Lingering bacteria bloom makes me wanna start over! (Unresolved)

Well I understand that a bacteria bloom will cause cloudy water, but I dont think that it has any relation to nitrate levels.

 

agreed, if its still there mid week to the weekend then for sure you might be in trouble, but if its gone soon it could very well be a bloom from your ATS, not likely but possible. I would get a phosphate kit, what about your calcium levels?

 

I don't have cal, mag, or alk test kits yet. And from what I understand, phos test kits are inaccurate and are a waste of time, but I can assure you my phosphate levels are up. I currently have no GFO or any other means of phosphate removal on the tank.

 

to an extent the phosphate kits arent much help, but thats if it is under .2 ppm above that from my understanding they arent that bad but one can also tell from the algae growth in their tank

 

Ok this is unresolved and its driving me nuts. My water is cloudy and I cannot get it to clear up. Filter socks, foam pre filter on return to make sure no micro bubbles make it to dt, water changes, and TONS of carbon. This almost has to be bacteria I'm thinking. Any thoughts/suggestions???

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This could be a bacteria bloom due to a reletively new tank. Keep doing water changes and dont let your nitrates get above 20. Make sure you arent overfeeding as this can cause cloudines as well as any die off feom live rock. Is your biological filtration sufficient? It proba ly is since you dont have amonia but it never hurts to ask. A skimmer can help with suspended debris in the water column. Keep doing water changes and wait for you ats screen to mature. Thats all i can think of.

 

Should I add something like microbacter7 or some other good bacteria? Would a period of lights out help anything?

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I really dont know if that would help. Did any of your fish or cuc die behind the rocks or something? Im thinking the ats will help but it will take a few weeks until the screen matures. Other than that make sure you keep your params stable. Sometimes this means not touching your tank other than toping off and feeding of course. Are you dosing anything like kalkwasser? If you feed frozen food try to rinse it first. Sorry i cant be of more help

 

If your nitrates have always been this high then there is something wrong. And it might be possible that your rocks are leaching phosphates as well. Do you have any kind of nuisance algae on the rocks or glass?
With that many WCs and GAC, your nitrates should be going down. Are there any dead spots in the back of the tank or under rocks? While you are waiting for your ATS to kick in, I would highly suggest getting some purigen and a bag of chemipure. I also would suggest not buying any kind of phosphate test kit, other than a hanna checker. While most are totally inaccurate, the hanna is at least close enough to know what you are dealing with.

 

The rocks are not leeching phosphates, they are aragocrete rocks I made myself. Coraline algae is growing great, fish are happy, corals look good and are growing. Its just cloudy water. I did some research and it looks like the bacteria could be a heterotrophic bloom. I did have a feather duster die and the tube was decaying for a few weeks before I took it out. My flow is decent, could be better. And I basically have too small of a cuc right now. This is most definitely a bacteria bloom. I just don't know how to go about getting rid of it.

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