When is a UV Sterilizer Necessary?

[Blitzo]

I have a 20 high reef that has recently developed some major clouding issues.  I had chaeto in leau of carbon at my lfs’ behest but that may have been what started the issue.

 

Admittedly, I just put the carbon back in after the clouding started but it seems like its only gotten worse even after adding it again.

 

Clarity didn’t really do anything to solve the issue either.

 

Is a UV sterilizer the next step or is there something else I can do?

[neyes_ice]

do you have snails?

 

[Blitzo]

18 minutes ago, neyes_ice said:

do you have snails?

 

Yeah, a nassarius and several margaritas.  Why?

[neyes_ice]

some snails secretes stuff in the water that makes it cloudy. it happened with my trochus snails when i first got them

[Clown79]

Is it a white cloudiness? How old is the tank?

Could be a bacteria bloom. 

 

 

[Blitzo]

1 minute ago, Clown79 said:

Is it a white cloudiness? How old is the tank?

Could be a bacteria bloom. 

 

 

It is white, and it was upgraded from a 7.5 (which was running for about almost a year) to a 20 a month or two ago.

[Blitzo]

1 hour ago, neyes_ice said:

some snails secretes stuff in the water that makes it cloudy. it happened with my trochus snails when i first got them

Maybe.

How long would it last in that case, and wouldn’t Clarity clear that up?

[mcarroll]

Patience will do it.  

 

Adding a bacterial additive like BioSpira (almost said Spyro Gyra...LOL 🎶) might help as long as you follow the directions.

What's the story on your live rock?

[Blitzo]

3 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Patience will do it.  

 

Adding a bacterial additive like BioSpira (almost said Spyro Gyra...LOL 🎶) might help as long as you follow the directions.

What's the story on your live rock?

Some (most) has been active for a year, the rest maybe a month or two.

[mcarroll]

Do you mean that it wasn't live, just plain bio-media (ie dead rock) a couple of months/a year ago?  Or that it was all always live and the distinction is just that you've gotten two batches?

 

The reason I ask is that it seems like these bacterial blooms are more common in (e.g.) tanks that start with inert bio-media, like an under gravel filter or dead rock, versus tanks that start with real live rock.

[Blitzo]

If I’m understanding your question correctly, one piece was purchased as live and the rest as dry rock.

[Blitzo]

This wouldn’t be such an issue for me if one of my corals didn’t get lost somewhere in the tank where I can’t see/find it.

[Tired]

The coral should be OK as long as the flow and light are still on. 

 

Snails produce a substance that clouds the water, yes, when they spawn. That's sperm. It would clear up relatively quick. 

 

A bacterial bloom is reasonably common in new tanks. Up your flow to make sure the oxygen level stays high, and wait. The bacteria should calm down in awhile. Water changes may help. 

[Blitzo]

Alright, thanks.  Let’s see what happens I suppose.

[Blitzo]

Update:  water is extremely green now and clarity isn’t doing anything.  I ordered a UV sterilizer.  I tried but I guess I should have done this in the first place.

[Tired]

Green water means algae, so either that's mixed into the bacterial soup now, or it was algae in the first place. 

 

What are your parameters? 

 

It's only been a few days. Stop dosing clarity, it's clearly not helping, and let it alone. It should ease up naturally.

[Blitzo]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Green water means algae, so either that's mixed into the bacterial soup now, or it was algae in the first place. 

 

What are your parameters? 

 

It's only been a few days. Stop dosing clarity, it's clearly not helping, and let it alone. It should ease up naturally.

Ph is about 7.8, nitrates are about 5 ppm, ammonia is about .25 ppm, and nitrite is at 0.

 

I’ve already dosed ph buffer to start getting back to 8.3 after testing.

[Tired]

Any idea why you have ammonia? How and when was the tank cycled?

 

Are you using an API test kit? They don't read ammonia accurately.

[Blitzo]

1 hour ago, Tired said:

Any idea why you have ammonia? How and when was the tank cycled?

 

Are you using an API test kit? They don't read ammonia accurately.

I simply moved the stock of 1 yellow clown goby over to the 20 along with all of my rock and water when upgrading - I simply assumed that the tank could handle the load and gradually added more fish after I was reading nitrates starting about two weeks or so later.  Algae was present as well.  The 7.5 was running for about a year beforehand.

 

I am using an API test kit - do you have recommendations on alternatives?

The only reason I can come up with is that my two spot goby disappeared and died in the tank - the issue with that reasoning is that I’ve been unable to locate the corpse anywhere.  Outside of that...Uneaten food possibly, but I haven’t seen any recently and the bits that have made it to the bottom have been scavenged by the hermits.

[Tired]

Can you see the fish and corals well enough to tell if they're distressed? If not, I'd suspect the ammonia reading is false, as you should have transferred the cycle with the rock. The water wasn't needed, very little beneficial bacteria lives in the water. 

 

I honestly don't know which test kit is best. I'd read around a bit on the forums, maybe look at Amazon reviews. Red Sea seems to generally be a good brand? 

[Blitzo]

The fish, in the few times I can see them, look fine.

Some of the corals are less wavy/active than they were before but nothing looks like it’s dying - zoas are open, the hammer is pulsing, etc.

[Tired]

They'd be a lot unhappier if you had ammonia. You probably don't. 

 

IMO, just let it alone. Maybe put an extra pump in there to be sure there's enough oxygen. Blooms of anything often resolve on their own.