Cloudy Water

[chrisfleet]

The past couple days the water in my aquarium has been going cloudy. Nothing has changed all levels are good. I have noticed purple spots starting to grow on the live rock. I have touched it and it is hard and after reading some other post think it may be coraline. What would be making the water go cloudy all of a sudden?

 

[yote]

What are your parameters,in actual numbers?
What's in the tank fish wise?
How much and how often are you feeding?

Probably a bacteria bloom. But lets go ahead and cover all the bases just in case.

 

[chrisfleet]

The salt level is at 1.025
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
pH - 7.4
Phosphate 2.0
Ammonia - 0

I have 7 snails, 1 clown fish, 2 brittle stars, and about 20 hermit crabs right now.

 

[chrisfleet]

I feed a couple times a day a couple pellets of food at a time so the clown gets them and not going all over the aquarium

 

[little_fish]

sounds like a bacterial bloom, i would do a water change and see it that keeps it away. I would also stop using the pellet food, they tend to provide more waste for the bacteria (and algae) to feed on.

 

[yote]

Did you test your PH in the morning or evening? Or is that a typo?
Either way,test your PH again to be double sure. 7.4 is to low.And if it's right,your calcium could be falling out of solution,which will cause cloudy water.

Also test your alkalinity and calcium.

 

[chrisfleet]

Thanks for the advice I will do a water change and test it again and let you know. Thanks again

 

[chrisfleet]

So I did a water change the other day and my pH is now at 8.4. But now the water seems to be a cloudy green color.

 

[little_fish]

sounds like a bacteria bloom

 

[chrisfleet]

What do I do now to get it clear again?

 

[little_fish]

i waited mine out, but you can do a water change and see if that helps

 

[chrisfleet]

Thanks, should I keep the light off over the next couple days?

 

[little_fish]

you sure can! Just be extra sure you do a water change when your turn the back on to remove the nutrients from the dying algae/bacteria bloom so you dont feed a return of the algae/bacteria stuff

 

[ErinCahir]

Green is usually an algae bloom... white is bacteria. :)

 

[chrisfleet]

I think it is algae too. I turned the light on for a bit to feed my clown and the water looks worse after having the light on for a bit. How do I fix this?

 

[little_fish]

you have to remove the nutrients that the algae is feeding from. So do regular water changes, dont over feed and dont overstock on the fishies.

Many tanks go through this, so dont feel alone!

 

[chrisfleet]

Thanks so much for all the help.