Algae or bacterial bloom?

[Gagej12]

Hey everyone I’m asking for help again. My tank has been up and running for about 6 weeks. In the past 2 days though the water went from crystal clear to extremely murky. I did a 20% water change that didn’t have an effect. I think it may be an algae or bacterial bloom but I’m unsure. Inside the tank are: 

-2 clowns

- YWG

- 2 nassarius snails 
- Favia coral frag

- Ricordea Florida frag

- Zoa frag

The frags were placed in the tank a couple weeks ago and have been fine since then

Any ideas or suggestions are very helpful. I have also attached pictures of the tank with no lighting, white lights only and blue lights only.

 

 

EDIT: The pictures don’t show it very well but the water has a greenish hue to it so I’m assuming algae?

[Chadicus Meridius]

 

And you usually will get a bacterial bloom(diatoms)  with a new tank I’m getting one now.

 

whats the filtration look like?

[banasophia]

Wow, funny enough I have this very topic open in another tab right now cuz I was helping someone else with the same problem this morning. I kinda like this article I’m posting because I like how he talks about ruling out the different potential causes of cloudy water. My new Evo 5 turned cloudy white a few weeks ago and appeared to be a massive copepod bloom... resolved on its own within a week. 

 

https://reefbum.com/pests/diagnosing-eliminating-cloudy-aquarium-water/

 

 

 

 

 

[Gagej12]

Thanks for the link, hopefully it helps get the issue resolved soon.

[mcarroll]

On 4/20/2020 at 10:43 PM, Gagej12 said:

Hey everyone I’m asking for help again. My tank has been up and running for about 6 weeks.

On 4/20/2020 at 10:43 PM, Gagej12 said:

2 clowns

- YWG

- 2 nassarius snails 
- Favia coral frag

- Ricordea Florida frag

- Zoa frag

The frags were placed in the tank a couple weeks ago and have been fine since then

 

I'm not sure how you cycled the tank, but 6 weeks is awfully quick to already have the tank fully loaded.

 

It's most likely a bacterial bloom (but could be phyto) that was caused by all the free ammonia in the water that your rock can't process yet.

 

Waiting longer to begin stocking and then doing the stocking more slowly once you started are two things that could have been done differently.

 

Once a bloom like this gets started, sometimes these blooms seem to be self-sustaining.  The good thing is that its unlikely to hurt anything...just looks odd.

 

I would try doing nothing about it for as long as you can....just let the tank mature some more and see how it plays out.

[mcarroll]

Check out Marine Aquarium Handbook Beginner to Breeder by Martin Moe for detailed info about cycling and stocking a new tank.  👍