Cloudy Water

Tazzmanian123 · 05-27-2007, 03:58 PM

Hello All.

Been following this and other reef/marine forums for almost a decade now.
Have a 46gallon bowfront, with alot of equiptment I purchased over that period of time, sitting as a decoration in my living room.

Well, to make a long story short, wife says "I'm tired of looking at air in that aquarium. Finish it, or sell it on Ebay"

So, about a week & a half ago I started putting my dream together. I am at the beginning, and have run into an issue already.

First I will list what I have & have done, Then all the rest.

Equiptment:
46gallon bowfront w/stand
Amiracle SL50 wet/dry
CPR Bak-Pak Skimmer
Mag-Drive 5 pump
CPR 300gph Overflow
192watt PC light
5gallon bucket coralife salt
2 test kits
Lots of odds & ends. All this stuff I have saved for 4 or 5 years. Ton of books & freshwater xp.

Ok, I understand that a reef tank takes time, so I started setting everything up. Filled tank with treated tap water & mixed salt in to a specific gravity of 1.024.
Turned everything on, & checked for anything that needs attention.
Since most of my equiptment I have collected over a period of years, at substantial savings, I have found out that some are missing pieces.

I have 4 powerheads in tank, 3 rio 600's, & 1 rio 1200. ( Figured they would make good wave makers)
1st problem I noticed was the overflow I have, has no airlifter, so I figured I would use 1 of the rio 600 powerheads to fix. (Figured if it works for skimmer, why not for overflow)Well, the powerhead now blows microbubbles in the aqarium every minute or so.
Ordered air lifter pump to fix this I hope.

Second problem. Skimmer is putting a ton of micro bubbles in aquarium. So I ordered a bubble baffle for skimmer, in hopes this will fix micro bubble problem.

3rd problem is where I Live I guess. Im from Las Vegas, NV. & its the beginning of summer time, so our ac units are at work now for 6 to 8 months. I keep my house at 75ish degrees farenheit, but the tank is 82 degrees. So, you guessed it, chiller ordered.

4th problem I am at a loss. The water is cloudy, & theres a white like chalkish film all over everthing in tank & sump.

Theres nothing live in the tank yet, I thought I was being pretty good at starting this right, but I am at a loss as to why & where this cloud/chakish mess is from.

Things on Order, but have not received yet.
Chiller
100gpd ro/di unit
200w heater
40lbs caribbean live sand
digital timer power center
Bak-Pak bubble trap
Mag Drive 7
Overflow Aqua lifter pump

Have tested water, & all the tests came back good. Figured they would, cause theres nothing in tank but salt water.

Have attached photo's

Phishy · 05-27-2007, 04:05 PM

The whitish stuff is probably salt that did not dissolve. I did the same thing, didn't mix it properly (I just dumped it in the aquarium with the ph figuring it woudl mix itself) Now I mix it sepreately before putting it in.

It will either settle or get taken out by the skimmer.

Becareful with the CPR overflow, I have read about flooding b/c the airpump fails.

Tazzmanian123 · 05-27-2007, 04:22 PM

Tank started getting cloudy after the 4th day of it being run. The water doesnt look cloudy looking down into the the tank from the top, but there is the chalkisk film all over everywhere water touches.

As far as overflow, any recommendations will be gladly taken. Tank is not drilled, so need some way of getting water from tank to sump.

Was also told to remove bio balls?

Thanks for help.

fish.freak · 05-27-2007, 04:38 PM

did you add substrate yet?

get some live rock in there asap to start cycle no rock= no cycle

was the equiptment used?

could be something in the tap water, look for a ro unit or a LFS that carries ro water.

is it just the micro bubbles everywhere? try turning off skimmer to see if it clears up, no need to run it yet anyway.

HowardX · 05-27-2007, 07:27 PM

<<< Second problem. Skimmer is putting a ton of micro bubbles in aquarium. So I ordered a bubble baffle for skimmer, in hopes this will fix micro bubble problem. >>>

Very common on new CPR and Aqua C skimmers, the micro bubbles usually subside within 2-3 weeks once the skimmer breaks in.

<<< 4th problem I am at a loss. The water is cloudy, & theres a white like chalkish film all over everthing in tank & sump. >>>

This is precipitate from the salt mix and is also common on new tanks, it easily wipes or scrapes off the glass usually.

<<< Filled tank with treated tap water & mixed salt in to a specific gravity of 1.024. >>>

Not really sure what 'treated tap water' means but if your tap water has high TDS I would dump the water and refill the tank using RO/DI water. Also, if that Coralife salt is 5 yrs. old and was not kept airtite and there was any clumping of the salt I would discard it and get fresh salt. Many salts will precipitate if too much salt is dumped into the water, may be a good idea to add salt in 1/4 quantities and mix well and add more.

<<< I have 4 powerheads in tank, 3 rio 600's, & 1 rio 1200 >>>

If these Rios are 5 yrs. old or more, I would get new ones or a different brand as Rio had issues several years ago with some of their pumps going bad and nuking tanks if I remember correctly.

Tazzmanian123 · 05-28-2007, 07:16 AM

Thanks for responses all. No live rock ordered yet, because I felt I needed to see tank tested for everything first. Good thing to, have alot of stuff coming this week, so prob. gonna break down tank & wash out all the film off everywhere I can.

Have to install chiller, & bigger mag drive pump, ro/di unit.

The salt was never opened, & seems to be ok. 3 sealed packages in bucket, err... 1 & 3/4's now. No clumping at all.

Have 2-20lb bags of caribbean live sand otw, should arrive with everything else.

Skimmer has me concered. Hope putting the bubble trap in it reduces those microbubbles considerably.

Looking for a better overflow, but am having issues finding any.

Thanks for help all.

salt-rookie · 05-28-2007, 09:42 AM

Put some carbon in a bag in the system..this will posish out anything that is not one of the issues listed above.

luvmylo · 05-28-2007, 01:14 PM

the new rio pumps are magnetic driven. the old ones had oil in them. Seals would go and oil would pour into the tank and destroy everything. (just incase anyone was wondering)

jerryk · 05-28-2007, 07:21 PM

Hi there, our tank has been established for about 6 months now. We have just recently noticed a brown spot on our yellow wrase and an accumulation of brown coloration on the bottom of our tank. As well our live rock is turning a bright lime green and brown. Any suggestions as to what is going on; is this normal and ok? HELP please!!!!!!!

Phishy · 05-29-2007, 06:34 AM

Tazz - I use a Life reef, no electrical/mechanical components link http://www.lifereef.com/siphon.html

Jerr - stuff on tank probably diatom, the bright green on the rocks is either hair algae (if it grows longer and is stringly looking) or coraline algae (if it is tight against the rock). Spot on fish??

Tazzmanian123 · 05-29-2007, 01:11 PM

Thanks Phishy.

Well, after a day of more research & blowing my life savings. I have decided to use alot of the advice & knowledge from this forum, and make some changes before this really gets going.

Scraping all the rio pumps in tank, & replacing with 2 Hydor Koralia powerheads on order. http://www.petsolutions.com/Hydor+Ko...-I-C-1-C-.aspx

Scraping the Miracle SL50 wet/dry, & replacing with DIY 10gallon aquarium sump. http://cgi.ebay.com/PRO-Refugium-kit...QQcmdZViewItem

Keeping cpr overflow for the moment, will test and see how well aqualifter does, & will also add a standpipe to. Found this if I need to replace http://store.hurricanefilters.com/quprov.html

Turned off skimmer, & water cleared up. But there is a whitish film all over inside of tank. Well, figure I will be using alot of vinegar,water, & elbow grease when I tear down/rebuild this week.

Waiting on the rest of my fortune to arrive:
Chiller,heater,200gallon Tropic Marin,100gpd ro/di,Bak-Pak bubble Trap,40lbs Live Sand,digital power center....omg, im sure theres more, but trying not to think of the rest atm.

We have 3 cats in this household, & 1 of them is a snow bengal that is VERY active attention demander. If you dont pay attention to him, he does everything in his power to get your attention. So, with that said, the glass top on the 46g bowfront stays, not an option.

As far as I know, I cant find any canopy's for this bowfront. I will be upgrading from my 36" 192w pc lights to a 39w 6 bulb T5 hood hanging from ceiling when the PC bulbs need to be replaced. I would like to have opinions on this, Is 6 to much, or should I go with 4, or stay with pc?

Also am not sure on connecting input/output of chiller, placement of Bak-Pak skimmer in new sump/refuge?

Being new to this whole endeavor, would also like opions on setup.
currently:
46g bowfront w/10g sump/refuge. Cpr overflow with 3/4 drain. Bak-Pak skimmer on sump. 1/2" Mag Drive 7 return pump.200w heater. Usa-Prime 1/5hp Chiller. 192w pc light with 10k/atinic. 2-Hydor Koralia model 2 ph's for movement.

luvmylo · 05-29-2007, 01:15 PM

what are you planning on keeping in the tank. 6 bulb t-5's should be good enough for just about anything if you have individual reflectors on them. Sounds like you have a good plan goin there. Good job with the sump. Could you use like a 20 long for the sump??

Tazzmanian123 · 05-29-2007, 01:33 PM

Thanks luvmylo.
I have a 20L in garage, but not enough room in stand for. As for what's going in tank. $$$$$ atm, but will start off very slow & methodical. Would like fairly easy corals & 1 or 2 fish. Also still have a custom 5g nano been sitting in garage for years. (Was going to attempt dwarf seahorses), but complications on feeding them nixed that plan.

luvmylo · 05-29-2007, 01:35 PM

I see. Well good luck with it. Patience is the key to this game. Nothing good happens fast with this.

HowardX · 05-29-2007, 01:58 PM

<<< I will be upgrading from my 36" 192w pc lights to a 39w 6 bulb T5 hood hanging from ceiling when the PC bulbs need to be replaced. I would like to have opinions on this, Is 6 to much, or should I go with 4, or stay with pc? >>>

Unless you plan to keep very high PAR requiring SPS coral or clams, I would not spend the extra money on the T5 setup if you already have a PC lighting setup. Yes the T5's run cooler, more bulb choices, longer bulb life, better lumens per watt, etc........but your 192W PC's will probably suffice fine for what you plan to have. If you want to spend extra money I would upgrade the skimmer if anything.