HELP! White water!!

[gilraen]

Today is the 3rd day my 55 gal. has been cycling. I got nothing in it other than saltwater running thru the ecosystem sump. This morning the water is white! there are white specs of "something" floating in the water, I picked up the "something" with a paper towel and on it it looks like yellowish, curdish milk. I'm sorry I'm not able to post a pic. Please help, what's this pest? Thanks

[Thumper]

You have no rock, sand or shrimp???? I have no idea what it is but it's not uncommon for the water to turn cloudy during the cycling process. Whats your turn over rate?

[gilraen]

nope, no rock or sand, absolutely nothing. I'm really freaking out here. Oh! and also, that white stuff in on top of my mud, some of the bio-balls are covered in it. I'm soooo disapointed......

[gilraen]

and also the sump is running at roughly 700 gph. thanks

[cmor1701d]

Milky white? Sounds like a bacterial bloom. Do you have any substrate or bare bottom?

[gilraen]

bare bottom, I have nothing, just water... I'm starting to think I wasted my savings on this ecosystem sump. Water is milky white, and when I pick up the floating stuff with paper towel it looks exactly like wet chalk. I just want to cry..........

[revhtree]

Did you clean everything really good?

[grimlock3000]

What are you cycling the tank with??? What you are seeing is probably just residual stuff from the mud. Might be sealant from equipment as well. You need to get a substrate and a bacteria source in that tank to get things moving along.

[gilraen]

Yes, I cleaned eveything. According to ecosystem instructions, I was suppose to let the filter run for 3 days and then add some hardy fish like damsels to help the cycle. Well, I don't want to be cruel to the fish so I had raw shrimp ready for this morning, except that everything is white. I already turned off the equipmet to see if it settles down. I think I'm going to buy an RO system later this week and try it again, if I'm still having trouble then ecosystem people are really going to hear from me some stuff. By the way, my mud is covered on the top with the white stuff, along with some bio-balls

[gilraen]

also (I'm sorry I keep adding stuff) my equipment is glued with PVC cement, I don't think it would "leak" anything.....right?

[grimlock3000]

Well, I am not to familiar with the Eco System filters so it sounds like you did everything right. PVC cemert is perfectly tank safe once it is cured, no worries there presuming you used the right PVC cement and gave it plenty of time to cure.

I already turned off the equipmet to see if it settles down.

Bad idea! You need to keep the water moving and aerated for anything to happen.

Since the only think in the tank is saltwater, mud, and equipment, the white junk came from one of those three. Any chance something fell into your tank? Did you use anything chemical to clean the tank? Could just be bacteria growing on stuff that was in the mud, but bacteria usually does not make nasty milky clumps.

I would get in contact with Eco System and ask them if they have any ideas.

[lando]

What type of salt are you using? Was it premixed before adding it to the tank? You may want to try running some GAC to see if it clears things up.

[grimlock3000]

GAC is a good idea. Also, if you can stick a filter sponge somewhere in your filter, maybe it can catch some of the gunk.

[gilraen]

I used Oceanic salt mix and mixed it in the tank itself. I will contact ecosystem people today. How do I run GAC? Thanks to all for the help.

[grimlock3000]

Did you mix the saltwater in the tank for 24 hours BEFORE adding the Eco System?

[grimlock3000]

To run GAC, stick some in a media bag (basically a sock that is fish safe) and put it in a high flow area of the tank. Water flow through and around it, that is all you need to do.

[gilraen]

no not really....ok this is what I did freshwater was running first (I was checking for leaks and stuff) then the next day I added the salt with everything running. It was good for 2 days, until today...

[grimlock3000]

You ran freshwater through the mud then mixed saltwater in the tank?

Umm, that definitely would not have been the preferred way to do that. One of the benefits of the Mud is that it contains helpful bacteria and you basically nuked it with the freshwater. Those bacteria are what cycles the tank. I bet the white is all of the dead organiams from the mud.

At this point, you will need to buy new Mud to get the full benefits from it.

The only time you ever want to mix saltwater in a tank is if there is nothing in the tank living for bacteria or livestock. Freshly mixed saltwater is quite unstable.

[gilraen]

OMG!! what do I do now? Thanks so much for keeping up with this.

[grimlock3000]

How much is more mud and how much salt do you have? Unless it was really cost prohibitive, I would dump everything, rinse it with freshwater, and start over by mixing the water for for a few days, then add new Mud to the fuge and follow the steps Eco Systems tank cycling guidelines.

OR

You can use all of the dead crap in the tank as a bacteria source for cycling. You would want to try bringing in some good bacteria to the system at this point by adding LR or LS and substrate for the bacteria to spread in to. If you get a lot of LR, you would not need substrate right away.

Also, you should do yourself a huge favor by picking up some books on saltwater aquariums and start reading those. Saltwater tanks are not to be taken lightly. Innocent mistakes can cost you hundreds of dollars of livestock or ruin a tank that took over a year to setup. Luckily for you, you are getting the mistakes out of the way early