Cloudy Tank

marianna · 03-25-2006, 11:30 PM

My hubby and I set up our reef tank about 2 months ago and it went through the normal cycle, went through the algae bloom and has come along nicely. Over the past few weeks we have noticed that it has become cloudy over the night and clears up throughout the day. It is never 100% clear.

Any thoughts as to what might be causing this?

wolfie · 03-25-2006, 11:46 PM

What are the side of your tank? How are your system set up? What are your day and night pump and are you doing SB or not?

I know this is not the answer you are looking for, but we can not help if we does not know what you are using for your tank.

Other will also jump in here and asking more question.

dobejazz · 03-26-2006, 12:03 AM

Here are the specs on marianna's tank

http://thereeftank.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69901

tims · 03-26-2006, 09:51 AM

if you can post the tested parameters of thetank that will help,
also try to do a test when the cloud is out too.

marianna · 03-26-2006, 10:04 AM

All of the paramaters are good. No amonia, no nitrites, no nitrates.
We have a sand bed that is 2 - 3 inches thick.
We have a lawn mower blenny that goes to the front of the tank and swishes his tail through the sand. It looks like he is battling his reflection in the glass when he does this. Thinking he might be causing our problem with his movement of the sand bed.
We appear to have that red algae, (cyano) forgot how to spell the name, covering one rock

and have pumped up the watermovement in that corner of the tank. The corals are out most of the day. Lights are on from 10:00 am to 10:00 pm. Might be too long for them but the tank clears up when the lights are on. We have a protein skimmer but IMO it isn't working good enough. (The foam isn't to the top) Micro algae in the sump, filter socks on the sump feed to the tank. 2400 pump return. We estimate with all of the filtration we are moving about 3000 GPH. Let me know if I missed anything.

marianna · 03-26-2006, 10:14 AM

forgot to mention... we have done water changes to try to clear the tank, frequently adjust the water flow due to that cyao , change the filters and well today, without the lights, it looks clear... I don't get it... are we still just cycling? Rex, our LMBlenny, was even out yesterday swooshing the sand. I have this nice little ridge across the front of the tank in the sand. I also forgot to mention we started treating the tang for ick with garlic. However, this was 2 days ago and the cloud started a week ago.

Geoff · 03-26-2006, 10:19 AM

it takes about a year for a tank to truely be done cycling. hard to tell from your description. it could be either a nightly bacterial bloom or just more sand getting kicked up.

it also sounds like you need to be siphoning up detritus that is building up on the sand bed. this is what the cyano is feeding on. are you able to siphon out all around your aquascaping?

G~

ChrisPrusha · 03-26-2006, 10:21 AM

I may have missed it, but are you running carbon in there? Something to consider if you are not.

ChrisPrusha · 03-26-2006, 10:21 AM

Also, welcome aboard!!! w000000000000t!!!

marianna · 03-26-2006, 10:43 AM

Thanks for the welcome ChrisPrusha.

Had carbon in the sump.saw a major loss of flow in the sump. Caused the sump to be really low on the return side. Took it out about 3 days ago. After the cloud started. Will try relocating this into another area. Maybe in the Filter canister.

Geoff, when the tank and coral beauty start chasing each other( usually in the evenings through the rock) we can see some debris get kicked up. We will try this today. We can get to most surface areas except in the little cave on the right hand side. When I mention chasing each other, they seem to play hid and seek in the rocks. One will look, find and run. The other will follow suite. Quite comical.

tims · 03-26-2006, 10:49 AM

how about a picture of before and after?

Cyano is a part of the cycle and willalways be in the tank, we just try really, really hard to have it not go crazy..

the carbon can go in to a filter bag or nylon bag and just lay inthe sump. when the sand went in thetank, did you rinse it off good or did you use the "live" sand in a bag?
How often are you feeding the tank?

marianna · 03-26-2006, 11:21 AM

Feeding the tank 1x every other day with brine and cyclopeeds.

Used live sand, Fiji pink.

As soon as the lights come on, I will take another pic. I have yesterdays posted in Tank Specs titled 140 gallon reef. The white is how cloudy it was yesterday about 5 hours after the lights came on. Normally when the lights first come on you can barely make out the overflows in the back and it clears steadily throughout the day. Today, it looks clearer than it has in weeks.

We had the carbon anchored here where the flow goes through the holding chambers. (oo1)

We can just lay it in here? where the cheeto and LR, LS is?(002)

We are starting to think that with as much water flow we want that we need a bigger sump. Afraid that if the power turns off we will flood.

tims · 03-26-2006, 12:57 PM

either palce would be fine to place the carbon bag. picture placement #1 would be my 1st choice.
from the picture ( which i moved here so i dont have to jump back and forth)
it looks like a bacteria bloom.as long as everyone ( coral) is opening up and looking good .... with sump... are you running the lighting for it during the night ( a revese cycle time) ?. i did see what lookslike aRIO return pump.. if it is i strongly recommend you get rid of it and use a diffrent type of pump.. they tend to burn out fast and when they go.. they really go...
as far as the sump is concerned , as long as you have enough open space to hold the amount of water until the over flows stop, you should be fine. if you add ashut off value to the tubing coming fromthe pumps that will help.

marianna · 03-26-2006, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tims

it looks like a bacteria bloom.as long as everyone ( coral) is opening up and looking good

I am thinking that is what it is as well. The cloud appears to be going away for now... It is not nearly as cloudy as it was... Now we only have floaties in the tank coming off of the rock. Guess we will be definitly syphoning today.

Hubby woke up and said he relocated the carbon to the canister filter which is a magnum 350. The carbon was slowing the flow from one chamber to another in the first pic above and causing the return to come too close to running out of water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tims

.... with sump... are you running the lighting for it during the night ( a revese cycle time) ?. i did see what lookslike aRIO return pump.. if it is i strongly recommend you get rid of it and use a diffrent type of pump.. they tend to burn out fast and when they go.. they really go...

Yes we are running it reverse. I turned it on to get the pics.

It is a RIO 1100. It only drives the skimmer at this point and is going to be going as soon as I find out some really good DIY plans for a new protein skimmer. I posted in another section asking which is best, downdraft or venturi. We are both leaning towards a venturi at this point and that pump will be gone and only used to transfer water from RO/DI tank to mixing tank if our other one blows up.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tims

as far as the sump is concerned , as long as you have enough open space to hold the amount of water until the over flows stop, you should be fine. if you add ashut off value to the tubing coming fromthe pumps that will help.

We are really concerned with another 1000 gph of flow and not thinking it will handle it. We have already drilled a few extra flow holes in one of the panels of the sump. I know we need around 3500 gph in the main tank and we are only pushing 2400 not including the extra power head and canister filter. Thinking of a closed loop system to increase the GPH flow in the main tank at this point. With the power head and the canister and return we are moving 3100 gph.

If you can

with any other suggestions with this I would greatly appreciate it.

tims · 03-26-2006, 03:42 PM

tank is looking better!

withthte canaster filters ( i do have the mag350) try to use it as a sedondary filter when you doa major cleaning, the problem is they catch way too much gunk in the prefilter sock, that stays until you clean it, this can add a headacke in time. adding a CLS to your system will increase your flow big time, that is a great way to go.this will also help take out things you dont want to see inthe tank ,like the power head. for a nice DIY skimmer , try looking up geoff's DIY skimmer on his webpage, just find any post with him on it ( like afew up) and goto his home page all the plans are right there. also in the tim's bigin tank thread is the plans for it in a PDF file so it can be downloaded. many have made it and some have changed some things to it.