Cloudy Water????

[philolsen]

I HAVE A 55 WITH A PICASSO TRIGGER, YELLOW TANG, 3 STRIPED DAMSEL AND A YELLOW TAIL DAMSEL. THIS SET UP HAS BEEN UP AND RUNNING FOR ABOUT A YEAR. ALL OF A SUDDEN MY WATER IS VERY CLOUDY, I HAVE A SKIMMER (RAMORA) SUMP FILTER, 2 MAXI 1200'S. I DID SWITCH SALTS, FROM INSTANT OCEAN TO OCEANIC, COULD THIS BE THE ISSUE? THE WATER HAS BEEN CRYSTAL CLEAR UP UNTIL ABOUT 2 1/2 WEEKS AGO ABOUT A WEEK AFTER I SWITCHED, THE ONLY REASON I SWITCHED IS THE STORE WAS OUT OF INSTANT OCEAN, I REALLY DONT WANT TO THROW IT AWAY BUT IF THAT IS MY PROBLEM I WILL. ANY HELP WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED, I HAVE ALWAYS LOVED JUST WATCHING THE FISH AND NOW ALOT OF THE PLEASURE IS GONE DUE TO THE FACT IT IS SO CLOUDY. THE FISH APPEAR FINE NO ISSUE THERE, THEY ARE ALL STILL VERY ACTIVE AND EATING FINE. I tried to take a picture but the water looks clear in a pic. Also I have crushed coral substrate, plenty of algae and no live rock.

[leebca]

Cloudy water, regardless of your current situation, is usually caused by one or more (a combination) of the following:

1.Bacterial or microbe population explosion
2.Chemical coming out of solution (precipitation)
3.Particulates in suspension (other than above)

1. Look for any dead or decaying livestock; left over food; detritus buildup; junk in tank AND anywhere in the system. Clean things up.

2. Check all water parameters and chemistries to verify everything is in order. Make sure to verify pH, alkalinity, calcium, etc. even if you don't normally care about those. Check your source water for contamination. Think of anything that you changed or may have changed these last few weeks. Did you make any additions to the tank (chemicals, trace elements, additives, etc.)? A mix of salts can and has, in the past, caused the precipitation of some components. This is rare and I don't know if those two salts mixed together would be a problem. This concern can be eliminated by performing a large water change using the original salt.

3. Usually in a new aquarium there are issues of fine substrate going into suspension. Not probably your situation.

That's all I can think of.

[philolsen]

I have tried a 30% waterchange, moving all decorative pieces in order to get to all substrate. I normally do a 20% change every 10 days. It did not clear it up. I have not changed the amount of food I give them, 3 cubed a day and a 2x2 piece of seaweed every other day. No missing livestock. I am completely beffled.

[leebca]

Then you're moving closer to that #2 item. There is likely a chemical action going on with the water.

This could be something hidden, like an oxidizing piece of metal (e.g., pump, light fixture), or something more obvious (e.g., an imbalance of calcium, alkalinity, pH, and magnesium). All of those are worth checking out in the aquarium AND the source water (see: WATER - Source and NSW).

[philolsen]

I have been brining samples to the pet store for testing, I would like to do it myself to verify. What is a good and readily available test kit to get?

[leebca]

There are several manufacturers of salt water test kits that make good kits. Many of them are carried by Reefland sponsors.

I favor the Salifert Test Kits over most of the others because of their ease of use and general reliability. In some kits, like the Red Sea Nitrite Test Kit, the reading is easier to see (for me).

But you haven't indicated the source water you use to make water changes for your aquarium. Are you using distilled water? RO/DI water? DI water? Tap water? or ?

[philolsen]

I use tap with conditioner, I have done this from set up on.

[leebca]

Thanks for the information. It isn't that tap water is always bad, it is just that it can't be counted upon to be good. The quality of tap water is based upon human consumption and there are many, wide ranges of contaminants that are okay for humans, but not for our marine fishes and other marine livestock.

I urge you to stop using tap water as your source water. I would also strongly urge you to read this article carefully:
Chemistry and the Aquarium

The tap water yesterday doesn't have to be the same quality of water that comes out of the tap today.

This fact of using tap water can in fact be the cause or contributor to the cloudiness you see.

[philolsen]

Thanks, I just did a water change today, will it be ok to go buy some water from the pet store and do another tomorrow or should I wait a week or so?

[leebca]

You reported that you can see no affect the cloudiness has on the fish, so far. If you do not have corals in your tank, then the water change with bought, pure water can wait.

Personally, I don't take such risks with my livestock and would want to eliminate this potential issue right away. Thus, I'd make an immediate large water change with purified water.

It's your option, as I see it.