grassy_noel
Active Member
Hi all. My IM Nuvo Fusion 20 gallon mixed reef has been up and running since its cycle completed in mid-October (~2 months). I have a pair of ocellaris clownfish and a handful of mostly LPS corals. All seem to be doing well. I also have 5 cerith snails which will come into play later.
About three weeks ago I started getting some diatoms (or a different brown algae?) on my sand bed and rock work. I picked up four tiny hermit crabs who made quick work of the algae on the rocks and seem to be trying to clear off the sand, but they don't quite keep up.
About a week ago, my water started appearing a bit cloudy white. I've attached a photo where you can see the algae on the sand bed and a slight haziness in the water. The haziness is a bit worse than this now, especially when you look at the tank from the side.
Levels since the beginning of the cloudiness are:
Nitrate: 0.25-1 ppm
Phosphate: 0.00-0.01 ppm
Calcium: 380-450 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.3-10.2 dKH
(10.2 was immediately after a water change with Red Sea Coral Pro, which mixes to 12.5 dKH)
Magnesium: 1,380-1,440 ppm
At first I tried to do nothing, hoping it would clear itself. It has not. This weekend I did a 25% water change and a thorough cleaning of all the pumps, skimmer, heater, etc. Still cloudy. I've tried to read as much as I can about this and I have a few theories below. Can anyone help me determine which, if any of these are the case?
About three weeks ago I started getting some diatoms (or a different brown algae?) on my sand bed and rock work. I picked up four tiny hermit crabs who made quick work of the algae on the rocks and seem to be trying to clear off the sand, but they don't quite keep up.
About a week ago, my water started appearing a bit cloudy white. I've attached a photo where you can see the algae on the sand bed and a slight haziness in the water. The haziness is a bit worse than this now, especially when you look at the tank from the side.
Levels since the beginning of the cloudiness are:
Nitrate: 0.25-1 ppm
Phosphate: 0.00-0.01 ppm
Calcium: 380-450 ppm
Alkalinity: 8.3-10.2 dKH
(10.2 was immediately after a water change with Red Sea Coral Pro, which mixes to 12.5 dKH)
Magnesium: 1,380-1,440 ppm
At first I tried to do nothing, hoping it would clear itself. It has not. This weekend I did a 25% water change and a thorough cleaning of all the pumps, skimmer, heater, etc. Still cloudy. I've tried to read as much as I can about this and I have a few theories below. Can anyone help me determine which, if any of these are the case?
- I have oolite sand (huge mistake) and I originally thought the cloudiness might be from a sandstorm. I turned down my MP10 powerhead for a couple days and this didn't seem to have any effect.
- My skimmer produces some microbubbles and it is even worse now after I cleaned it in vinegar, but when I turn the skimmer off and the microbubbles subside, the water is still cloudy.
- My best guess is a bacterial bloom.
- About two weeks ago I added copepods from AlgaeBarn to my tank. I was broadcast feeding them 5ml of phytoplankton everyday. When the water started getting cloudy, I thought it might be due to the phytopankton, so I've stopped feeding that for 3-4 days now. Is it possible that the haziness is due to the copepods dying?
- I would expect a bacterial bloom to be the result of something in the tank dying. Since I can account for all of my corals, fish, and hermit crabs, the only remaining possibility is the snails. 15 minutes after I put them in the tank they buried themselves in the sand never to be seen again. When I check the tank at night, occasionally I can find one or two, and occasionally I'll see thin strips of clean glass where algae grows on the back panel. So I know at least one or two are alive. But all the rest could have died and I would have no way of knowing. Could this be causing my bacterial bloom? If so, what should I do?
- I also dose Red Sea NoPoX, which caused similar blooms in my tank during cycling. Those only lasted a day or two, though. I have also stopped dosing the NoPoX for a few days to see if that helps.
- Finally, I set up an Alkalinity doser two weeks ago. It doses ~2.25ml of Red Sea Alk solution per day, which is equal to my tank's uptake of ~0.4dKH per day. This has kept the Alk fairly constant between 8.5-9.5 over the past two weeks. I dose Calcium by hand once per week, enough to raise the level by 20ppm, which is roughly what the tank is consuming per week. Could my dosing have led to the cloudiness? And if so, shouldn't it subside pretty quickly?
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