Brine Shrimp makes water dirty

razi burney

Member
I have a 150G reef and am having issues keeping the water clean. I have 1 chevron, 1 blackcap, 1 australian harleqin tusk, 1 long nose butterfly in there. Tank has a 150lb lr and is substrate bottom. Basic cleanup crew is available and all water perimeters are within guidelines.
I have this setup since 7 months but my Eheim professional filter keeps on throwing dirt/sand kind of stuff. I am unable to figure this out and have already exchanged the filter thinking there might be something wrong with it.
I feed them flakes, formula 1, fomula 2 and brine shrimp plus. Butterfly gets live worms as a treat twice a week. Harlequin tusk just loves brine shrimp plus and will sometimes eat formula 2. It rejects all other food but goes crazy about brine shrimp plus.
My water stays dirty and filter starts throwing the sand/dirt kind of stuff out after feeding the tusk with frozen foods. Can not thaw the cubes as he will never get it. It seems like it is the small particles from the cubes that thaw out while floating in the tank before the tusk gets it.
Any ideas how to get rid of this problem. Tusk eventually gets stressed out from this dirt as it attached to its skin. I see butterfly getting irritated as well. I have placed a Micron filter and floss in penguin 330 filter that i just purchased last week for this sole reason. Either of them can not pull this mess out and its an ongoing thing. Can't starve fish.
Is there anything I can do to get rid of this ? Is this normal with frozen food that it leaves unused small particles in water. Water changes can't get to them either. What can I do to get rid of this problem. This dirt is usually at the top of the tank.
Here is my equipment:
skimmer, eheim professional filter, penguin 330, magnum 220, 2 802 blowers, 1 rio 600 blower.
Any help is appreciated.
 

ruaround

Active Member
What exactly do you mean by "dirty"? I am not familiar with the eheim...is it close to the substrate???
 

razi burney

Member
Small particles of the food that thaw out and are taken away by the water current before its consumed. I see small particles that seem like dirt on water surface.
Any chance this will decompose. It has to be small food particles. I have no sand in the tank.
Eheim is about half way down in the tank but not evn close to the substrate. I already cut the tubes to bring the intake even higher and it did not resolve the problem.
 

sistrmary

Member
How big is your wrasse? Mine is nearly full grown, and I know that he has issues with any form of cleanup crew aside from (thus far) cucumbers and starfish and conchs...but perhaps I just have a rampaging specimen lol
Try squid and thawed frozen krill...some spirulina flakes...those are my wrasses' favorites...and you can see all of them and scoop them out when the fish are done eating...that would probably help with the water quality.
 

razi burney

Member
Mine is 7" and has very dark red with blue coloration. Very typical aussie. I have tried other foods but mine is just so much in love with the brine shrimp cubes that h won't even go after anything else. I wish he took frozen krill or eat like a lionfish . .. clean.
 

madd catt

Member
I thnk that what you are talking about is the slime or oil that collects on the top of the surface of the water.yes brine shrimp can pollute the tank with other substances as well.eheim makes a device called a surface sludge extracter that fits on those pro canister filters that could help take that oil or sludge from the surface of the tank or foam fractionation (protein skimming) can work as well.
 

sistrmary

Member
I know that it sounds mean, but just don't give them to him anymore. He'll eventually start eating krill or something else. It's better for him in the long run anyways, since fish that only eat one thing usually lose all their color and don't live as heathily in the aquarium life. The only fish I've ever had that just refuses (will starve himself for weeks) to take to another kind of food is the lionfish. Stubborn things. But my tusk eats spirulina flakes *laughs* so I guess I'm lucky. Anything that floats by him, he chomps.
 
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