Water clarity

[nd200]

I just recently set up a new red sea max C250 and have been very happy with its performance. the problem I am having is that the water has a slight milky color to it and there is a lot of debris in the water. Not dirt but fine and small sized little dust particles. I have an Eheim pro canister filter. (The largest one) and a tunze auto top off system. No other add ons to the tank. The skimmer is working properly and I have done a 30 gallon water change and a 20 gallon water change in the past two weeks. I am running carbon and filter floss. and bio media. I also just changed out the filters so i don't think thats the issue. Any suggestions. Water parameters have been a little wavy. but nothing too crazy just some lower nitrates and unbalanced calcium. Salinity is good. I am using a refractometer

 

[frisbee]

Has the tank cycled yet? What exactly are your parameters? You might want to look into bacterial blooms. These are quite common, especially for newer tanks. GL.

 

[DaveK]

Before commenting, I have a few questions for you -

How long have you had the tank set up?
What did you do to cycle the system?
Why did you add the canister filter to and all in one tank, and what do you expect it to do for you?

 

[nd200]

First, Sorry for the late reply. It has been set up for a little over a month. I used live sand that was really fine. (I suspect this is part of the issue). I added the canister filter because the small media rack in the back just wasn't cutting it. It has helped a lot but there are still a LOT of extremely fine particles that the filter floss cant catch. Im not sure how to remove them. My water parameters are the following.
Salinity: 1.024 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: .2 Nitrate: 8-10 Magnesium: 1350 KH 11 Calcium 420. ph 8.2. I was looking into diatom filters. I know that they are old technology and they aren't meant to run 24/7 only once a month. But i don't know. I had an old vortex one that leaked when it started and that wasn't good.

 

[Marty.h]

You should have 0 Nitrite you calcium and Alk are a little out of balance but to be expected on a fairly new setup but I definitely would not have any stock in there while you are still showing nitrite.

You could try wrapping filter floss round the outside of your powerheads this will soon pull a lot of free floating debris out of the water.

 

[PSU4ME]

Did you actually cycle the tank? I know you said you used live sand but you need a good ammonia source to kick the cycle, such as 2-3 deli shrimp and let them rot away. This gives you the bacteria you need and they "usually" attach to those fine particles in your water and pull them down. I once did a tank with unrinsed sand and it was terrible cloudy. Tossed in the shrimp and came home one day to see crystal clear water.

 

[mike1970]

How's the flow in the tank you could be blowing sand around

 

[DaveK]

... such as 2-3 deli shrimp and let them rot away. ...

Way way too much shrimp, but other than that I agree. The op needs to add a source of ammonia to actually get the cycle started. Live sand and live rock are great, but the bacteria need a food supply to start.

 

[DaveK]

First, Sorry for the late reply. It has been set up for a little over a month. I used live sand that was really fine. (I suspect this is part of the issue). I added the canister filter because the small media rack in the back just wasn't cutting it. It has helped a lot but there are still a LOT of extremely fine particles that the filter floss cant catch. Im not sure how to remove them. My water parameters are the following.
Salinity: 1.024 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: .2 Nitrate: 8-10 Magnesium: 1350 KH 11 Calcium 420. ph 8.2. I was looking into diatom filters. I know that they are old technology and they aren't meant to run 24/7 only once a month. But i don't know. I had an old vortex one that leaked when it started and that wasn't good.

Since this is a new tank, it might be a good idea to start over replacing the very fine live sand with something larger. However, this is not a requirement. It's just a lot easier at this point.

In a case like this the cloudy water is likely caused by fine particulates in the water, or by a bacteria bloom in the water. Both of these are common in new tanks. Normal filter floss and normal media used in a canister filter will not remove these. A Diatom filter will, but it's not really necessary to do.

If you cycle the tank as noted in the other posts, the bacteria will build up and for a bacteria film all over everything in the tank. This is normal. These films are very sticky and will in time tramp any particulates in the water. If it's a bacteria bloom, time will take care of that.

On Diatom filters. If you still have the old one and the motor and impeller still work, and the main casting is not cracked, there are only a couple of parts that can cause leaks. They are the shaft seal that goes around the motor shaft and is mounter on the main casting, and the jar gasket that makes the seal between the jar and the main casting. These are inexpensive parts. Diatom filter designs haven't changes in about 40 years, and the filters and parts are still available from the manufacturer.

For Diatom model D-1 see this page (offsite) - http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/d1-parts.htm
For Diatom moder XL see this page (offsite) - http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/model_xl_parts_listing.htm

 

[nd200]

Did you actually cycle the tank? I know you said you used live sand but you need a good ammonia source to kick the cycle, such as 2-3 deli shrimp and let them rot away. This gives you the bacteria you need and they "usually" attach to those fine particles in your water and pull them down. I once did a tank with unrinsed sand and it was terrible cloudy. Tossed in the shrimp and came home one day to see crystal clear water.

I have two clownfish that cycled the tank. Got the ammonia and nitrite spikes. Everything has settled down now. No ammonia and no nitrite. Still some nitrate (around 5ppm) i added a clean up crew and that seemed to help a lot. Now the water its self is clear but there is still a lot of particles. It seems like an endless supply. I know it isn't the sand. I tried to syphon it but nothing came out. It just stayed in the bottom portion of the syphon and then settled back down. everything that i have put in is living and doing really well. I even ended up putting in the corals and anemone from my other tank because my filter broke and i had no place to put them. I decided that it would be worth the try to keep them alive in the tank. They are doing awesome. Its just the particles now. I tried to do the filter floss over the outlet but it reduced the flow to the point where hardly any water was coming out

 

[nd200]

Since this is a new tank, it might be a good idea to start over replacing the very fine live sand with something larger. However, this is not a requirement. It's just a lot easier at this point.

In a case like this the cloudy water is likely caused by fine particulates in the water, or by a bacteria bloom in the water. Both of these are common in new tanks. Normal filter floss and normal media used in a canister filter will not remove these. A Diatom filter will, but it's not really necessary to do.

If you cycle the tank as noted in the other posts, the bacteria will build up and for a bacteria film all over everything in the tank. This is normal. These films are very sticky and will in time tramp any particulates in the water. If it's a bacteria bloom, time will take care of that.

On Diatom filters. If you still have the old one and the motor and impeller still work, and the main casting is not cracked, there are only a couple of parts that can cause leaks. They are the shaft seal that goes around the motor shaft and is mounter on the main casting, and the jar gasket that makes the seal between the jar and the main casting. These are inexpensive parts. Diatom filter designs haven't changes in about 40 years, and the filters and parts are still available from the manufacturer.

For Diatom model D-1 see this page (offsite) - http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/d1-parts.htm
For Diatom moder XL see this page (offsite) - http://www.diatomfilter.com/products/model_xl_parts_listing.htm

I think that at the point that i am at right now i wont need the diatom filter. But thanks for the info on that. Everything did work water was just coming out from a little opening above the tubes. The tank has already cycled fully. About 2 days after i wrote this the nitrite was completely gone and hasn't come back.

 

[nd200]

I can try to link you to a video of the tank. The way it looks and acts is really hard to explain. If you want me to do that let me know.

 

[StirCrayzy]

I doubt the clowns are "doing awesome", recovering I hope though.
sadly, it's not your fault, I'm sure your LFS sold the clowns to help cycle.
Ammonia is a poison to fish, but let that be a tip for next time. I fell for that too on my first tank.
I'm curious on what basis you determined the stock filtration "wasn't cutting it"? A month is not much time in the context of a reef tank. Many folks here run the stock rear filtration chamber with only some basic mods.