cloudy tank

[hhughes]

As I stumbled from the bathroom to find my clothes this morning, my husband yells "hey your reef is cloudy".

Grrr. After having a disaster in my planted tank last night, that was not how I wanted to wake up.

It's milky -- not awful, you can see the back of the tank barely. The fish are all acting normal and swimming around etc. The corals are a little angry but making an effort at opening now that the light's been on a while. I did some basic water tests, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate either 0 or just barely registering, the colors are hard to distinguish. pH is about 8.2.

What's the recommendation here? Get some sw mixing for a water change and run carbon? I have an xp2 on it that I can pop some carbon in pretty easily.

Help?

 

[ralph atl]

Yes!

 

[ralph atl]

Point a powerhead toward surface until you figure it out.

 

[ralph atl]

could be a number of things

sand kicked up
microbubbles
calcium precip
bacterial bloom

 

[ralph atl]

after you have some things ready to roll, take a look at the particles........and see if you can describe them.

check your return pump, lines.......water level

you have anything that could kick up sand? a fallen powerhead? fish?

 

[superclown]

I was fixing to suggest it sounds like when the water runs low in my sump and the tank turns cloudy

 

[hhughes]

Well my sump project isn't completed, so it's not that. All my powerheads are intact, fish are accounted for... although I need to stick a krill in there and make sure my serpent star is okay. Just thought of that.

There aren't any visible to my naked eye particles; it's a milky kind of cloudy. I pulled the xp2 off and put a bag of carbon in there, and sw is mixing.

The only other new thing I've noticed is that my candycane is sliming a little. Nothing else is doing anything much, most corals are partially closed (shrooms and xenia are fine, smaller leathers are ok but the big one is really pitching a fit.

 

[acroholic]

SuperClown;580073 wrote: I was fixing to suggest it sounds like when the water runs low in my sump and the tank turns cloudy

Turn the pumps off and if it is microbubbles they would clear shortly.

 

[hhughes]

Now the question is, how long do I *have* to mix this water before I can do a change.... I normally let it simmer for 24 hours first but I admit I'm panicking slightly today.

 

[superclown]

I usually put mine in at about half an hour

 

[carpenter981]

hhughes;580086 wrote: Now the question is, how long do I *have* to mix this water before I can do a change.... I normally let it simmer for 24 hours first but I admit I'm panicking slightly today.

I do mine 30mins-hour if I need to do an emergency change. Once the mixed water clears up, I check the salinity, if its good I do a water change.

 

[hhughes]

Ok, well it had mixing a couple of hours and salinity was right, so I did a water change. I have more mixing for later. It's still cloudy, but the corals look a little "happier".... big momma leather is no longer slumped over, although polyps are still not out, and the gsp is out more. I pulled out my extra skimmer and fired it up for more flow and possible skimming boost (I say possible because it really doesn't skim very well lol). I guess I will give it a few hours before I do anything else.

 

[hhughes]

I also located the serpent star; he is fine.

 

[superclown]

hhughes;580099 wrote: I also located the serpent star; he is fine.

Well that's a good sign i was wondering about that one after you mentioned it

 

[hhughes]

Ok, good news; it's clearing up nicely. Still no clue what caused it, but now you can barely notice a slight cloudiness. All the corals are starting to look almost normal. I can breathe again

Thank you everyone who helped me not have a heart attack!