Cloudy Water

[dwculp]

The water in my 29 gallon fish-only tank just became suddenly cloudy and is continuing to get cloudier. Is this something to worry about or will it take care of itself? I did a battery of tests and the results are:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate 2.5
Phosphate - 0.1
Calcium - 300 (a bit low, so I dosed some Ca)

In the last 48 hours I have changed about 7.5 gallons of water to bring my salinity down from 1.023 to 1.017. I replaced the tank water with distilled water. I also added a large piece of lava rock this morning. The tank has no live rock.

I am coming from the freshwater world where cludy water is not always a bad thing, it usually indicates one of two things:

1.) Bacteria bloom
2. Algae bloom

The tank is on the tail end of its initial cycle and in the freshwater world you generally expect a bacteria bloom andcloudy water near the end of the cycle which clears itself out within 24 - 48 hours. Same thing in the salt world?

[Daragon]

May I ask why you dropped your salinity so low. It should be between 1.024 & 1.026. Maybe that is part of the problem.

[dwculp]

It is a fish only tank, not a reef tank. A few people (and a few books and posts) suggested running the fish-only tank at a lower salinty.

[thedogofwar]

what type of salt are you using? If it's IO, I suggest you check the alkalanity quickly. t was a while back where IO had some bad salt and the alk went through the roof. The water would also cloud.
just a thought

[Daragon]

Sorry, i read it quick and missed the "fish-only"

[dwculp]

I am using prepackaged NSW, not IO. Is super high alk a bad thing? What will happen, the pH is 8.2 and holding. I had a pH drop yesterday and added buffer.

[stelow]

More than likely it is what you said (bacteria bloom) and yes usually it will clear up on its own just like it would if it was a freshwater tank. stelow

[thedogofwar]

Originally posted by dwculp
I am using prepackaged NSW, not IO. Is super high alk a bad thing? What will happen, the pH is 8.2 and holding. I had a pH drop yesterday and added buffer.

when did the cloudiness start? Was it before you added the buffer? PH buffer will normally raise alk as well. I've had cloding issues with seachems buffer, the warmer the water, the worse it seems.

[dwculp]

I added the buffer yesterday to the distilled waterI was adding to the tank. It is Sea Chem Reef Buffer, water temp is 77 degrees. The cloudiness came on suddenly about 2 hours ago. I will let it run its coursem probably just a bacteria bloom as my cycle completes. If anything seems weird I will do some water changes.

[NeilPearson]

Alkalinity?
Magnesium?

You dosed calcium... maybe the white cloudiness is free floating calcium that won't dissolve. What is your calcium at now.

Calcium will precipitate out of water if the alkalinity and magnesium are out of wack (I believe high alk and low magnesium.. but not 100% sure)

Anyway I know the 3 are all tied together and they need a balance

If the PH buffer did not add magnesium, it could be calcium precipitating out of the water... for fish only systems, I wouldn't worry too much about alk, magnesium or calcium though. Just do regular changes with a good salt mix or the NSW you are using and don't dose for calcium.... 300 is fine for fish

[dwculp]

Thanks for the reply. It could very well be, my Alk is very high right now and I did dose some calcium a bit before the outbreak. I will leave it alone for now and watch and wait.

[dwculp]

I changed out 5 gallons of water and came in to work today (I keep the tank in my classroom) and the water was clear and the fish were doing good!