Cloudy Tank Help

[Cee Birk]

I have a 32 biocube and its been up for 6 months. Waited four months to add fish until it fully cycled. Used Dr.Tims and small amounts of food to cycle.
 

I am running filter floss  and heater in the first chamber. Then standard carbon, chemi-pure blue, seachem matrix in middle and bottom tray has Ecobak biologic media. The Matrix and Ecobak was over year and half old, it leftover from a 16 biocude I set up.  My water seems to get clear for short time but is mainly a bit cloudy all the time. Could these media be causing its because they are older? Any suggestions on what the cause on a tank that been up for over 6 months? Im going to dose with Brilliant to see what that does also.

 

any feedback would be greatly appreciated  — Thanks 

[seabass]

2 hours ago, Cee Birk said:

Im going to dose with Brilliant to see what that does also.

I'm not familiar with that.  Perhaps an auto-correct typo?  Unless it's a water clarifier, it probably won't help and could do some harm.

 

2 hours ago, Cee Birk said:

I am running filter floss  and heater in the first chamber. Then standard carbon, chemi-pure blue, seachem matrix in middle and bottom tray has Ecobak biologic media.

Seems like a lot.  If your tank has live rock, it shouldn't need more bio-media (Matrix and ecoBAK pellets).  But if you are set on using them, cure them separately before using them in a tank with livestock.

 

Also, no need to run activated carbon and Chemi-Pure Blue at the same time.  I'd probably use up the Chemi-Pure (switching it out monthly), then just just the floss and activated carbon.

 

The cloudiness is probably a bacterial bloom.  I'd start by removing the old bio-media.

[Cee Birk]

On 8/1/2022 at 11:14 PM, seabass said:

I'm not familiar with that.  Perhaps an auto-correct typo?  Unless it's a water clarifier, it probably won't help and could do some harm.

 

Seems like a lot.  If your tank has live rock, it shouldn't need more bio-media (Matrix and ecoBAK pellets).  But if you are set on using them, cure them separately before using them in a tank with livestock.

 

Also, no need to run activated carbon and Chemi-Pure Blue at the same time.  I'd probably use up the Chemi-Pure (switching it out monthly), then just just the floss and activated carbon.

 

The cloudiness is probably a bacterial bloom.  I'd start by removing the old bio-media.

Sorry I meant dosing with Vibrant not Brilliant.. 

 

I checked my media trays per your suggestion and the second stage ecobak was contaminated with weird blue slim and stinky. I tossed it and cleaned the matrix and its been clear ever since.   Thanks for the help

[seabass]

I'm glad it worked out.

 

Despite its claims of being a bacteria culture, Vibrant is really an algaecide / biocide.  While Vibrant might have a few valid uses, I'd be very cautious about using it.  It can cause all sorts of problems for beneficial fauna, and even kill certain corals when dosed more frequently.