Bacterial Bloom

[MBliss81]

Ok, my 38 gal reef tank has been up and running for a couple months, and before that all the same sand, rock and everything was in a 16 gallon tank that was running for about 8 months.

A couple days ago I added a Phosban Reactor 150 with 200ml of NPX Bioplastics. Now I have a major cloudy water bacteria bloom going on in the tank. Some Google searching has lead me to believe that this is the cause , but I am not so sure what to do to solve it. Some people say the bloom will work itself out in a few days, while others had the problem for weeks. I really don’t want the Oxygen levels to get bad enough to kill my fish, so I want it to clear up as quickly as possible.

Please help me!

[MBliss81]

I figured it couldn’t hurt to test my water. Results are:

Ammonia: 0 ppm
pH: 7.9-8.0
Nitrates: 0-5 ppm

These results lead me to believe that the bloom may not last much longer, since the nitrates are so low (which actually shocked me, since I tested a few days ago and got around 20 ppm nitrate).

It also tells me that the oxygen saturation is definitely low, causing the drop in pH. This is the part that worries me, and makes me really hope that the bloom only lasts a day or two, because I really don’t want to lose fish, and low oxygen is the biggest risk to fish in a bloom.

Thoughts?

[senemedar]

An airstone? The bigger one, like a bubble curtain maybe...

[MBliss81]

I did add an air stone overnight. This morning, bloom still at full force. I'm really hoping to see it start to disappear by tonight. I'm starting to think that's not going to happen though.

[MBliss81]

Today’s Water Chemistry Test Results:

Ammonia: 0
pH: 7.9-8.0
Nitrates: 0
Phosphates: 0

It really seems like the bloom should subside without any nutrients, shouldn’t it?

[bskerrichard27]

If its a bloom it will work itself out ,just takes time I just had one 3 weeks ago I cleaned my filter added some new carbon and about 4 days latter it was perfecg

[MBliss81]

Bloom is finally dying down and the water is clearing up. No casualties, all fish and corals are doing just fine.

Now if I can just get myself a good h.o.b. protein skimmer in the next couple weeks maybe I'll be able to finally eradicate the cyano I've been battling.

[bskerrichard27]

Do u use ro Di water ? Nitrates? How long u leave your lights on?

[MBliss81]

The lights are T5 HO’s on a timer set to run from 8am-8pm with one 36" 10k bulb and one 36” actinic bulb. I use RO/DI water and do water changes with saltwater I get from my lfs that they mix from RO/DI and salt mix. My phosphate tests always come out at 0. Between water changes my nitrates have usually been between 10 ppm and 25 ppm.

I think the lack of a skimmer is the biggest weakness. And I should have that taken care of in the next week or so. I’ll be ordering a reef octopus BH1000 h.o.b. skimmer from Amazon in the next couple days.

[bskerrichard27]

I had cyno issue I cut my lights back to 8 hours and fed every third day and water changes twice a week 10 % each time in two weeks it was all gone that was 4 months ago in my 65 gal

[bskerrichard27]

Sorry wrong reply tread lol...... Yea u deff need a skimmer

[MBliss81]

Today the water is back to being crystal clear. Tested and found 0 nitrate and 0 phosphate. I’m going to do a water change this afternoon because all that bacteria die-off left an unpleasant smell. Everything else is back to normal. So glad that experience is over!

[MBliss81]

I was wrong, there was a casualty from the bacterial bloom. The drop in oxygen saturation and pH took its toll on my sand-sifting sea star, and it died.

[bskerrichard27]

That sucks I'm sorry for yur loss