Smokey Water

[the new guy]

Ok, my tank will only stay clear for about 2 weeks after doing a water change. I don’t mind doing the water changes it is just very frustrating to see the water so cloudy. I have changed my pre-filter sponge, and put new filter felt in it and still no help. I just bought a cheap skimmer to see if that will help and I am waiting for it to "break in". I don’t over feed and I haven’t added anything to the water. I am at my whit’s end here I have tried everything I can think of with no luck. I had a problem a few months ago with my spray bar "drilling" a hole into some of my rock and when I fixed that it seemed better but I guess it isn’t. My filter media is very gray when I change it, if that helps any. Please help!!! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated...

 

[reefkeeper1]

Are you running carbon, if so did you rinse it first? how long has your tank been running?

 

[the new guy]

I am not running carbon and my tank has been up for about 6 months. I did go and buy some carbon in case I needed it.

 

[mr . salty]

It sounds like you have something contaminating your water...What are you using for water???(tap,RO/DI,bottled)..You may want to check with your LFS and see if they will rent you a POLISHING filter for a couple days.This will remove the microscopic particals that are passing right through your exsisting filter,and clear the water.

 

[the new guy]

I am using filtered saltwater from the ocean. I have several friends that use it also with no problems. Should I add the carbon?

 

[mr . salty]

I would STRONGLY suggest you STOP using ocean water.It is FULL of pollutiants that can quickly,and easily pollute your tank and kill everything in it....You also could try the carbon,place it in a MICRON bag.That may filter the stuff out...

 

[nm reef]

May be way off the mark here but it sounds like you may have a return line or possibly a power head that is causeing the sand bed to be stirred(quite a bit if it clouds your water).........is there any chance that current from some source is blowing your sand bed around???????Just a thought but ya never know

 

[the new guy]

NM, I was thinking the same thing last night when I was cleaning my return line so I moved my power head up in the tank to see what happens.
Mr. Salty, I will look at the water issue more but one of my friends has successfully used the same water I am using for the past four years and he has no problems, it has to be something in my tank.
It just blows my mind because my fish are extremely healthy.

 

[mr . salty]

Just because it works in another tank,doesn't mean it will work for you.Every tank is diferent.Just my opinion,,,but I think you are flirting with disaster.

 

[jimi]

I doubt it is your water considering where you live. Lots of aquarist use filtered local water in Hawaii even one public aquarium. The gray sounds like sand or rock sediment. Give a complete run down of your system.

 

[the new guy]

I have an americal wet/dry with a CA 2200 pump with flexible tubing running from the to a spray bar, one maxi-jet MP400,there is about one inch of live sand covering one inch of CC. About 90 lbs of base rock and I just put in the cheapo Lee's protein skimmer to see if it would help in clearing the water. I recently changed all filter media (to help clear it up), moved the power head higher in the tank and cleaned all tubing in the return line to include the spray bar. As stated before I did have rock sediment everywhere because my spray bar water was hitting one of my rocks, thus drilling a hole in it. I have since moved the spray bar and it is not doing it anymore.
Jimi, do you think I should clean the bio-balls in my filter? If so will my tank recycle?
I have a 4 inch Naso, 2 Perc clowns, a 3 inch Threadfin Butterfly, a cleaner shrimp, several small hermits and one larger hermit.
Thanks very much for the help!!!!
[ August 13, 2001: Message edited by: The New Guy ]

 

[the new guy]

Also Jimi, I just added the carbon to see if that would help.

 

[reefkeeper1]

do not clean your bio balls it will cause the tank to recycle. I know you also have live rock but it still will cause some chaos. Just see if the new filters and carbon will work.

 

[mr . salty]

You say that the water drilled a hole in the rock??? What exactly do you have for rock???I know that my rock,and all the rock I have seen is harder than that!!!This may lead somewhere.

 

[the new guy]

It is rock that they call base rock here, it doesnt look like the cool rock that you guys have in your tanks, State Law prohibits getting the cool rock that is part of the ocean floor. If you look at my web site you can get a small idea. I will try to get a better picture to post.

 

[aston]

Long shot but when I started my current tank I had issues with cloudy water and after a while I realized it was an algae cloud. As algae developed in my aquarium it was breeding very fast and even turned the water cloudy. The fish were fine and water quality was constant but it took me adding plants to the water to clear the mess after about a week. Without knowing your setup it's a long shot but you're using natural seawater and there could be all kinds of organisms there including algae spores that could be a cause. Hope it works out for you.
Cheers
Aston

 

[oceanblue]

Hi NewGuy,
welcome to the board! I had a similar problem at first when I bought some dry base rock that one of my lfs stocked. I bought 3 pieces or about 50lbs. of it because I liked the shape and it was real porous. It greatly resembles concrete, and I can't remember the name of it exactly, but i washed it and threw it in, and it clouded my tank due to the powder that was sitting on it. however I ran my micron filter on it(magnum350 with micron cartridge) and cleared it up, it took a good couple of months for it to cure. I remember it being softer initially, but now that it's cured and water logged it's not as brittle and powdery. Just be aware your using alot more of it than I am, and it will take awhile to get all the powder/rub off out. I would be suspicious of the water, but if your friend has been using it for that long I would tend to think it's ok. BUT none the less the DIN and algae content of that water should be much much higher than any other water source. Those are my thoughts! hope they help! good luck with it!

 

[jimi]

After looking at your site I would say the rock is to blame. Carbon may help clean up some. Can you have fiji rock shipped to Hawaii or is it illegal to even have it?

 

[the new guy]

Unfortunately it is illegal . But, I have some good news I did my normal water change, added the carbon and have been letting the skimmer run and it looks a lot better (it was still cloudy after the water change). The skimmer is not producing foam yet but the water is very gray looking so hopefully it is working. That is just making me want to get a real skimmer.
[ August 13, 2001: Message edited by: The New Guy ]