Murky "healthy" Water
 

I have had my tank running for 2 months now with only a clean-up crew. The water has been murky for nearly a month now. When I test the water all the parameters read perfect. I read that it is simply bacteria in the water. I dont know how to get rid of it. All corals and livestock are doing great, infact I had a mystery (have never seen him before) pistol shrimp breed in my tank and now the water is full of tiny red and clear baby shrimp.

I have a 10 gallon Mantis shrimp tank beside it, and I used the same live rock, same salt, same water etc. and it is crystal clear and just as healthy.

Please help me! What can I do? I have been contemplating a 100% water change.

I really need help guys!:cry:

Can you post your exact parameters? Maybe a tank photo?

A picture would be awesome. Is it murky white? murky Brown, murky yellow?

If it is simply bacteria in the water you may want to buy a UV sterilizer.

Are you running a skimmer??

Hey Ill get back to you guys later tonight with the exact parameters. The water is white murky. There is no smell coming from the tank. Ill try to get a picture this afternoon.

Do you dose anything or run a kalk. or Calcium reactor?

No but I tested my Calcium and it is 450

A good start!

Should I do a 100% water change so the water is clear?

Do you have substrate? if so did you rinse it well? substrate dust can cling to the glass giving it a murky look happend to me.

I never advocate 100% water changes, its too much and too quick of a change. Try smaller changes on a daily or semi-daily basis to see if that improves your situation.

Dont jump the gun with water change just yet. You should try to isolate the problem..if any...

If you have fine sand substrate it could be the dust from the sand.

I do have a fine sand substrate, its live reef aragonite. I did not rinse it before I put it into the tank. It was murky for the first few days and then cleared up, but since I have put in my clean up crew and a fighting conch the water has been consistently murky.

Are they simply stirring it up so much that it can't settle?

I have 25 hermit crabs
1 fighting conch
1 feather duster
1 dark purple tube anenome
and a handful of snails

P.S. The tank only has coraline algae growing on the glass.
I supplement the snails and conch with drop in algea pellets.

Oh there always does seem to be some sand on the glass, but I always just clean it off.

Is it simply sand floating around my tank?

I never did rinse the substrate?

Hey I tried doing 10% water changes daily, I did it for over 1 week with one improvment which only lasted one day.

So what about the rest of your parameters? Do you run a skimmer?

2nd that what about a skimmer they filter out crap that makes your water clear?
The reason they run ozone is to make the dirt stick to the air bubbles in the skimmer better giving you clear water without the green tint.
If you have pods and small pistol shrimp your water should be fine.
Hope that helps a skimmer is one of the most important pieces of equipment next to the live rock. The skimmer will remove your small pistol shrimp though along with all the other crap.

Ozone makes the nasties stick to air. Was wondering what it did, Thx

You could try running some carbon that might help.

i borrowed afilter from my FW tank to help with the clouds. alot of cleaning lthe filter floss nessisary but did a fine job.

I just got an attachment that goes onto my powerhead which has that floss in it and its startingto clear up. The LFS said that it could be like powder sand from my substrate.

I apparently now have an algae bloom aswell (water is starting to look green)

Besides a UV sterilizer how to I get rid of these?

- Water changes
- Reduced photoperiod
- Skimming

Have you been able to get a picture yet? As they say a pictures speaks a thousand words.

It is defitnitly debris from your substrate IMO.
I rinsed my sand for 3 hours before i put in tank still had clouds. took 2 days and 2 filters to get rid of it.

As for the algae if you dont have any livestock yet turn the lights out for most of the day for a couple days.

Have been stiring up your snd to get all debris out? if sou this would make your various levels go all over the map thus creating a algae spike.

I find that a UV sterilizer helps reduce algea as well.