Dry Rock and long-term bacterial bloom

[jon.smolders]

Hey everyone,

I am in need of some advice and opinions. I have been dealing with a bad bacterial bloom for the last few months, and I would like some feedback as to what I can do to correct the issue.

Here is my setup:
- 60 gallon tank, 20 gal sump. Total water volume of about 70 gallons
- 35 lbs dry pukani rock
- 1 lb live rock (one small mushroom rock, one small ½ lb piece to help seed with sponges, etc)
- bare bottom
- BM Curve 7 skimmer
- Running 1/2 cup carbon in sump baffles changed at least monthly
- Run filter socks occasionally but never for more than a few days at a time
- Tecklight T5 x 6 lamp. Only running 4 lamps, brand new in the last couple months on for 9 hrs a day
- Temp 77
- Salinity 35ppt (1.026 sg)
- pH 7.8
- Calcium 360ish
- Alkalinity currently around 6-7 dKH - trying to keep it up past 7
- Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates all 0
- RO water TDS 0
- PO4 0ppm test kit was a bit dated however
- 1 pajama cardinal, 1 blue neon goby added about a month ago
- several small frags of montipora, star polyps, green nepthea, meteor shower crystphea, xenia (not doing well), and a "grassy fields" lps, green rhodactis mushrooms (now a pale blue)
- 3 red hermits, couple snails lost a few over the last few months


The system was started 10 months ago. Very, very little coraline algae. Little algae in display or on rocks. Chaeto in sump

After lots of reading online I finally made sense of the low alk and pH. The bacteria use up alk because it is a carbon source. Bacteria also produce CO2 which would drive down the pH. I figure the other nutrient source in the system is the dry rock. I did not give it an acid bath, just stuck it in the tank with a piece of shrimp and let it go for a few months. I had bad algae for a while, and I suspected the sand so I removed it and went bare bottom. That helped the algae a bit, but the tank still had a white haze. Just over a month ago I did a 100% water change. Transferred everything into a brute, drained the tank completely, cleaned, refilled with fresh salt water, transferred everything back. Looked great for a week before the haze came back.


So... I have come up with a few things I might try to get this under control.

1.Dose bacteria. I started the tank with MB7… would it help at all to dose more bacteria to consume the nutrients faster? Maybe I should dose vinegar or vodka too to give them a carbon source other than my alkalinity?

2.Reduce the amount of dry rock in the system. Say I take out half of it. I could cure it elsewhere. Then there would be less leaching nutrients overall and maybe the system could handle it?

3.Establish a different source of bio filtration. Could I add a DIY wet/dry filter in hopes that the bacteria would colonize that instead of my water column? Would the extra bio filtration help the system handle the nutrients leaching from the rock?

4.UV sterilizor - I know this would help clear things up (at least temporarily) but I don’t really want to drop another $100 on another piece of equipment at the moment… I’d rather figure out how to deal with the root issue.

5.More mechanical filtration - Thought about a DIY canister filter with filter floss… not sure if it would make much of a difference though.

6.Weekly 30% water changes and more patience. I was doing 15% every two or three weeks before the 100% change. I've also been dealing with this for months now so my patience is … well… dwindling.



Any thoughts or comments would help. I’m not really sure what route I should take with all this. Thanks!

[spit.fire]

Dosing vodka would probably make it worse, do you run your skimmer 24/7

[gobytron]

Cyanobacteria?

Try putting a pump blowing along the surface of your display to better oxygenate your water.

[gobytron]

This might be a really dumb question, and I see now it's not cyanobacteria.

But how do you know what you are seeing is indeed a bacterial bloom rather than something else clouding your water?

[jon.smolders]

No its not cyano... its just a white haze in the water column. Yes, I skim 24/7... fairly wet too but it doesn't seem to have an effect on the bacteria. I have two powerheads near the surface giving me good surface agitation. I'm pretty sure its bacterial because of the low pH and alkalinity. I am open to other suggestions however. Bad bucket of salt? I use Reef Crystals and just opened a fresh bucket and have some water mixing for a 30% water change. Maybe the last bucket was bad? Could magnesium or calcium precipitate out into the water and cloud it for months?

Here's a pic from the side

[Koleswrath]

Don't think it would be calcium precipitating unless your dosing cal/alk,etc. - precipitation is usually due to an excess of calcium and lack of magnesium but your salt should be balanced.

I dose vinegar and the bacteria is noticeable in mats that collect close to the dosing inlet and in my reactor. All in very stringy mats but nothing in the water column that shows as cloudiness. Dosing vinegar and Kalk will definitely help the alk and ph issue and might help to get the bacteria in your sump instead of the water column ( if that's what the haze is).

[Masonjames]

I really am not sure if you would be experiencing a bacterial bloom for a constant 10 months. The bacteria responsible for such water born blooms cannot synthesize there own food and are completely dependant on complex organics. I highly doubt with your two fish you are imputing enough organics to promote a bloom never mind sustain one without a needed nutrient quickly becoming limiting.

[Wheelman76]

I started with 100% dry Pukani rock and had the same problem as you. The bacterial bloom would just not go away no matter what I did. Some days it was a little better and some days a little worse but I just couldn't get the water clear. A friend recommended to try running a UV for a few days ( thanks Albert) I borrowed a UV sterilizer from a buddy ( thanks Rich) and within 24 hours the water was crystal clear. I ran the UV for a few more days and then took it off and the tank has been clear ever since.

[TimT]

The best way to clear the waterborne bacteria is by UV. A UV is also very useful when putting new fish into the display or reducing the possibility of a disease outbreak should you have a temperature fluctuation.

There are a couple of other options but they are not as effective... ozone into skimmer and also Hydrogen peroxide dosing. You have to be very careful using either method as they can wipe out your tank.

The bacteria will lower your dissolved oxygen content of the water and also your redox potential. It is important to keep your skimmer running.

The upside is that the bacteria will consume nitrates.

Cheers,
Tim

[Pike]

10 months and your rocks are bare, no coraline algae , nada!. theres no life in those rocks. Something is really wrong. Almost seems like what you have is lack of beneficial bacteria on your rocks thus the milky water. I would get a piece of better live rock with lots of life on it and some sand from a established tank or buy prodibio . It looks like you just put water in it yesterday.