How to get rid of cloudy water

[fishguy29]

Hi there. My levels are all good but wanted to know why my water is so cloudy? I have a fluval 405 with good carbon and i have water polisher as well but still is cloudy. I cleaned my filter, have good flow but wondering what i could do to clean this up?

Thanks

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

whats your setup like,your parameters.are you skimming ,over feeding,tank inhabitants,how old and kind of lighting.
cloudiness could be one or a couple of those reasons.

[fishguy29]

i have a 67 gallon tank with about 74 pounds of fiji live rock. fluval 405 filter. Tank is only 3 weeks old. i have 2 clowns which have been in there for over 1 week and look good. I added a regal tang yesterday and all seems good just want to clear the water if possible.

ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 0
temp -78-79
alkalinity - 230 ppm
ph - 8.3

[digital-audiophile]

white cloudy or yellow cloudy?

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

your tank is in first stage of cycling 2weeks old tank is way to soon for the fish you have.read up on tank cycling.
you need water change lots of skimming good quality lighting and watch your fish closely.
does your live rock smells like ammonia:question: if so your live rock hasnt been cured,sorry to say save your fish, get someone to hold them for you untill cycle is over.
double check with those test readings.
lots of air circulation
lots of skimming
high water movement
often water changes
good quality carbon

[MMAX]

I've heard of kick starting your cycle with a damsel or a chromis, but a regal tang???

[new but handy]

Don't do water changes untill the tank is cycled. All water changes do is prolong the cycle. FWIW my tank took about 5 weeks to cycle.

[e46er]

Don't do water changes untill the tank is cycled. All water changes do is prolong the cycle. FWIW my tank took about 5 weeks to cycle.

he has fish in the tank for the cycle

Id do LARGE water changes and quite often

[Aquattro]

ammonia - 0
nitrites - 0
nitrates - 0


How are we coming up with tank cycling with these numbers? Assuming of course, the numbers are accurate, this is done cycling. So either cured rock, or the rock is dead and the cycle hasn't even started yet.
I would question the validity of the numbers though, NO3 should have a reading with a fluval...

[fishguy29]

My tank has cycled. I'm using good salt (bio - sea), i have fully cured fiji live rock. I started out with ammonia and nitrites on day 1 being .3 and no nitrates. about 3 days in the nitrates went to 10. on the 4-5 day ammonia and nitrites were 0 and nitrates were 5. I watched it for 3 days and no ammonia or nitrites and the nitrates were almost 0. Then i added 2 clownfish. I had them a week before i added the tang. My levels have been good all along with nothing over .1 since i added fish. Things are still fine. I test daily and sometimes twice. I cleaned my filter last night so could that be the reason? I have alot of algae but i have some turbo snails now that are doing a good job on them. My fish seem fine. They are eating good, swimming good, no signs of spots or damaged fins. I think everthing is fine minus the cloudnish.

Thanks

[fishguy29]

also, if this rock wasn't cured would it still have coraline algae on it?

[sharuq1]

Can you post a picture? Might give us a clue as to why it would be cloudy. Any other equipment on this tank? Skimmer, etc? If you have sand, when was it added?

As to the coraline, yes it likely would still have it, cured or not. Curing your rock should not kill your coralline unless you are doing it somewhere like an enclosed garbage can.

[fishguy29]

what is the easiest way to post a pic on here?

[sharuq1]

I usually just upload it onto imageshack, take the "direct url" and copy/paste it into the image (click the icon that looks like a picture). I'm sure there are probably easier ways, but it works.

[fishguy29]

here is 5 and i will post another message with the rest

[fishguy29]

here is the others

[no_bs]

I would say your tank is still cycling. Probaly would have been best to have started with 2 damsels. Unless you bought the setup, ripped it down and took it home?

[Aquattro]

I would say your tank is still cycling. Probaly would have been best to have started with 2 damsels. Unless you bought the setup, ripped it down and took it home?

Cycling refers the cycle of converting NH3 to NO3 (or ideally NO). If NH3 is dropped to 0, its not cycling. It's new, and my guess is once a sufficient bacterial culture forms on the sand, the cloudiness will vanish. The sand is new, and this will cause cloudiness. A good skimmer will help.

[eli@fijireefrock.com]

from the looks of your photos you have alot of algae in there.
what kind of lighting you got,make sure you have enough water circulation i would place the outtake of most of your power heads facing your rocks,again lots of skimming.
i agree with e46er
Quote:
Originally Posted by new but handy http://canreef.com/vbulletin/images/buttons/viewpost.gif (http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=405471#post405471)
Don't do water changes untill the tank is cycled. All water changes do is prolong the cycle. FWIW my tank took about 5 weeks to cycle.

he has fish in the tank for the cycle

Id do LARGE water changes and quite often

[belzebuth]

Did you added new live sand to the tank lately? You mentioned using a fluval 405 filter. What type or carbon/media are you using?

[fishguy29]

i added the sand at the beginning which was over 2 weeks ago. i just put kent reef carbon in a couple days ago. its getting better it seems with time.

[Aquattro]

. its getting better it seems with time.

It will. Don't be in a rush, and everything will be fine. I'd probably not add anymore fish for at least a month and after a good wter change.
You haven't mentioned yet, I don't believe. Do you have a skimmer?

[belzebuth]

Aquatro is right. It will clear with time. I have used Caribsea live sand for my setup....It tooks days for the water to clear. You should probably look into using a skimmer if you don't currently use one.

[fishguy29]

no skimmer yet. i have a deltec 300 on order. my water was clear this morning but now it is cloudy. The only thing i did was fed them (not 2 much). I put in stability and a water conditioner which i think maybe might be making it coudy now. I was using the water conditioner because it says with echinacea, vitamins and anti-virus protection. I figured this would help them in the first few days while they were stressed. The fish have been doing good but maybe i should try not using it a few days. it is novaqua+

[Aquattro]

I'd skip adding anything. just leave it, see how it does.

[belzebuth]

Keep an eye on your water parameters.

[Snaz]

Water conditioners and other additives are a huge waste for the new reefer. The markup on a bottle of basically nothing is huge and the LFS pushes them for obvious reasons, it's where they make their real money.

Unless your pulling water from the Tar Sands I would not bother with conditioners. Buffers and additives are meant for established tanks. Dosing a new tank will only result in weird test results and in worse case crashed tanks.

And like everyone else has rightly said... Go slow.

[fishguy29]

my plans were to leave it for at least a month before adding anything else. I know i rushed a bit that much i figured on my own. I had clear water this morning then i added the 2 things and i ended up with a cloudy tank. So from now on just my weekly water changes with my RO water is all i'm going to do and see were it leads me. My deltec 300 skimmer should be in soon and i will be running that so it should be some added help when that comes.

Thanks