KuyasNanoReef Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 First off, I'd like to introduce myself! My name is Jordan and I'm new here to these forums! With that out of the way I have just started my new 5 Gallon Nano Reef using a Fluval Spec V. So it has been about two days and my tank just seems to stay this milky kind of white. I'm pretty sure it's just new tank syndrome, and everything is normal but I just wanted to get some of your guys' input on all this! Thanks so much guys! Link to comment
bentc1979 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 That is totally normal when cycling a new tank. Do you have any occupants in the tank? Link to comment
Weasel Baron Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 Probably a bacterial bloom, or just sediment from not washing your sand. Don't worry about it, just let the cycle continue till your waste levels are back to normal Link to comment
KuyasNanoReef Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 @bentc1979 yes, I do ahahaha... I didn't even realize it though. there's two tiny hermits and two tiny snails that hitched a ride on the live rock I got, but other than that, no sir! @Weasel Baron thanks for the input! that's what I probably thought it was... Link to comment
porkchop-rob Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 That would make me crazy...LOL I would do a water change and keep feeding the tank.....watch for the cycle to happen. Link to comment
KuyasNanoReef Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 @porkchop-rob OMG you have no idea!! it was crystal clear when I first put in all the water and stuff like that but then it started to get cloudier and cloudier, with the consistency of watered down milk but I thought to myself and the only thing I could come up with is algae bloom because of a new tank. Link to comment
bentc1979 Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 That would make me crazy...LOL I would do a water change and keep feeding the tank.....watch for the cycle to happen. I would not do a water change. The reason I say this is because if the tank is cycling you can interrupt the cycle by changing the water. IMO I would pull out the occupants and take them back to your LFS for a credit. If your LFS is decent at all they will give you a credit for when your tank is finished cycling. Link to comment
metrokat Posted March 17, 2015 Share Posted March 17, 2015 I'm in agreement with Ben about not doing a water change. A new tank with no organics gets a bacterial bloom fast. Here's why Tank is still in the bacterial bloom phase. 2 main things cause a bacterial bloom - too many organics or too few (in the case of a new tank). Mine is the latter. I was reading up on it. 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 BloomMost 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, bacterialblooms 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. 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. Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 I'm in agreement with Ben about not doing a water change. A new tank with no organics gets a bacterial bloom fast. Here's why You just brought my microbiology class back to memory? Link to comment
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