Cloudy water

[Kets]

Good day again,

I have a 52G FOWLR, I have an eheim 2717 mostly empty with some stones that came with it. I'm moving about 600 GPH overall. I have maybe 40 lbs live rock. The tank also has one algae blenny, one clown, four different crabs and a dozen blue legged crabs and a snail for cleanup.

As of last week, my water has become very cloudy. I've done a 10% water change (it's all I had time to do this time), with no apparent affect.

What's going on?

What do I need to do to clear this up?

I'm veryy careful about overfeeding and have only once dropped a 1/4 teaspoon of marine flakes in by accident two weeks ago. I figured the carbs would take care ot it anyway. Is is that easy to foul the water?

Robert

 

[quarryshark]

what are your water parameters? Gotta find the source in order to cure the problem.
That being said, you can run carbon for a few days. That may clean it up.

 

[Kets]

what are your water parameters? Gotta find the source in order to cure the problem.
That being said, you can run carbon for a few days. That may clean it up.

Last I checked, ammonia and nitrites = 0, nitrates = 10, density was about 1.245, temp was 76°F.

So far the fish seem happy. I really don't know what is going on but I will run some new tests tonight.

Is this the result of not running a protein skimmer?

Robert

 

[scuba_steve]

protein skimmer will help with that alot !! but with only two fish in there i would think your doc lvls would be very low anyway !! my guess is a snail has died and is rotting somewhere !!

 

[Atari]

Yeah sounds like a bacterial bloom.. it'll clear up in a few days.

 

[Kets]

protein skimmer will help with that alot !! but with only two fish in there i would think your doc lvls would be very low anyway !! my guess is a snail has died and is rotting somewhere !!

As of last night, still no change and I didn't have any time to test the water.

I did take the time to do a head count and everyone is accounted for. I only have one snail, a very large one, and it's still there. The only thing I can't count are the blue legged crabs because they're are at least 15 on them and they're everywhere.

Robert

 

[Kets]

Yeah sounds like a bacterial bloom.. it'll clear up in a few days.

I was hoping it was that and would indeed clear up but after one week, nothing has changed.

I saw a product at the LFS that apparently digests excess organic material to clear up cloudy water in salt or fresh water aquariums.

I'm guessing it's just a digestive enzyme. Good idea, bad idea?

Robert

 

[scuba_steve]

id say bad idea !! as long as your fish seam ok id wait it out a bit longer

 

[Kets]

id say bad idea !! as long as your fish seam ok id wait it out a bit longer

Cool. I'll give it until this weekend and look into other options if it doesn't clear up.

I'm also ready to do another 20% water change tonight so we'll see what that does.

Thanks a bunch guys.

Robert

 

[scuba_steve]

ro water???

 

[Kets]

ro water???

DI. I have a NM-60 cartridge, the grade used to threat coolant water in nuclear reactors. No RO so their may be some organics but the water is basically ion free when it gets out. Plus this tanks has been running clear for a few months and this has only appeared recently so I doubt the input water is the cause.

Robert

 

[Atari]

density was about 1.245

This is a typo right?! 8O

 

[Kets]

density was about 1.245

This is a typo right?! 8O

No, I'm trying to pickle my clownfish.

( In a homer Simson voice) Hmmm, pickled clownfish...

1.0245

Robert

 

[Atari]

Heheh... BTW Do you run GAC and have you taken any phosphate readings?

 

[Kets]

Heheh... BTW Do you run GAC and have you taken any phosphate readings?

Not yet. But I will very likely load up my eheim filter (mostly empty now) tonight to give it a try. I just read in the article section that GAC is a good substitute to protein skimming, at least for organics removal.

And I don't have a phosphates test kit.

Robert