bacterial blooms

jdog5578

jdog5578

Member
I have a 46 gallon bow front tank. 60 pounds of live sand and 25 lbs. of live rock. and 3 yellow tail damsels. (everybody survived the cycle, yeahhh)!
been setup 3 months now.
About 10 days after I setup I had a huge bacterial bloom, made the water Milk White and lasted almost a week. I get those now every time I do a water change, except they only last a day now and are not as intense. Is this common?
temp is 77
salinity is 1.024
ammonia is 0
nitrites are 0
nitrates are 60
Also is it Ok to add a fish or two?
I wanna get a flame angel and a percula clown, also an anenome for the clown.
I am currently using a regular 50/50 strip light. Would a 192 watt CF be a good upgrade? Jebo's are for sale cheap for around $100 or is it more worth the $200 for a coralife, or???
thanks for helping a newbie.
Jeremy
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
That is weird.
Tell us about your filtration system.
Also, tell us how you do your water changes... how much do you do, where does your water come from, do you mix your own? How? What salt mix? Finally, explain the process you use when doing the water change.
Your nitrates are VERY high. Keep doing water changes until you get them down below 20. Theoretically, you can add fish, but I wouldn't introduce another variable into this equation until we figure out what your bloom is occuring.
 
jdog5578

jdog5578

Member
I do about 9 or 10 gallons each time. My filter is an Eheim wet/dry with 2 liters of ehfisubstrat. I use tap water (possibly my problem) and I add ammo-lock and start-right. the salt I use is Instant Ocean.
I do mix my own and I simply siphen out the brown algae or any stuff on the bottom, then mix it up and fill it back up.
thanks again 4 ur help,
jeremy
 
geridoc

geridoc

Well-Known Member
If you do let the water age for a day or so, then you don't need ammo-lock or start right. I don't know that this is your problem, but you should simplify until you know exactly what the problem is. The fewer variables, the easier it will be to figure it out.
 
jdog5578

jdog5578

Member
Originally Posted by chuckcac
when you mix your fresh saltwater... do you let it age for 24-48 hours? :thinking:

no, i dont. Apparently I should? and then no more ammo lock or start right?
What if I use RO water?
 
chuckcac

chuckcac

Member
Originally Posted by GeriDoc
If you do let the water age for a day or so, then you don't need ammo-lock or start right. I don't know that this is your problem, but you should simplify until you know exactly what the problem is. The fewer variables, the easier it will be to figure it out.
that's what i was thinking.... :thinking:
 
payton 350

payton 350

Member
i suggest mix your water and let it sit for 24 hrs...do not add the ammo lock or start up and try....i don't know if it's the source but it's worth a shot
 
chuckcac

chuckcac

Member
RO water is a great idea...
it may not be the solution to this particular problem...
but it is a great solution to others you may run into...
GeriDoc wrote this a while ago

[hr]
its a great bit of info;
Let me give you some history. When I started in marine fishkeeping 35 years ago we didn't use RODI water. Typical hobbyist survival was under a year for most specimens. Improved equipment and understanding of the nitrogen cycle in tanks have markedly extended that life expectancy, so that your animals will be in your closed system potentially for many years. It is not unusual to have some fish survive in home tanks for 10+ years. Now, what about the water? When water evaporates, only the pure water leaves. Anything that was in the water stays behind, and if similarly contaminated water is used to top off, more of the contaminants are added, and none are removed by evaporation. This leads to increasing the concentration of contaminants. What contaminants are in tap water? After all, it is safe to drink. It turns out that there are hundreds of substances in treated tap water - not only chlorine, phosphates and nitrates. There are numerous organic compounds, such as dry-cleaning fluid, gasoline, insecticides, etc. Granted, they are there in very low quantities, but as water is continually added to the tank the concentration of these gradually increases since there is no way for them to leave the tank. That is why RODI is so important in marine fishkeeping. RODI water has no (or very low) dissolved substances, so there is no cycle of increasing concentration as evaporation is replaced. If you want the kind of survival that better fishkeepers achieve you need to use RODI water for topoff. Yes, it can be an expense, but there is no such thing as cheap in successful marine tanks. Cheap usually means buying it again after killing some fish. Go for RODI!
special thanks & credit to GeriDoc for the best reason i've ever read, explaining in detail why RODI is an absolute must...!!!!
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
I'd agree that failure to age and agitate is a possible culprit.
Salt will cloud the water for hours after it is mixed.
What I do is either use a 32 gallon brute container or a 6 gallon bucket depending on how much water I am changing at once. Mix the seawater as you usually do then toss a pump or powerhead into the container to keep the water moving vigorously for at least 12 hours. A heater set to the same temperature as the tank doesn't hurt either. Temperature differentials can also cause clouding and is incredibly stressful on the fish.
Doing this can eliminate the aging time and mix process as a possible source of the clouding.
 
jdog5578

jdog5578

Member
Great article. much appreciated.
and thanks for the welcome wishes. Now that I found this place I have a feeling you'll be seeing me around quite a bit.
I will go ahead and start using RO and letting my fresh saltwater sit for a day with a powerhead. Are their any additives (other than salt) I should be using when I do it this way?
p.s. The water is not immediately cloudy, it takes until the next day. That is why I think it is a bacterial bloom
 
scsinet

scsinet

Active Member
Originally Posted by jdog5578
Great article. much appreciated.
and thanks for the welcome wishes. Now that I found this place I have a feeling you'll be seeing me around quite a bit.
I will go ahead and start using RO and letting my fresh saltwater sit for a day with a powerhead. Are their any additives (other than salt) I should be using when I do it this way?
p.s. The water is not immediately cloudy, it takes until the next day. That is why I think it is a bacterial bloom
I wonder if the poorly mixed water is causing a die-off that is triggering a subsequent bacterial bloom. Have you watched your levels during the first 24 hours after a water change. I'd be interested to see what a water test of the big 3 every few hours for the first 24 hours would show...
 
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