mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 My aquarium never did quite clear up. I have very fine oolite sand, and I thought it was the issue. However, here I am months later with no fish in my aquarium (they are in a hospital tank) kicking up sand. Occasionally when my protein skimmer kicked into high gear, my tank would get significantly clearer, only to be cloudy again the next day. My big three are always in a good range. Magnesium around 1300. Can anyone help me trouble shoot this issue? I'm tired of not having a clear aquarium. Thanks Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Could be a dominate bacteria that keeps blooming,, are there any corals or macro algae in the tank? What's your carbonate hardness as well? Link to comment
h3dgehog Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Purigen has always helped me clear up cloudy tank water (both for fresh and saltwater tanks) Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Coukd benifit with some fish adding some waste and providing a more diverse bacteria colony Link to comment
mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Purigen has always helped me clear up cloudy tank water (both for fresh and saltwater tanks) I'll look into that. Coukd benifit with some fish adding some waste and providing a more diverse bacteria colony It's currently fallow because of an ich outbreak. Regardless, I had the same issue with my fish in it. KH is at 8. Link to comment
Markburns43 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 What does your filtration consist of? Link to comment
mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 What does your filtration consist of? 20 gallon sump to a dc protein skimmer and gfo reactor. Link to comment
h3dgehog Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Could be how you mixed the saltwater. Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 If it is excess calcium from the sand, bubbling CO2 would help clear it up really quickly. Can modify PH temporarily so only use this method when no livestock is in the tank. Link to comment
mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Could be how you mixed the saltwater. Possibly. 5 gallon bucket. Water first, then I add salt and let it mix with a power head and heater. If it is excess calcium from the sand, bubbling CO2 would help clear it up really quickly. Can modify PH temporarily so only use this method when no livestock is in the tank. Ive never heard of this method. Not sure what it entails. But I have lots of inverts and a couple corals. Link to comment
mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Anyone else have any ideas? Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hmm... What salt are you using? Not sure it matters I'm just curious. What's your calcium and pH? What's your water change schedule? Are you dosing anything? Is the water cloudy at all when you have it mixing in the bucket? Maybe next time mix in a black container and see if it looks cloudy before adding it to the tank. I would agree that it's likely not the sand. It's fine but once a bio film grows over it the sand should stay put for the most part. Even if you blow it around it shouldn't cause cloudyness like that. The C02 is a good idea if you can do it easily as a test. Adding a filter sock might help... Link to comment
mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hmm... What salt are you using? Not sure it matters I'm just curious. What's your calcium and pH? What's your water change schedule? Are you dosing anything? Is the water cloudy at all when you have it mixing in the bucket? Maybe next time mix in a black container and see if it looks cloudy before adding it to the tank. I would agree that it's likely not the sand. It's fine but once a bio film grows over it the sand should stay put for the most part. Even if you blow it around it shouldn't cause cloudyness like that. The C02 is a good idea if you can do it easily as a test. Adding a filter sock might help... I'm using regular IO. Never looks cloudy when I mix. I do dose 2 part from brs with brs dosers. I turned them offline for the time being. I was doing weekly changes. Tomorrow I'll be doing a change for the first time in about 3 weeks. I've used filter socks with no luck. I don't have a test for PH right now. Always tested alk... Calcium is at 420 ALK is 8 MAG 1300 Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hmmm... just a guess but I think your pH might be high. Also probably no need to dose 2 part yet... IMO your calcium, alk, & mg look fine though so it's a bit perplexing. You could try some coral snow? Link to comment
mystersyster Posted December 29, 2015 Author Share Posted December 29, 2015 Hmmm... just a guess but I think your pH might be high. Also probably no need to dose 2 part yet... IMO your calcium, alk, & mg look fine though so it's a bit perplexing. You could try some coral snow? I'm going to pick up a PH kit tomorrow. Funny thing is that I made a big batch of that DIY coral snow. Did absolutely nothing :/ Link to comment
gulfsurfer101 Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Just got through looking over the kz=chalk thread over on RR a few days ago. Was thinking of making my own to use as a coagulant to battle dino's in my 20l but a two day black out along with h202 dosing and skimming wet did the trick. If kz is charging an arm and a leg for chalk water I would hate to see what else they are getting away with though. I would hate to be making someone rich and them in turn giving me drywall to put in my tank or something of that nature! Link to comment
ajmckay Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 I'm going to pick up a PH kit tomorrow. Funny thing is that I made a big batch of that DIY coral snow. Did absolutely nothing :/ Oh bummer! Hopefully the pH is your issue... I mean it's a bummer you have an issue at all but hopefully you find out what it is. Normally I can't think of much of a reason why a tank would be cloudy for this long. A bacterial bloom would choke itself out at some point as you're not adding much to the tank. Link to comment
TCB.Reefer Posted December 29, 2015 Share Posted December 29, 2015 Oh bummer! Hopefully the pH is your issue... I mean it's a bummer you have an issue at all but hopefully you find out what it is. Normally I can't think of much of a reason why a tank would be cloudy for this long. A bacterial bloom would choke itself out at some point as you're not adding much to the tank. I agree looks like a bacterial bloom, I once caused this by adding alot of calcium gluconate to a tank, I wonder if overdoseing on carbon dose the same (vodka, viniger, sugar ect...). Eather way if is bacterial then they are feeding of some thing, in which case the trick would be cutting of such resource or putting some thing in that would eat up that resource better than that bacteria would, or just wait for the bectiria colony to crash as was previously stated. Link to comment
JavaJacketOC Posted June 3, 2016 Share Posted June 3, 2016 Are you using any type of filter sock, pad or floss? That fine sand will stay suspended in the water column it settles (which won't happen because of the flow) or until it's caught in mechanical filtration. Link to comment
jeffmr4 Posted June 21, 2016 Share Posted June 21, 2016 I second java's idea. I recently set up a small tank and bought the fine sand by accident. It was very cloudy and didn't settle. I had had this problem before and found I had to put a filter cartridge in to clear up the water. With the fine sand it is even worse. I'd try a filter pad and make sure no water can get around it. I might add that I took the sand out and replaced it with a coarser sand which caused much less cloudiness. Link to comment
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