Cloudy Tank

[luka11486]

i have had my 45 gallon for about 2 weeks now. i haven't had a problem with it until just yesterday when i added a live rock. after i did this the tank got really cloudy and my filters aren't making it any better. is there anything else i could do? right now i have biowheel filter an undergravel filter and a canister filter. all my tests are normal as can be. my salinity was a little low the other day but i fixed it. i feel bad for my sweeties who are swimming blindy now.

 

[Navarre]

Is this the first liverock you have added to the tank and was it cured?

 

[Lynden]

My tank was always really clear, but occasionally it became cloudy, many times it was after a new addition of LR. Recently it has been cloudy, and i put a large amount of LR in it. The best thing to do is wait for maturity, only then will the water be permanently clean and sparkling. My cousin Riley's water was cloudy for a while, now it is crystal clear. Im pretty sure it was because he removed every deco item except for the live rock. I have also done this, and the nitrite level has plumetted and the water is clearing up.

 

[luka11486]

Is this the first liverock you have added to the tank and was it cured?

yes this is the first live rock that i have put in there. i don't have anything else in there except shells but they are little.

 

[Navarre]

Ok so the tankis new.. live rock .. you didnt mention if it was cured or not. And filters? what other filters are you running?

 

[Opcn]

Chances are its a result of the decay on the rock, indicating that its not cured (in all likely hood) and that your fish are in serious danger.

 

[luka11486]

my fish guy told me that i didn't have to because he had just cured it. to tell you the truth i have no idea what that means but that is what he told me when i asked him if i had to do anything to it. he told me to just drop it in the tank. and i know this sounds kinda sad but i only have feeder fish. i had gotten them from a friend of mine. either i was to take them or they would have been bigger fishy food. so is there anything that i could do to make the tank a little less cloudy? i would hate to start all over. but i will if i have to.

 

[fish_keeper2]

um....feeder fish ......since when is there such thing as a salt water feeder fish?

 

[Opcn]

Feeder fish is symply a title givent to any species of fish used as cheap feeders. For saltwater they are useually damsel fish or mollies, sometimes they are freshwater fish that are thrown in to be eaten although this is generally considered a bad idea.

 

[Navarre]

Ok lets assume the liverock is cured, if the shop is curing this rock before purchase then lets assume this is indeed what you have purchased.

If the rock is cured then there should be little to no die off. This will be unlikely to cause cloudiness. What type of sand are you using? is if sugar fine sand ? Is the flow in your tank very high? This could cause a sand storm in the tank if hte flow is high and the sand is fine.

There might be a possible algae bloom.. what this means is that some algae onthe rock has releasedits spores intothe tank and cause it to go cloudy.

What type of skimmer are you using?
What are the readings for Nitrates and phosphates.?
In fact, lets have them all.. Ammonia, Nitrite, PH, SG

 

[luka11486]

What type of skimmer are you using?
What are the readings for Nitrates and phosphates.?
In fact, lets have them all.. Ammonia, Nitrite, PH, SG

actually i am not using a skmmer at the moment. i wasn't planning on getting any fish this soon. i actually wanted to wait until my bday in nov. but my test results are A LOT worse than they were the other day when i posted this. on the 21st they were as follows:
ph-8.2
ammonia-2.0
nitites-.25
nitrates- 5.0
salinity 1.018
now they are
ph-8.0
ammonia-4.0
nitrite-5.0
nitrate-10
salinity- 1.022 (that's where i started)
i just tested everything about 5 mins ago so they are still that way. i will test again in a few days. and yes i have mollies.. lots of them now cuz one of them was prego. didnt' know it. haha on my part. that's why friend didn't want them.

 

[CTS]

To me it sounds like a bacterial bloom, it seems that the rock was not cured. Your readings are saying that the tank has not cycled. This is just my guess as i am fairly new to the SW world.

 

[parker313]

it seems that the rock was not cured. Your readings are saying that the tank has not cycled. This is just my guess as i am fairly new to the SW world.

Sounds like it to me, too. How much LR did you add, in pounds?... Either the waste from the fish or dieoff from the LR has started a cycle. If you put in a decent amount of LR that was cured, there should not be any cycle at all as the LR takes care of the biological filtration for you.

You should do a water change, about 20% to help get the ammonia levels down or the mollies will die.

 

[Navarre]

basically there was no need to add the mollies as the tank would cycle itsself with the die off nothe live rock as i am fairly sure the rock wasnt cured. These readings are very high and fully cured rock would not cycle this high.
I would get rid of hte fish asap as its cruel to keep the i such an environment.

There is no need to cycle any marine tank these day with fish, its completely unecessary and puts the fish through immense stress and most often death.

 

[luka11486]

i did a water change about two days ago and my readings are all good now. i would take the fish out but i have no where else to put them. the tank is no longer cloudy. but i have a question. is a "bacterial bloom" a good or bad thing?