Tank got foggy

[Justin James]

Well as the title says my 150 gallon reef went all cloudy with a white kinda looking tint to it. This tank is only a couple months old and only has a couple corals in it but the skimmer is performing normal and all the livestock is acting normal. My tests came up normal too. This is weird. The strangest thing is that I just added some actinics to the tank last night and now today it has become more cloudy by the hours that pass by. Could it be the actinic addition??? For any of you who add purple up coraline accelerator my tank looks like I just dosed a bunch of that in it but I havn't added any of that for days.

I was thinking about adding some activated carbon to my sump tomorrow, any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[Justin James]

Anyone have any thoughts at all?

[datablitz]

it sounds like a bacteria bloom. did you add anything to the tank recently? do you have a deep sand bed?

[Justin James]

Yes I do have a deep sand bed but the only thing I added was a frag of colt coral over a week ago. One thing I should mention is that I have soe syanobacteria covering the center of my tanks sandbed. I never heard of cyano causing the water to go fogy though?

[datablitz]

if some of your sand bed got stirred up, it could be causing a bactera bloom, and could crash the tank, one of the downsides to dsb. you have to be real careful with them.

[tmc1313]

I agree with "datablitz". Sounds like a bacteria bloom. Should clear up all by itself in a few days.

[dfreakonature12]

Do you have any Caulerpa? It could have gone sexual. I had that happen yesterday and ran some carbon and did a water change and now everything looks better than it did yesterday.
HTH
-Donald

[Justin James]

well some tell me my sand bed isn't that deep. I'll let you people decided. It's 3" deep. I have the long "kelp like" calurpa not the bubble stuff. I added some carbon today. All the livestock is looking great, it's just the stupid water clarity. My cyano has taken off though. It's starting to cover my sandbed.

[datablitz]

you should consider draining all the water out of your tank, taking the rock out, and removing the sand, rinsing it, and put a small layer back in, then put your rock/coral/fish back. in that order.

[Justin James]

Thats a little extream don't you think? It's not my sand bed. I can stir my sand bed all day and still have a clear tank in a few hours because my sandbed isn't dusty.

I think the carbon is helping because my wife and I both think it's looking a little more clear.

[datablitz]

if you have a dsb, long term, and you stir it up, you will crash your tank. i personally think that is a little risky, and in my experience tanks with dsb are more prone to cayno also. its much safer/cleaner without it. a dsb is a good idea, but long term, they just cant survive in such a small space.

[Justin James]

Well good news. The tank is clear! The carbon worked only after 24 hours. So happy but I do still have my cyano problem.