Help - I am about ready to give up!

[hebbah]

Hey all,

We set up our 55G tank about 6 weeks ago. The water in the tank is cloudy and I can't for the life of me figure out what the problem is! It is driving me nutty!!! Please help this desperate newbie!!!

Here is some more info:

55G Acrylic Seaclear System II Tank. This tank is an integrated system meaning that it has a false back wall and the pump/filter system is behind the wall.

- added about 20 lb of fine, white Fiji Sand and 10 lb of argonite on 1/15 at setup

- 30lb of live rock currently - added also 1/15

- tank cycled gently, all parameters good around 2/6 - the water was already cloudy now.

- got an algae bloom that lasted about 10 days. - water remained cloudy even after algea growth was back to normal.

- added activated carbon to try and clear up the tank today in the afternoon

Here are my parameters as of today:

Temp: 78.7
SG: 1.026
Am: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
PH: 8.4
Alk: around 2
Phospate: 0.1
Calcium: 460

I am running a Coralife PC that gives me about 4 watts per gallon and also have a Protein Skimmer and 2 powerheads running.
Currently in the tank are a about 5 shrimp, a couple snails and hermits and one clown goby.

PLEASE HELP - I am totally out of ideas. I removed some of the sand because I read that sometimes the sand blows around and makes the water cloudy but nothing changed at all!!!

Thanks so much!
Hebbah

 

[dustin_P74]

you dont have enough flow to blow the sand so thats not it, i would add 25-30 pounds of live rock to bring it up to 1lbs per gallon and see if the added filtration will help. also you just added the carbon today so give it a day or two to get all the water through it atleast once.

 

[Bifferwine]

Cloudy water isn't all that uncommon in new tanks. It's usually due to a bacterial bloom or an algae bloom. Usually some regular water changes will help clear it up. Try bumping up your water changes to once or twice a week, 10% to 20% at a time. Keep it up for a few weeks, it can take a while to clear up the water.

 

[yote]

Sounds like a bacteria bloom.Which will just take some time to clear up.
But could also be free floating algae.
So I'd recommend leaving the lights off for 3 to 4 days.About the 2nd day without lights,do a 20% water change using RO/DI water.
Your alk is 2 what? meg/l? ppm? I sure hope its not 2 DKH.

 

[yote]

2X ninjaed

 

[hebbah]

I am doing a 10% change every week right now. I guess I will just keep that up and get some more rock. Thanks so much for replying so patiently to my many questions!

Cloudy water isn't all that uncommon in new tanks. It's usually due to a bacterial bloom or an algae bloom. Usually some regular water changes will help clear it up. Try bumping up your water changes to once or twice a week, 10% to 20% at a time. Keep it up for a few weeks, it can take a while to clear up the water.

 

[dustin_P74]

I sure hope its not 2 DKH.

is that even possible with a pH of 8.4?

 

[yote]

Anythings possible:mrgreen:

 

[hebbah]

Sounds like a bacteria bloom.Which will just take some time to clear up.
But could also be free floating algae.
So I'd recommend leaving the lights off for 3 to 4 days.About the 2nd day without lights,do a 20% water change using RO/DI water.
Your alk is 2 what? meg/l? ppm? I sure hope its not 2 DKH.

Is it alright to do turn off the lights even though there are critters in the tank? Will they not get stressed???

 

[dustin_P74]

Is it alright to do turn off the lights even though there are critters in the tank? Will they not get stressed???

you have nothing in your tank that needs light to live so it wont hurt anything

 

[Bifferwine]

Your animals will be fine without lights. Corals, anemones and clams are the only ones that need lights, and even they will be fine if the lights are off for several days. If it's algae, algae needs light to thrive, so cutting off the light usually helps.

 

[yote]

Its not pretty and sunny 365 days a year on the reef.Sometimes they'll go for a week or more with it over cast and raining.So a few days in our tanks without light isnt going to hurt anything.

 

[hebbah]

That makes total sense! Thanks for the most clever responses...taht makes me think this debate my husband and I have. We currently have blue moon lights but I think it should be white moon lights. What color does the moon light have underwater in the ocean...more white or more blue??? Do you know?
Hebbah

 

[hebbah]

is that even possible with a pH of 8.4?

I am not sure what the measurment unit thing on the Alk test kit is...I just did the test and it came out with that result which was supposedly in the 'normal' range according to the little color card....I could check though.

 

[dustin_P74]

bluer light penetrates deeper

 

[Smitty]

Try pointing the powerheads towards the top of the water, instead of towards the sand for a few days, your fine sand's slight movement will cause a small sand disturbance...it's worth a try.

 

[Teixeira29]

You could also use a water polisher in your filter. What do you use for filtration?

 

[Piggy]

I am not sure what the measurment unit thing on the Alk test kit is...I just did the test and it came out with that result which was supposedly in the 'normal' range according to the little color card....I could check though.

Sounds like it's meq/L.

 

[yote]

Dont really matter what color the moon lights are.There just for our selfish pleasure anyhow.I know mine are a mixture of blue and white,which gives it a kind of full moon on fresh snow look.I like it.

 

[IraqVeteran]

I say purchase a UV sterilizer (even if its a small one) that helped me when I had my tank water nasty green. I tried massive water changes and it didnt help. I used the UV sterilizer and it killed the algae bloom in a little over 24 hrs. Then I kept doing water changes every other day for a week and the tank looked perfect again.