that cause it. There was an article in coral magazine I found on line but it won't open up I don't know if was taken down or not. Wished I could get it to work. Here is a different one http://pets.thenest.com/white-slime-saltwater-aquarium-13087.html this is the one that doesn't work today http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/mystery-white-reef-slime I don't know if the site is down or they took the article down Link to comment
Mariaface Posted September 14, 2014 Share Posted September 14, 2014 Does the bacteria have plenty of rock and live sand to settle into? Are you running a skimmer? What does flow look like? Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 14, 2014 Author Share Posted September 14, 2014 I'm not currently running a skimmer but I have plans to. there is high flow throughout the tank and plenty of live sand and rock. Link to comment
Polarcollision Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Wonder if you should just let it run it's course? Tons of tanks run perfectly clear water without UV sterilizer. Hopefully it will burn itself out and you can be free of both the bloom and the sterilizer. Just a thought: any chance your Magnesium is low? Ca and Alk are high and can look cloudy like that when they crash out without Mg to support the high levels. Link to comment
Lynaea Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 I'm in the let it run its course camp. If the bacteria are blooming there must be something they're eating, the uv killed the bacteria but didn't deal with whatever excess nutrient(s) they were feeding on. I have had this in my freshwater tanks when they were fairly new. You could do 25-50% water changes to clear the water some if its really milky or if the inhabitants seem stressed. But it's probably best to let the bacteria get rid of whatever it is they're eating, then this won't become a recurring issue that you have to keep fixing with new equipment. I know you said you had good flow, just an aside that good surface agitation will help keep oxygen levels up which could drop during a bloom like this. Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 15, 2014 Author Share Posted September 15, 2014 ok but I'm worried because before I got the sterilizer this bloom was going on for a good month with little to no visibility inside the tank. Link to comment
seabass Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Try CaribSea BioMagnet or Seachem Clarity (clarifiers) with filter floss. Link to comment
Mr. Microscope Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 Let's find the source of the problem first. Are you carbon dosing with anything? Biopellets? Vitamin C? Have you desturbed the sandbed recently? Made any major changes/additions? Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 15, 2014 Author Share Posted September 15, 2014 nope, nothing new recently. I dose kent nano reef part A and B every night. Link to comment
reefone Posted September 15, 2014 Share Posted September 15, 2014 what all is in the tank as far as corals? do you even need to dose? I would stop dosing the a&b and do a big water change and see if that helps. your mag levels might be off and the calcium is falling out. Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 15, 2014 Author Share Posted September 15, 2014 I have some monti cap, seriatapora, and some acans and hammers. Link to comment
printerdown01 Posted September 22, 2014 Share Posted September 22, 2014 How long did it last the 1st time -before you ran the UV and how long has it gone this go-around? Debating on joining the "let is run it's course camp" but just want to make sure that you haven't already spent a month+ with a cloudy tank. How is your pH doing with the bloom? I also want to make sure that by advocating you to wait it out I am not taking your pH to dangerously low levels. It WILL run a bit low, but I want to make sure it isn't too low. -In fact I may try to increase gas exchange in the system while you are going through the bloom (i.e. less surface tension and maybe even an open window in the area if weather permits). Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted September 30, 2014 Author Share Posted September 30, 2014 yeah so this thing isn't getting any better... Link to comment
seabass Posted September 30, 2014 Share Posted September 30, 2014 OK, so what have you done so far (besides wait and see)? Did you,ever try a clarifier? Is there any organics breaking down (something dead)? Link to comment
Zrial0509 Posted October 1, 2014 Author Share Posted October 1, 2014 nothing dead, been doing water changes more frequent than usual. what would be a good clarifier to try? Link to comment
seabass Posted October 1, 2014 Share Posted October 1, 2014 what would be a good clarifier to try?see above Link to comment
Mariaface Posted October 4, 2014 Share Posted October 4, 2014 nothing dead, been doing water changes more frequent than usual. what would be a good clarifier to try? What does your filtration currently look like? Link to comment
Amy Posted October 6, 2014 Share Posted October 6, 2014 Make sure you don't have a new frag attached to a piece of shell like I did and cause havoc with my poor little nano tank. No room for error in little tanks that's for sure. I had a ricordea attached to a piece of oyster shell that is came on from the place I bought it from. My god what a horrible stench when I finally fingered it all out. Took the Ric off the shell, tossed the shell in the garbage, problem gone. So really look well if you have any frags or even if you have a small piece of LPS or SPS that might be dead somewhere that might also contribute to it. Good luck Link to comment
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