cloudy water

[reefqueen]

just put 3 mexican turbos in my 100 gallon tank and two days later the water is cloudy i did notice these snails were staying close to each other and even on top of one another is it what i think ???...water checks out fine....all my critters are accounted for.....any ideas ?? thanks

[Jen's&Gil'sgoneReef]

Originally Posted by reefqueen

just put 3 mexican turbos in my 100 gallon tank and two days later the water is cloudy i did notice these snails were staying close to each other and even on top of one another is it what i think ???...water checks out fine....all my critters are accounted for.....any ideas ?? thanks

do a water change .. My turbo snails are all over each other all the time... I think its normal

[Loverotties]

Welcome to TRT! tell us your water perimeters.

[ChrisPrusha]

Welcome aboard!

How long has the tank been set up?

And as George said, please tell us your water parameters.

[reefqueen]

temp is 78 degrees....ph is 8.2 ,ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, nitrate is 0 the tank has been set up for about a month has about 2" of sand and about 30 pounds of live rock until i can get some more....it has a skimmer and two cartridge type filters hanging on the back with nothing in them but i am going to add some carbon tonight...the only other thing i have done is add the skimmer it is a homemade one i copied from Jnicho on here....it works really good i cant see it clouding the water though...it was added the same day as the turbos...as far as livestock i have the 3 turbos ,1 yellow tang, 1 cleaner shrimp and a couple of mushrooms...i am also battling a bit of brown algae on the sand bed and rocks i have reduced my lighting time and dont really feed much....what else can i do ?? if water changes are still recommended how many gallons and how often ? any help is greatly appreciated....amanda

[ChrisPrusha]

Carbon should help. Keep us updated!

[kwdelre]

Frequency and amount vary depending on how you keep up with things. I would figure out how much you want to do and keep that pace steady. Here are some examples of my habits in the past. hope it helps!

10% once a week
15-20% twice a month
25% once a month (never actually done that)
Right now I'm doing 15% of the water volume (not tank volume) once a week.

[reefqueen]

here is a picture...its a little better this morning after i put the carbon in last night but not much

[jonnosteams]

Did you rinse your sand before you filled with water?

[reefqueen]

yep i sure did...i have moved the tank 3 times in the past 5 years and it has not gotten cloudy like this before....also the 4 t5 lights i have are on a timer...they come on at 8 am and off at 5pm everyday when i get home there is more brown algae over the sand and rock how do i stop this from happening the bulbs are 3 days old 2 18k daylights and 2 actinics...

[ChrisPrusha]

The brown algae is probably the result of a nutrient problem. Are you using RO/DI water for your water changes?

A nitrate of zero is hard to achieve in my experience. What test kit are you using?

[reefqueen]

someone else mentioned to me that it might be the ending of the cycle i kept a close eye on the water it did show that it cycled....but the test kit is an aquaium pharmaceuticals its about 3 months old always had good luck out of them....local fish store wants .99 per gallon for ro water

[kwdelre]

.99 cents is standard here. Thats why i bought the unit.

[reefqueen]

well if its gonna make that much of a difference i will buy the unit too i cant see paying 1.00 for a gallon of water ...heck i live close enough to the ocean i could get the water salt and all for free !!!

[jonnosteams]

You can usually pick up a 5 or 6 stage RO/DI 100gpd unit for less than 175. Already saved me money in 3 months!