The cloudy water is back and now much worse. HELP please!

flower

Well-Known Member
I did some water tests...its 2:00am... and I'm so stressed about the tank, I can't sleep so I got up to do water tests. These are new Seachem tests.
PH ............7.8 (it's the middle of the night, so in the daylight that would put it around 8.0) I will recheck tomorrow afternoon
Alk.............3
PO4...........0 (phosphate)
NO3...........0 (Nitrate)
Nitrite.........0
Ammonia...0
I decided to search on-line for causes and cures...Seems my very large water change yesterday (30g WC on a 56g tank) was not a good idea. This time the dilution added to the pollution.

  • I had read in the aquaripures instructions that if the filter is too large for the tank it could cause the water to become cloudy...I stupidly assumed that must be the problem.

  • After removing the aquaripure filter, I did a huge water change and it was just slightly cloudy, I assumed it would clear from there.

  • The pump to the chiller came loose, I couldn't put my hands in the tank...I had used nail polish remover, and no amount of rinsing cleared the smell on my hands, so I dared not touch the tank water.
    I opened the windows to clear the smell of the now spilled nail polish remover from my room (I feared the strong smell could hurt the tank)
    6 hours later, I reattached the pump and restarted the chiller.
    The tank began to cloud up and by bedtime it was like milk.
So here I sit...waiting for someone to wake up and talk to me. I'm not crying yet....I have three air lines on this tank so it isn't oxygen starved. I don't know how the poor seahorses will be able to see to eat tomorrow morning. The 90g clouded up as well, but in a few days it was fine and crystal clear. In 35+ years of keeping fish...freshwater and saltwater, I have never had anything like this happen.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Something is just off balance... Everything rises and falls in a saltwater tank and patience is probably the easiest thing to set aside in a situation like this.
A water change may have helped some - but it could have also added in fresh minerals (like iron) that bacteria needs to grow and reproduce.
If you have a powerhead in your tank - point the powerhead to blow straight across the surface of the water. NOT up at it, but directly across it. This will greatly help with aeration and maintaining your pH. The bubble lines are probably doing nothing but adding salt creep problems to your canopy/stand.
If you have a different type of filter - like a HOB style filter - take it out and put it on the tank and turn off the aquapure filter. I'm weary to say that it might be the aquapure that was causing some problems.
I wish you the best! I hope that everything balances out soon. As long as there is no ammonia or nitrite - you should be fine to wait it out.
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by SnakeBlitz33 http:///t/395358/the-cloudy-water-is-back-and-now-much-worse-help-please#post_3519665
Something is just off balance... Everything rises and falls in a saltwater tank and patience is probably the easiest thing to set aside in a situation like this.
A water change may have helped some - but it could have also added in fresh minerals (like iron) that bacteria needs to grow and reproduce.
If you have a power-head in your tank - point the power-head to blow straight across the surface of the water. NOT up at it, but directly across it. This will greatly help with aeration and maintaining your pH. The bubble lines are probably doing nothing but adding salt creep problems to your canopy/stand.
If you have a different type of filter - like a HOB style filter - take it out and put it on the tank and turn off the aquapure filter. I'm weary to say that it might be the aquapure that was causing some problems.
I wish you the best! I hope that everything balances out soon. As long as there is no ammonia or nitrite - you should be fine to wait it out.
Hi Snake...thank you so much for posting. I did exactly like you suggested..before you suggested it, LOL...for that, I'm sort of proud of my silly self.
The tank is clearing...it's back to what it looked like in the first place when it all started...the milk look is at least gone, and I can see the seahorses again. at 2:00am I was pretty concerned. They are not very active, but this time of the day they are usually just hanging around anyway...... Oh wait...two of them are chasing around each other...so they are fine.
Seahorses need the air lines, I really don't remember why except that power-heads are not good for them, I know they try and hitch on them (any little vent that's open) and it could injure their tail. I am using a Seiko pump on the chiller because they are the most enclosed and the propeller is covered.
I was worried that I had oxygen starved the tank with the nail polish remover fumes, and made things much worse. I spilled the entire new bottle on the carpet, and I couldn't even stay in the room myself while I soaked it up. I opened the window, and ran the window AC on fan to try and clean the air a bit. I had a little fan to pull air out at the window. Then I had a wheel break on my movable book shelf that I keep next to my desk (it blocks the chiller from view, and I had to move it to get to it and one side collasped.)...it was quite a day yesterday...today is much better so far.
I think Meowzer's gremlins came for a visit to my house.
 

novahobbies

Well-Known Member
I'm sorry to say I hardly ever come in here anymore...I just read this. How are things in this tank now??
 
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