cloudy water please help

[tsdid]

Ok have a question hope someone can help. A month ago after a water change the water in my tank became very cloudy, in that water change i changed my filter pads, to one that I had previously used and had dried out. immediatly after the waterchange and pad change it became very cloudy and was like that for 1 week +. I talked to one guy that i find very knowledgable, and he said he thinks it was dust in the pad getting dispersed. Well I put in a new pad and I also had the lights off for 6 days, but after that it was crystal clear but since i had the lights off and the new pad in i dont know which one solved it. Its been fine for a month, i rinsed my pad out and put it back in about 2 weeks ago and i noticed it was very very very slightly hazy, didnt even think about it. Now 2 days ago i did the same, i rinsed the felt pad and the sponges and now it is much cloudier, not as cloudy as a month ago but pretty hazy. Yesterday i put in a brand new felt pad hoping its just organic matter dispersed in the tank, its been in there for 24 hours and cant really tell if it changed. My plan is to let this work for 3-5 days and if that doesnt work i will turn the lights off, that way i can diagnose if its organics or bacterial, or algae. All i did was rinse the pads has anyone heard of a bacterial bloom starting from this? If this is the problem what do i do, i have to clean or replace the pads. as far as my equiptment i am running a wet dry with a 780gph pump, and a protien skimmer. The first time i had this problem besides changing the felt i put in a poly pad, and did the same yesterday.

 

[tsdid]

i am using RODI water for my waterchanges
and my levels are
nitrates around 5
amm 0
nitrites 0
ph 8.2
salinity 1.024

 

[kelly]

Have you tested your calcium?

 

[tsdid]

i have tested my calcium and its only 285, I know this is low, that is the next thing i am getting into, but i wanted to get all the basics figured out. I have only had this tank running for 3 months and i dont have any corals yet. i have 3 snails, and 9 hermits. so there shouldnt be to much need for calcium yet, but its funny you ask because that is the very next thing i am doing is getting my calcium up to 400. Would low calcium have anything to do with this.

 

[hefner413]

Just to verify - you have been replacing your filter pad - is this the only pad you have?? I have a filter pad in my cannister filter - but I cut it in half and got an extra one and cut it in half. This way, I only change 1/2 of the filter pad at once. By replacing the entire filter at once, you can be getting rid of too much beneficial bacteria at once.
I don't think low Ca++ has anything to do with your cloudy water. My water gets cloudy usually after I do some cleaning of any sort - it will usually stay that way for a couple days - and then BOOM, it goes crystal clear. I don't know why this happens, but I've heard many people say their's does the same.
Also, I ould look into getting a skimmer if you haven't already got one. Some say you don't need one - but I'm SO glad I got mine.
To get your Ca++ up - there's tons of ways to do it. I use Kent Marine Tech CB. Once you get your levels up, many people use Kalk water drips for top offs to keep their Ca++ up. I just started this, so don't know how well it works yet.

 

[jhebi]

Originally Posted by tsdid
Ok have a question hope someone can help. A month ago after a water change the water in my tank became very cloudy, in that water change i changed my filter pads, to one that I had previously used and had dried out. immediatly after the waterchange and pad change it became very cloudy and was like that for 1 week +. I talked to one guy that i find very knowledgable, and he said he thinks it was dust in the pad getting dispersed. Well I put in a new pad and I also had the lights off for 6 days, but after that it was crystal clear but since i had the lights off and the new pad in i dont know which one solved it. Its been fine for a month, i rinsed my pad out and put it back in about 2 weeks ago and i noticed it was very very very slightly hazy, didnt even think about it. Now 2 days ago i did the same, i rinsed the felt pad and the sponges and now it is much cloudier, not as cloudy as a month ago but pretty hazy. Yesterday i put in a brand new felt pad hoping its just organic matter dispersed in the tank, its been in there for 24 hours and cant really tell if it changed. My plan is to let this work for 3-5 days and if that doesnt work i will turn the lights off, that way i can diagnose if its organics or bacterial, or algae. All i did was rinse the pads has anyone heard of a bacterial bloom starting from this? If this is the problem what do i do, i have to clean or replace the pads. as far as my equiptment i am running a wet dry with a 780gph pump, and a protien skimmer. The first time i had this problem besides changing the felt i put in a poly pad, and did the same yesterday.
Try to run some carbon and see if it helps....

 

[tsdid]

thanks for the responses. I do have carbon in that was the one thing i forgot to mentioned i did the first time this happened and i did that the day i put the new pad in. From my reading i have read about the getting rid of bacterial to fast. in my wet dry i have 3 mech filtration methods, the sponge in the overflow, then the felt pad that the water drips on before the bio balls, then after the bioballs in the sump I have the blue sponge and a polypad. the day i cleaned the pads i cleaned all of them. Does turning lights off help, or will it fix itself, also how do i prevent this in the future. about the calcium, my alkalinity is 2.5 the same as the oceans, i should not worry about that and just add calcium right now right? I was using instant ocean salt and now im going to switch to reef crystals to see if that will raise it up with water changes. thanks again for all the help

 

[tsdid]

can someone give me some advise on how to correct this problem in the future. And will turning the lights off help. Is it a bacterial bloom? will it hurt the fish.

 

[feelingfishy]

have you added new sand latly if so did you wash it?

 

[hefner413]

Originally Posted by tsdid
can someone give me some advise on how to correct this problem in the future. And will turning the lights off help. Is it a bacterial bloom? will it hurt the fish.
The longer that your system runs, the more stable it becomes. Eventually your tank will become stable and you probably will hardly ever see it cloudy.

 

[tsdid]

no i havent put any new sand in it. if it is a bacterial bloom, is it fed by light? should i just leave them on and wait it out?

 

[hefner413]

I wouldn't think that the light is going to make a huge difference. I would just leave your light cycle as is. Is it realy cloudy? or just a little hazy? I figure if you just wait it out, it will just all of a sudden clear overnight. I don't think your fish will care much otherwise. As long as your water parameters are fine, they should be fine.

 

[feelingfishy]

also i recommend getting an uv sterilizer if its bacteria itll clean it up in an jiffy.

 

[tsdid]

coo, well i think ill wait it out and see what happens. Its not to bad just a little hazy. the parameters are all perfect, except for the low calcium. If it doesnt clear up in 5 days or so i might try a uv. has anyone ever used the one petsmart sells, its only 30$ for 9 watt and it has the pump built in.
http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...ousText=uv&N=2
here is the link.

 

[m0nk]

Originally Posted by tsdid
coo, well i think ill wait it out and see what happens. Its not to bad just a little hazy. the parameters are all perfect, except for the low calcium. If it doesnt clear up in 5 days or so i might try a uv. has anyone ever used the one petsmart sells, its only 30$ for 9 watt and it has the pump built in.
http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...ousText=uv&N=2
here is the link.
If you end up getting this, please post how it works. I'd be interested because my tank is a bit cloudy and I may need to try something different as well. Thanks.

 

[tsdid]

Hey all just wanted to keep you updated and monk i did get tha UV, Ill tell you what happened, after changing the pads i let the water go for a while to see if it just needed time. It got better 2 days after I cleaned the pads but it was still lightly cloudy. So i wanted to try that UV sterilizer, I ordered it put it in, and i figured i wouldnt notice a big differance because it wasnt extremely cloudy, but the next day WOW, it was clear crystal clear. Cant believe this 30 dollar item solved the problem. So Monk I would suggest getting this if you havnt already.