Dying Algae, cloudy water?

[Squado]

I had recently (still am) having some brown algae problems. After adding a phosphate reactor and phosband, I had noticed that the water quality cleared up immensly and the algae began to slowly die. After the algae started to disappear the water became slightly cloudy (overnight). Is this normal? I am assuming that since the algae is dying that it may be going into the water, or is something else happening. Thanks in advance.........

 

[roka64]

I think it could possibly be another type of algea that is living off the dying algae. In otherwords, your tank is dealing with the new "bio-load". But I could be wrong. Have you changed your lighting cycle?

 

[Squado]

Right after I posted the first message, I noticed that a red algae is starting to form and the brown algae is comming back (slower than before though). My water parameters are as follows:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
Nitrate = 10 (increased)
Phosphate = 0
calcium = 500 (decreased)
KH = 12
ph = 7.8 (decreased)

All of this happened overnight as well. Before I went to bed the water was clear and the brown algae was starting to go away. I had just recently added a phos-reactor with phos-ban (yesterday). Should i do a pwc ("real ocean water)? My lighting cycle duid not change either. I also noticed that there is a small amount of foam forming on the top of the tank. Teh only difference in mechanics is that my third power head (on top) was used for the phos-reactor, now I have two (on top). Do you think this is normal or any suggestions?

 

[EELectric]

It could be the proton from all the dying algea. After I added red slime remover my water got all bubbly and cloudy because the skimmer was working overtime with all of the organic waste. Just a thought. HTH

 

[FishFrik]

I think the red algae (cyano) that ur having is caused by the unstable PH.

R u still having cloudy water? does ur water have a greenish tint?

 

[Squado]

The water actually has a white cloudy tint too it. The algae that I have is pretty crazy. Im not sure about all different kinds of algae, but this morning when I got up the algae was pretty much gone, turned the light on for two hours and it was back! As for the cloudy water, that pretty much happened over night. Does anyone know why it would cloud up after being clear as daylight for a couple fo days?

 

[roka64]

Could be your Bio wheel. It looks like you might have almost LR to run your filter with out the wheel... I'll let the more experienced jump in....

unstable PH.

I'm not sure unstable pH would cause this. PH will change from morning (lights on) and at night, (after lights out). Sounds more like excess nitrates or phosphates. I think it might be hard to detect phosphates because the cyano lives off of it.

 

[Squado]

The bio wheel hasn't been replace in about a month. I just checked my water parameters today, and found that the PH went up to 8.0 and the nitrates went down to .5. Should I replace the bio wheel, take it out, or add some live rock to where the bio wheel used to be?

 

[roka64]

I imagine you could add some LR rubble and remove the Bio Wheel, maybe add about 5 more LBS of LR to the tank, if you can. I was advised to feed lightly for the first week to let the bacteria build up. You may want to wait on others for advice when doing this. I have not yet attempted it. But I am thinking I might when I get back from the beach on Tuesday.

Not sure how big that angel is yet but I believe they like a tank of about 100G or more. i can't remember if you were planning on getting a bigger one. My LFS has one and it is Beautiful. I want to buy it every time I go in there!

 

[Squado]

The Koran angle is still quite a small specimen, only about two inches. I know that they get huge when they are older, but he has not yet started to change color yet and he seems to be doing fine in the tank. I also know a person who has a bigger tank, 100 gallon, who said he would buy him from me when he gets to big. My bio wheel is really gooey right now, but I heard that is from the nitryfying bacteria. I heard that bio wheels have a tendency to raise nitrate levels after being used for a good amount of time and the lr sounds like a good plan.

 

[FishFrik]

Squado, im pretty sure ur having cyano. Yes they are really crazy. I tried blacking out the tank for 2 days, they were gone. The 3rd day, after the light was on for an hour, it came back even stronger lol. Google cyano and how to get rid of it.

I'm not sure unstable pH would cause this. PH will change from morning (lights on) and at night, (after lights out). Sounds more like excess nitrates or phosphates. I think it might be hard to detect phosphates because the cyano lives off of it.

PH changes very lil between light on and off, about .1 or .2. By unstable PH, i meant going from say 8.1 is the lowest ur PH should be, to 7.8 like squado said his PH is. If he tests PH when light is on and PH is at 7.8, PH could be 7.6 at night, which is not suitable for a reef.

 

[Squado]

Right now I do not have any corals in my tank. I moved them into my brothers nano cube when I decided that I had to make some changes for the cyano. I have a chemical which I used once about tweo weeks ago called chemi-clean for the cyano. It worked in getting rid of the red algase, but has done nothing for the brown algae. I stopped using it after I read some posts about it just being a bandaid, and decided to try to fix the root of the problem instead. What could cause white cloudy water?

 

[melosu58]

I have a chemical which I used once about tweo weeks ago called chemi-clean for the cyano. It worked in getting rid of the red algase, but has done nothing for the brown algae. I stopped using it after I read some posts about it just being a bandaid, and decided to try to fix the root of the problem instead. What could cause white cloudy water?

Check out the water you are adding to your tank. Also I dont know if you have a UV light but the cloudy water could be algea spores which the UV will help to get rid of.

 

[FishFrik]

White cloudy water could mean that ur tank has an algae bloom. I dealt with my algae bloom with a new skimmer lol. Worked for me Also, as melosu said, a UV sterilizer will also works. HTH

EDITED: the cheapest but efficient way to deal with algae bloom is to run AC 24/7 in ur tank