bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Well, I'm stumped. I've asked a couple othermembers and they were puzzled too, so I'd thought I'd post my dilemma. My tank is almost a year old, livestock listed below, recently added brown star polyps. Sand bed is ~2". Amm, trites 0, pH 8 at 1st lights on increasing to 8.2 during the day. Trates range from 0-5 and SG stays at 1.024 - 1.025. Weekly WC's with RO/DI water of about 2 gallons. About a month ago my tank started becoming VERY nasty :x , I'm talking very cloudy. I increased the frequency of my WC's to 2x week to see if that would help. It didn't. I bought a water clarifier and started using it 2x a week, each time doing a WC after the clarifier did it's thing, sucking out the stuff that would accumulate after it's use. It almost reminds me of some type of algae bloom because the particulate is a greenish brown coating everything very lightly. It's not cyano, been there done that. I'm assuming this because in a failed attempt to beat this crap, I left my lights off for a couple days and it seemed to clear a little. Reduced my light cycle to 10 hrs a day after that, and it was back in full force. Acout 2 days after doing my WC, it's back to the swamp again. The inhabitants seem to be doing fine. The only other thing I can think of is I started using Kent's Tech CB (kinda like b-ionic) I would only add 5-10 drops 2x week, just to boost my alk/calc levels. The cloudiness is not attributed to the combination of the two though, as I stopped using it for a few days and no improvement. At my wits end, doing another WC tonight :*( any suggestions??? Link to comment
jocole37 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 what color is the water turning? green, white.....? Link to comment
caja Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 any macroalgaes in the tank? Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 It's a green color before I add the clarifier, then the precpitate that forms after the addition of it in a couple hours is a brownish to light tan color that's kind of stringy almost. Very small strands at that forming mostly on my LR. The fallout on the sandbed is just small clumps (less than a pinhead) same color. And I have no macros in the tank. I'm telling you, I've stumped quite a few people on this, all seasoned nanoers'!! I don't dare ask my LFS, who knows what kind of idiotic response I'd get from them!! I'd be better off asking my 3 year old girl! (and no, she hasn't put anything in it, already thought of that!) Link to comment
tinyreef Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 sounds like a bacterial bloom. the reason the lighting affects it slightly may be because the whole ecosystem is based on the lighting (indirect effect). i'd stop using the clarifier. better to use Poly-Filters and carbon imo. what's the temp.? do you dose anything unusual? (e.g. juices or custom blended foods) anything containing sugars? what do you feed and/or dose with? imo discontinue the Kent Tech completely, try b-ionic or c-balance if you need ca/alk (for now). btw i also used kent tech for over two years so i'm not blaming it (yet). have you checked all your equipment for detritus buildup? (e.g. clogged prefilters, coated impellars, clogged tubing, etc.) check the rock that the brown polyps came in on (especially if the timing of its intro is close to the initial outbreak). there's often loose debris underneath the polyp mat and needs to be rinsed. Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Well the polyps I recently added are ruled out, got them a week ago. As far as dosing, I add occasional iodine (very miniscule amounts), and then the Kent tech cb. I feed 2-3x weekly with thawed out mysis (target feed the 'shrooms), and give the other pigs (false perc and skunk cleaner) 1-2 mysis. I alternate with frozen formula one (think thats the one, the red stuff) and very rarely frozen or live brine as a treat. Nothing else.. I've been doing WC's 2-3 weekly to try and alleviate the problem, but it always comes back. The more frequent the WC's, the longer it takes to come back, but it does. X) My temp varies from about 79.3 in the AM before lights on, and then up to around 82.2 just before lights out. I'm getting so frustrated, this happened right when I thought there was starting to get some stability in the tank. Snails hate the stuff, they slide right over it, just making tracks on the aquarium walls. Thought it might be some algae going sexual, but it couldn't be, for over a month now! And I have no macro, (that I know of or have seen.) Also religiously with every WC, I remove the AQ, PH, heater, surface skimmer and clean them thouroughly with a toothbrush and hot water. Carbon didn't really seem to help, even though I'm running it right now after tonight's WC along with the AQ's sponge I cleaned by boiling it for 5 mins., to try and get rid of the particulate formed by the clarifier. I'm stopping that stuff as of tonight. I was reluctant to use it, but like I said, I'm at my wit's end!!:*( Link to comment
Jeff D2 Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 May sound silly but where are you getting your make-up and WC water from? Have you tried any PO4 removers? Jeff Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Thought about that, I use store-bought off-brand distilled/ro water. I think I've about used up their supply. Was using tap water prior to that about 6 months ago, but it resulted it terrible cyano blooms. Last time I used a phosphate remover was during my cyano outbreak, forget what it was called, my LFS didn't have seagel or phos-ban. It came already packaged in a media bag. Don't really know if it made a difference as I started using the RO/DI water along with it to get rid of the cyano. Guess I need a phosphate test kit, only problem is my LFS doesn't sell them. Link to comment
tinyreef Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 how old are your bulbs? Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Just upgraded from the stock eclipse 12 lights to the CSL 2x32 watt about 3 months ago.. Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Well, after my 2 1/2 gal WC last night, the tank looks a little better, still hazy though. We'll see how long it lasts this time. I'm thinking by the time I get home from work tonight, it'll already be noticeably more cloudy! Link to comment
Masoch Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Have you tried a skimmer? Growing macro? To me, it seems like you have a pretty obvious excess of nutrients, and you need some way of getting 'em out. PolyFilters, like tinyreef said will get some ... but a skimmer and some macro would probably work better. Water changes probably won't do much -- I bet your substrate is totally nasty, even if it looks OK. Just for giggles, stir up your substrate a bit. If you get clouds of crap coming out ... it probably is crap. Cerith snails will help clean it up ... but you probably have to physically clean it out. FWIW, I've had lots of problems with with my substrate which led to cyano and then bryopsis. Small tanks just don't have the surface are for a properly functioning, self-cleaning sand bed. Link to comment
caja Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Definately pick up a phosphate test kit and Rowaphos. Best phosphate remover made imo. Be sure to test the distilled water as well as the tank water. I'ts possible that the distilled has traces of phospahate in it. Lots of great online stores to pick up test kits and so forth. www.premiumaquatics.com www.marinedepot.com Edit: As masoch says, check out your sandbed. It could be harboring some nasty stuff. Nass snails, ceriths and those great sand bed clams from www.ipsf.com keep the sand bed stirred up and healthy. Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Thanks for the replies, I've always vacuumed the top layer of the sand bed, but have always heard never to stir it up, that's why I've avoided the nass snails and such. I've also been debating on whether to get a skimmer or diatom filter to run occasionally. Any suggestions on which? And what are these polyfilters I keep hearing about? Some kind of sponge insert for the AQ? Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Oh, I'm also planning on a DIY fuge after Christmas, probably 5 or 10 gal glass aquarium conversion. Link to comment
zzpw3x Posted December 3, 2003 Share Posted December 3, 2003 Not stirring the sand bed- I think that only really applies to a DSB (4-6" range). You don't have a truly functioning sand bed when it's 2" deep. I would consider doing a serious vacuuming of the sand. Mosach's advice seems reasonable to me. Link to comment
bneyman Posted December 3, 2003 Author Share Posted December 3, 2003 Well every WC I always vacuum the top layer of sand. Should I stir it up, then proceed with the vacuuming to suck up the crap that's been trapped below the surface of the sand or what? Any suggestions? Link to comment
Raddogz Posted December 4, 2003 Share Posted December 4, 2003 I can tell everytime when our fish maintenance guy has been at the office because the water is always so f***ed up. By the time, the water clears it's a few days later. Link to comment
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