CLOUDY WATER

[elusianzxelo]

hello,

 

I had an 50g saltwater tank around 8 years ago for three years, but this never happened to me, here is what happened and I would like to see if anyone can tell me what is wrong with my tank.

 

 

I have an JBJ 28g nano tank up and running for about 1 month and 3 weeks, at first, the water seems ok, it was about 3 weeks ago and I notice that the water is slightly cloudy and I can see stuff that looks like food floating on top of the tank, right now the ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero as well and nitrate is 5.0 pm to 10 ppm(still working on my water changes to bring it to zero, twice a week), I notice that my roommate dumped an ice cube of frozen fish food and it end up stuck between the live rocks, but it seems like my cleaner shrimp cleaned it up after(there was a black spot where the food was when I got home), do you think the cloudy water is cost by overfeeding? And how can I bring my water color back to normal? Here is my set up, thank you.

 

 

JBJ 28g Nano CF

 

45lbs of live rocks

 

30lbs of sand

 

2 black and white clown fish (Juvenile)

 

1 six line wrasse

 

1 fire goby

 

3 cleaner shrimp

 

6 turbo snails

 

8 scarlet reef hermit crab

 

[music4life87]

How much water are you changing twice a week and what are you using for filtration in your JBJ cube? Stock media baskets?

[elusianzxelo]

I started do water change once a week only after I cycled it for 3 weeks, first week I did 20% 2nd week I did 50% then the third week I did 20% on a Thursday(06/11/15) and 20% on Sunday(06/13/15), right now my nitrate reading 0.5 to 10 ppm, but the water is still little bit cloudy, yes I use the stock media basket with all three things in there. Please help me out cause I feel my tank look like crap cause this never happens to me, my 50g I had years ago was always clear. =(

[elusianzxelo]

wait correction, my first water change was a month after, then first week I did 20%, 2nd week I did 50%, then I did 20% last Thursday and 20% last Saturday.

[Slowtwitch]

Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Something is feeding the bacteria. Could be too much food. Could be dead inverts (snails). Could be something in your water supply. It should clear once the food source is used up or removed. Faster solution might be a UV sterilizer, but if the problem isn't corrected the cloudiness will return once the sterilizer is taken offline.

[elusianzxelo]

_{I took a looked at my tank today, and it seems like is little bit more cloudy then yesterday, I am hopping none of my inverts die in my tank, it is extremely head to locate them with all the rocks I have in the tank, but I did notice that my filter is extremely dirty(only 2 weeks old), I am going to put an new one in it and do a 50% water change starting this week until the water is clear.}

[paulrw]

you should be cleaning your filter weekly or more. your carbon could last a month but the filter pads/floss and your bio media needs to be cleaned of debris and detritus weekly at least. clear off the bio media in your old tank water when you do a water change and ditch the filter floss/pad for new stuff every week. you can buy huge bags of polyester floss stuffing at walmart for cheap it's the same stuff the fill teddy bears and pillows with. or you can get it at your l.f.s for like $10 a bag. search your tank for something dead and do 50% water changes till it clears up. remember nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

[elusianzxelo]

Hello guys,

I finally was able to attached a picture of my tank, any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you for all your help on this.

if you see above pictures was What I took after the water change is a bit more cloudy then above picture now, and I had to turn down the wave maker because it is making the tank cloudy even more.

[elusianzxelo]

Hello guy,

 

here is more update, so I went ahead and changed my filter, here is a picture of it, it is still looking a little bit cloudy, I am going to do an 50% water change today and tomorrow, hopefully it clears up soon.

[reefernanoman]

Hello guy,

 

here is more update, so I went ahead and changed my filter, here is a picture of it, it is still looking a little bit cloudy, I am going to do an 50% water change today and tomorrow, hopefully it clears up soon.

Hi, what are you using for filtration? I also have a NC 28G and my water is crystal clear by using the Intank media basket(100 times better than the crappy stock media and it helps to make sure that my water goes through my media and not around it). I have filter floss on the top and a 5.5 oz bag of chemipure blue in the second compartment. I only do 3G weekly water changes and thats about it:

[atrox]

It's just a bacterial bloom, and it will go away on its own. Tank is still new so you be patient and let the natural process work itself out or if you are not paitent buy a uv sterilizer. Slow down on the water changes, it's just going to prolong the process. You've got literally millions of competing bacteria and once they exhaust the food sources there will be a mass die of. Let the natural order do its thing. You will have a more stable/mature tank as a result. You're new cycle is exactly that "new" and the tank is just auto tuning itself. Kind of like buying a new sports car you want to keep the revs down until the recommended break in period is over. So don't add any new livestock, limit feeding, skim wet, and enjoy the ride.

[elusianzxelo]

understand, thank you guys for all the help.

[elusianzxelo]

see some improvement today, i think if i keep on doing what I am doing, I should be fine, thanks guys again.

 

[elusianzxelo]

guys I dont have a good cam so i took the pic with my s5, here is before.

here is after all the changes. I dont know if is cause the cam or the light, cause as far as I am looking at the tank in person, is 99% clear. haha. I am waiting for 2 more months to add any more stuff in. Thinking about a small flame angel, and that will be my final fish.