Cloudiness

Grimmy · 07-01-2001, 04:15 PM

Hey Folks,

Just a question if anyone can help. My tank has been established for about 2 months, got over a brown diatom bloom. After I got back from my graduation trip to SF for a few days my tank is cloudy. Yet, it only seems to happen during the day when my lights are on for at least a few hours. It settles a little but still noticable. Right when I turn on the lights in the morning it is clear as a whistle. Explain to me as if I were a 5 year old.

Alice · 07-02-2001, 12:03 AM

Hi Grimmy;

Ok, I'll explain it to you like I would to one of my kids as long as you don't ask me "Are we there yet?" about 10 times

Cloudiness: I can think of a couple of things. 1) You've still got a film on the glass and when the lights are on for a while, photosynthesis occurs on the algae "film" and it produces tiny oxygen bubbles. Does the water look cloudy specifically, or does it just look cloudy when you look at the tank? 2) Are you adding any 2 part additives in the morning? That could be clouding your water.

Anyone else have ideas?

~Alice

Doug1 · 07-02-2001, 12:10 AM

water borne bacteria, that are photoresponsive. Do you have Caulerpa in the tank, it may be reef spooge;-)

DennisW · 07-02-2001, 01:14 AM

Reef Spooge?????????

Dennis

MontanaRocknReefer · 07-02-2001, 01:18 AM

Alice · 07-02-2001, 02:43 PM

Hi Grimmy;

Your tank does need to have good gas exchange and a high rate of oxygen. Powerheads pointed upwards to ripple the surface of the water and running a skimmer accomplish that pretty well. I see that you're running a skimmer and a hang on filter. Is the skimmer working well? It should be pulling out maybe a 1/4 cup of dark-tea colored, smelly liquid per day. Make sure you are changing any filter media often, basically every day. You might want to try putting a poly-filter on the return to the sump and a bag of carbon in the sump to see if that helps clear up the water any.

(I was just joking with the kid comment, btw

)

~Alice

[ 07-02-2001: Message edited by: Alice ]

Grimmy · 07-02-2001, 05:26 PM

Yup... I have the return pump head creating ripples on the surface and another p.head on the bottom of the tank for cycling the water around. I upgraded the pump on the skimmer and is pulling about a cup a day of cr@p. About the green type algae on rock. Almost like crystaline algae, but green. I have carbon in the sump and replacing/cleaning all my prefilters every week.

Grimmy · 07-03-2001, 01:40 AM

The only thing that is visible in my tank are a brown color(diatom) that I clean off my glass and rock every so often. Also most recently there are some green patches on my LR. Do I need to remove this algae somehow? Somewhere I heard the more oxygenated your water, the clearer it is. Is this an incorrect statement. Thanx for the reply.

Grimmy · 07-03-2001, 01:44 AM

Oops. Forgot to answer questions. No Calerpa or Sponges in tank. No additives at all. I feed the fish a bit of Marine flakes every morning. I wouldn't think that that would contribute to the cloudiness.

Alice · 07-03-2001, 02:21 AM

Hmmmmmm......the only time I've had a cloudy tank is when I've had macroalgae go asexual. But that wasn't cloudy; that looked like pea soup! Doug's probably on the right track on this one. Anybody had something similar?

Grimmy · 07-03-2001, 03:31 PM

Then if it is photosynthetic bacteria, how would I go about getting rid of it or something that would minimize the effects of the cloudy water.

Spanky · 07-03-2001, 04:41 PM

Grimmy,
I think you've still got something in your tank releasing nutrients (two months old). Could be something dying in your rock/sand, could be a dying spooge.

Something is feeding this. Wait and see.

Jerel