History: 62 gal. plexi that has been up and running for a year and a half. Conditions have been real good until about a month or so ago. Brownish/clouded water has been plaguing it. I have a Fluval 303 canister filter and a CPR Backpack protein skimmer. 2 powerheads and a good heater. I do 30% water changes every month along with changing the carbon in the Fluval. The tank used to stay crystal clear but not any more! So far I have done extra water changes, bought two new bulbs (daylight and actinic) because the daylight was a year and a half old and the actinic 9 mos. old. There has not been much in the way of algae on the surfaces (no more than usual towards the end of
the cycle) but there has been a lot of tiny bubbles in the water and many have been accumulating on the Plexiglas. I do NOT have an air stone and the protein skimmer does not seem to be putting many bubbles into the water. When I took a water sample out to show the local fish store, it was brownish/cloudy at first but then cleared up with just “dark brown cob web looking things floating around”. All my water tests (ph, kWh, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia) have been great forever. I tried covering the tank with blankets for a three day period to keep all light out in the hopes of killing a strange algae strain, but it didn’t do much. My last water change was 50% about a week ago. I’m almost ready to take my fish into a store and drain my tank and start all over. Please help. Any suggestions or question that I may answer would be greatly appreciated.–
the cycle) but there has been a lot of tiny bubbles in the water and many have been accumulating on the Plexiglas. I do NOT have an air stone and the protein skimmer does not seem to be putting many bubbles into the water. When I took a water sample out to show the local fish store, it was brownish/cloudy at first but then cleared up with just “dark brown cob web looking things floating around”. All my water tests (ph, kWh, nitrate, nitrite, ammonia) have been great forever. I tried covering the tank with blankets for a three day period to keep all light out in the hopes of killing a strange algae strain, but it didn’t do much. My last water change was 50% about a week ago. I’m almost ready to take my fish into a store and drain my tank and start all over. Please help. Any suggestions or question that I may answer would be greatly appreciated.–
Humm.. this is a stumper
Do you use reverse osmosis or deionized water? If so when was the last time you replaced the resin? The resin has a certain life span depending on the impurities of your
water. I would look into that. Your maintenance sounds very good so I leads me to the source water. Another thing is that canister filters are not generally used on modern reef tanks. I would seriously consider getting rid of it or if you must use it for a pump then remove the internal media. The internal media becomes a nitrate factory.. something you *Don’t* want or need. do you have a sump? or area where you could put a fairly large amount of carbon where the water doesn’t have to flow *through* but around. Using sizable amounts of carbon this way will generally strip most any questionable material from the tank. I would go to a paint store and ask for nylon pain strainer bags about .50 ea. and use them to hold the carbon. In a 60 gallon tank I would use approx 3 to 4 oz of carbon at a time (in the bag) for about 3 to 4 days then replace and continue for 2 or 3 applications. If you see an improvement continue, if for some strange reason your corals react badly… discontinue use. They shouldn’t but one never knows. Also, the small bubbles may be being created by not having enough skimming. It could be small particulate matter coming from the fluval. I know a
backpack is rated for a 60 but that’s probably pushing it. You may want to thorough clean the skimmer and possibly consider upgrading to a larger
model.
Do you use reverse osmosis or deionized water? If so when was the last time you replaced the resin? The resin has a certain life span depending on the impurities of your
water. I would look into that. Your maintenance sounds very good so I leads me to the source water. Another thing is that canister filters are not generally used on modern reef tanks. I would seriously consider getting rid of it or if you must use it for a pump then remove the internal media. The internal media becomes a nitrate factory.. something you *Don’t* want or need. do you have a sump? or area where you could put a fairly large amount of carbon where the water doesn’t have to flow *through* but around. Using sizable amounts of carbon this way will generally strip most any questionable material from the tank. I would go to a paint store and ask for nylon pain strainer bags about .50 ea. and use them to hold the carbon. In a 60 gallon tank I would use approx 3 to 4 oz of carbon at a time (in the bag) for about 3 to 4 days then replace and continue for 2 or 3 applications. If you see an improvement continue, if for some strange reason your corals react badly… discontinue use. They shouldn’t but one never knows. Also, the small bubbles may be being created by not having enough skimming. It could be small particulate matter coming from the fluval. I know a
backpack is rated for a 60 but that’s probably pushing it. You may want to thorough clean the skimmer and possibly consider upgrading to a larger
model.
