Whyis my tank cloudy?

[Coralgurl]

My tank in the last hour has gone from clear to white cloudy.

I tested my parameters a couple hours ago
Alk 6
Mag 1250
Calcium 460
Nitrate 5.0
Phosphate 0

Lights are almost off but corals and fish look fine.

[reefwars]

My tank in the last hour has gone from clear to white cloudy.

I tested my parameters a couple hours ago
Alk 6
Mag 1250
Calcium 460
Nitrate 5.0
Phosphate 0

Lights are almost off but corals and fish look fine.

something spawning like snails perhaps?? everything look fine?

[Coralgurl]

I don't think so, I've had snails do this and it's a different cloudy look right now. Everything looks ok though.

[gregzz4]

You're using a doser, yes ?

[reefwars]

all nems accounted for??

[Coralgurl]

Doser has been going for a week. But not seeing any stability, well not true, alk hasn't moved past 6.

[daplatapus]

You're dosing Ca at least 3 hrs or more apart from your alk?
When I started dosing I had a tough time getting anything to move until my Mg was over 1350 or so. You probably already know there a special relationship there between the 3 (Mg, Ca, and dkh) that all hinges on your Mg levels. Gotta get the Mg levels right first, but yours isn't all that bad, so all I got is maybe you're dosing Ca and alk too close together?

[Coralgurl]

Only 1 nem, it's fine.

Not dosing calcium as its already high. I've had Mykas guide open for a week, I understand the relationship, I can get the mag up, it won't stay. I had the mag at 1450, dropped the dose slightly but I guess too much. I'm out of tests for mag as of tonight, have ordered more.

[gregzz4]

We may be on the wrong track here, but ...

Was your doser set to run sometime before you noticed the clouding ?

If so, I'd suggest you test your Alk and Ca tonight to see if either are high - just to rule it out

Has it cleared since you started this thread ?

[Coralgurl]

I have the alk set to start dosing in the evening (5 pm) and mag starts in the morning (8 am).

It has not cleared at all since I started the thread, I will test calcium and alk and post.

[Coralgurl]

Alk is 6, ca 440. Water is starting to clear a bit but hard to tell with lights off.

[daplatapus]

Hmmm, I'm certainly no expert, but I didn't think alk would precipitate with just 440 Ca. Like Greg said we may be on the wrong track.

[Coralgurl]

It was higher at 460 earlier. The cloudiness happened fast. Will test again in the morning. Going to mix some new salt water now and do a water change tomorrow night. I've got an algae outbreak that started earlier this week, diatoms and cyano, last water change was Thursday last week.

[gregzz4]

Hopefully someone more versed will speak up ...
From what I understand, if you have too much Ca, it will precipitate at higher levels of Alk, higher than yours. Say, around Alk 8.5+ or even more.

I could be talking out of my butt here, so don't take this to be any kind of solid advice, as I don't even know if a dose of Ca could cloud your water

Just thinking it could be a dose of Ca that the water column couldn't absorb, so you have precipitate ?
You'd know tomorrow as it will coat some of your hardware ...

Anyway, I doubt it's an issue of dosing/params with your Alk hovering around 6

Must be something the critters did ( jiggy jiggy )

[chandigz]

ammonia?

[FragIt Dan]

I'm under the impression Ca precipitates out under insufficient buffering capacity due to a shift in pH, which is low dKh, not high dKh (although I could be wrong). I have seen this happen in a friend's badly neglected tank but it was more like it was snowing rather than a cloudiness. It also caused a complete tank crash.

I have had cloudiness in various tanks many times, ranging from a bit of a haze right up to a look of skim milk. I haven't always been able to track down what was spawning, but I have seen some of my macro algae melt after the water clears up, indication it may have been the culprit in at least one situation. I was quick to test water parameters the first few times and everything was normal, so now I don't bother anymore. Keep an eye on your skimate... if it is any different than normal it may point to the cloudiness being spawn (protein based) rather than Ca. Just my $0.02 :),
Dan

[Snaz]

ammonia?

If it was ammonia causing the cloudiness there would usually be a smell too, and stuff would be dying or looking terrible. I think the Ca precipitate is probably the right answer.

[Coralgurl]

Thanks for the replies. The tank is clear this morning, I did smell the water last night, nothing and everyone looks ok this morning. The bubbles on the skimmer cup were bigger than normal, actually still are and the equipment is clean. Guess something was feeling romantic:lol:

[acepumping]

you running pellets ??

[Coralgurl]

Not running pellets.

The tank cleared and hasn't been a problem since. I turned the alk dosing down and added more mag. Out of test kits, should be here next week.