Ongoing cloudy water

I'm hoping it was the culprit, so frustrating when I have no clue what is going on.

As far as nitrates, my tank always had them in between the 10-20 range. When I added chaeto, they started dropping. When the first spout of cloudiness appeared right before the new year, my nitrates were around 10.

When this new cloudiness formed, I tested for nitrates and they were at 0. I have some Dr. Tim's clarifier on order and if that doesn't work, I may have to look into a UV most likely huh?

 

I hope it clears for you as well because I know how frustrating it is. The system I had the problem on has about 160 gallons and I used the Coralife 6X Turbo Twist. I am running a pretty small pump through it, about 400 gph, and it is working wonders.

 

Well thank you for all of the advice guys. I went out and bought a UV sterilizer and just put it in. Have some DrTim's clarifier on the way tomorrow as well. If neither of these work, I think I'm screwed.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out.

 

drtims stuff normally says to turn the uv off for 48 hours after adding. maybe message him and see if thats the case with what you ordered

 

Yea, I was worried about this too. I noticed that it is advertised as a type of concoction of bacteria to help cloudiness.

I definitely will be turning off the UV when I dose the clarifier and my skimmer for a few hours.

 

turning off a uv and skimmer makes perfect sense to me. i have a uv and turn it off when i dose eco balance. i always shut it down for a few hours with other bacterias i have used. but now i shut the uv down longer with trying eco balance.

 

Sounds good to me! How long should the UV take to clear up my water...or even at least show an improvement in clarity?

I hope this thing wasn't a waste of money.

 

not sure since my uv has been on my tank since shortly after set up. when i had what i believed was a slight bacterial bloom, it was a couple weeks into starting bio pellets, and i just added live bacteria and changed my carbon and it cleared in about a day, after doing that.

uv's are a good thing IMO

 

hows things going?

 

Well Dr.Tim's Clarifier did absolutely nothing, but the UV worked wonders. My water is crystal clear now! Never thought I would be so happy to see my back glass.

Since the UV did it...would you say its safe to pin this on a bacteria bloom?