Cloudy tank

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by April Hope, Jan 17, 2016.

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  1. April Hope

    April Hope Fire Shrimp

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    I would normally not post this in the ASAP, however, I am very concerned about my tank. To keep it short, it's Cloudy. Nitrates are a tad high 8-10 ppm, ammonia 0, ph is 8.4 SG 1.024 which is how here we have kept it for some time as does our LFS. All of our fish and coral appear healthy except two zoa colonies that only open half way. We did a water change yesterday, it's a 92 gallon and we did a 20% change. I'm only considering it ASAP, as I know it could be an algae bloom and if so, I know the fish can suffocate. The only other thing is my calcium is high at approx 470. We recently acquired a tank and added all of the coral from that tank to our tank, but did dip with coral x prior to. Any help would be appreciated even if it's to tell me not to worry about it. I will say that we left our light on for almost 15 hours because we fell asleep, it's a new light and we set the timer wrong so it didn't shut off in its own. My lights are already off, but here is two pics I took of coral that kinda shows the cloudy. It's almost like sand cloudy, but I don't believe it is.
     

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  3. Kevin_E

    Kevin_E Giant Squid

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    What is your alk and magnesium?

    I was going battling cloudy water until I found my magnesium was 950 ppm and my alk was 90 ppm (1.8 meq/l). My mag was so low, alk was precipitating out. My mag was low because my salinity was low (1.024). I brought salinity up to 1.026, mag rose, I rose alk, and now my tank is crystal clear and alk is stable
     
  4. April Hope

    April Hope Fire Shrimp

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    I actually don't know, I'll go get new text kits tomorrow.
     
  5. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

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    if you're worried about your fish suffocating you may want to point a power-head towards the surface of your water to promote gas exchange. hope things work out
     
  6. April Hope

    April Hope Fire Shrimp

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    I see that's helpful, thank you.
     
  7. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    Agree with Kevin's post.

    Ca is NOT high at 470, I ran mine at 500+ for years (now in the 400's) and coral grew well, etc.

    Was the WC water 'cloudy' when it went it? Could be a precipitate as Kevin states.

    Those Zoas are open.

    Don't panic,
    check the Big 3- Alk, Ca, Mg
    *why are you testing nitrates? If your system is near equilibrium (LR, maybe macroalgae, etc.), it should always be fine.

    What test had the nitrates at 8-10? IMHO- still not too high. I've read fish can survie up to 80 if gradual,
    sps not so much though. 8-10 not too bad though. I never test it- well, once a year- API- always reads 0 on my tank, probalby not 0 however.

    Let us know, don't panic- yet ;-)
     
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  9. April Hope

    April Hope Fire Shrimp

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    Ok, I teststed my nitrates because it was cloudy. No other reason, I test seldom these days because it's been so steady, and that's what my nitrates almost always run. I'll look at the name of the test kit when I get home, it's notAPI.

    I'm glad to hear the CA at 470 isn't high. I have wondered if I needed to try to lower it.

    I don't believe water was cloudy when we put it in, we bought this water from our LFS, it's the same water we have bought for several years. We did just buy an RODI but haven't started using it yet

    I was more worried I disrupted my "ecosystem" with adding so much at once.
     
  10. April Hope

    April Hope Fire Shrimp

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    Oh ya, and the zoa picture I posted isn't the colony that isn't open, the colony that won't open is bright flaming neon orange. Hasn't opened for a few weeks.
     
  11. Todd_Sails

    Todd_Sails Giant Squid

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    Ok,
    Get that RO/DI online- I rec. a hand held TDS meter btw
    Make your own SW
    Hopefuly, it may be a precipitate lie Kevin said- which can obviously be fixed too
     
  12. Vinnyboombatz

    Vinnyboombatz Giant Squid

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    It's most likely just a bacterial bloom. The only real danger would be less o2 in the water so I would increase surface agitation as was suggested. If the tank has a sump and a skimmer it should be o.k. it may take a few days to clear. Don't panic and do anymore wcs. As long as fish are not gasping the cloudy water will not harm anything.