cloudy tank

[ieatcoral]

Well, I have had my tank running for about 3 1/2 months now. Went through some changes in live stock, got ICK and killed my fish, tons of water changes and now all I have is a choc chip starfish. For the last 4 days my tank has clouded up! I changed the foam in the filter one day, carbon the other, and still nothing. I added a little bit of new sand but that was 4 days ago!! any suggestions I can do. I am going to do a water change today but feel it is something else.

 

[framerguy]

Could it be calcium precipitation? What is your calcium level?

 

[ieatcoral]

its between 420-440 ppm...i am going to do a water change today to see if it clears up..its really bad

 

[prow]

what are you using to do water changes? RO, RO/DI, distilled, well or tap..?? how long do mix the the new salt water, use a PH or anything to mix it??

 

[ieatcoral]

i use ro water, add my own salt and salinity is right on at 1.022....i got it at the LFS

 

[ieatcoral]

well the ro water that is and added my own salt

 

[prow]

could be just a bacterial bloom. your tank is pretty new and things are still establishing, extra carbon should help. on another thought what is your alk and ph running??

 

[cbrownfish]

You stated that you recently added some new sand......was that when the cloudiness started? If so, you need to run a filter sock, GAC and/or skim wet for a while (assuming you have a skimmer).

 

[tweety]

I started my 1st tank in March 2008 and I had the same problem after my new tank was up and running for about 4 months. I tried everything to clear it up and nothing worked until someone told me to change 1/2 the water and clean the filters, all at the same time.

I had a bacteria bloom because I was cleaning the tank too often. It worked, my water is now clear, and has been for 3 months. I was cleaning it every 2 weeks with a 25% water change. I now only change that much water every 4 weeks and that seems to be working for me.

 

[lcstorc]

Any chance it could be micro bubbles? Often they make a tank look cloudy.

 

[ieatcoral]

thanks tweety....i am like you..i was cleaning it every 2 weeks cause im obsessed with yjr hpbby and everything has to look perfect..i am taking your advice..so far it started to go down...thanks everyone for the advice too...you all are so helpful!

 

[krazykat]

A good question to ask would be do you add the salt to the water or measure out the salt into a bucket and then add the water? Adding the water to salt would cause precipitation of some of the minerals, which framerguy has brought up...