Cloudy water

Question
QUESTION: I have a 75 gal saltwater tank w/ 6 fish and many hermits, a sally and 2 emerald crabs. My sump pump died last week and we replaced it (1100 gph) ever since the water has been white cloudy, all my snails died and my anemone too. also all the soft corals are shriveled and look like they are dying. we hooked up a UV filter and it didn't seem to help. there is a carbon filter in the sump tank. the protein skimmer is more than an appropriate size and is pulling a lot out of the tank. I tried adding a marine clarifier yesterday and today its worse than ever. Its been a week and it just keeps getting worse HELP!

ANSWER: Hello csody,

I am sorry to hear about your problems, but i think it might not be somethign too bad...

It sounds like it could be an algae bloom...  (something that folks who dose vodka get)

This bloom will get bad over a period of two weeks, then clear up really quickly...

I am not sure why or what started yours, though, and that could be a problem...

I would do several major water changes... 20% every other day... for 3 changes

then do water changes every three days for two times, then once a week...

I would wait one more week before you start... unless you fear losing something else?

Please let me know that your parameters are good.

Also, when was the last time you cleaned the sleeve around your UV light... they get covered in calcium deposit and become opaque after a short time if you dont routinely cclean it.


anyways, let me know what you find out


bill



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The Tank is much better. Over the weekend we removed all of the dead corals and put some carbon in the powerhead gates. It is still a little cloudy but getting much better. my parameters are good (spg, nitrites/nitrates, NH3 all wnl)dkh 7(little low but using a buffer)calcium is 3-4 which is very low and I add liq calcium. no matter how much I add it doesn't come up. not sure if it is because of the dkh. My fish look ok but they are not as active as usual same with the crabs. the UV light has a brand new sleeve and light. I was under the impression that doing that many water changes would make the problem worse. If I wait another week do you still rec doing the water changes if it clears.

Answer
glad to hear it is clearing up.

If things are going in the right direction for you, then no, you dont need to do the strict/strong regimine of water changes...

If you can, try to do a MAGnesium test.

Sometimes when MAG is off/low, it is hard to get the CALC and ALK to balance out...

But, if you have little corals and do water changes every two weeks or once a month, then everything SHOULD be good, but obviously it isnt.

Good luck and let me know when things get back to normal.

bill