Cloudy water

[brentnorm]

Hi guys. Can anyone tell me why water would go cloudy over night ? Should I be worried ?

 

[HenkHugo]

do you have a fish in the tank that might go digging?

 

[Warr7207]

Hi guys. Can anyone tell me why water would go cloudy over night ? Should I be worried ?

Loads of different reasons, has your substrate been churned up by a powerhead, has your sump been churned and return pumping small particles back into the display ? Skimmer gone faulty ?

 

[brentnorm]

none of the above. It was crystal clear last night when I went to bed and this morning its cloudy. Everything is working as normal.

 

[Warr7207]

none of the above. It was crystal clear last night when I went to bed and this morning its cloudy. Everything is working as normal.

What creatures you got ?
What is your Calcium level ?
What is kH ?

 

[brentnorm]

only a staf fish and a snail. Will have to check water parameters when I get home.

 

[brentnorm]

warr, i just remembered, i did put in two capfulls of reef calcium yesterday at about 6pm

 

[Warr7207]

warr, i just remembered, i did put in two capfulls of reef calcium yesterday at about 6pm

The calcuim may be precipitating, need to check that Ca level isn't to high.

 

[brentnorm]

thanks warr, could it affect the tank negatively ?

 

[Warr7207]

thanks warr, could it affect the tank negatively ?

No, should be OK, just make sure you don't add Ca for a week or so, if the levels are high 480+.

Also check your kH is OK, this can get effected with these "snow storms"

 

[jacquesb]

Hi Brent -

Here are the possible causes - that I know of - why the water could go "cloudy" over-night:
- possible bacteria bloom (a LOT of bacteria all of a sudden - perhaps an influx of carbon based compounds (from food maybe)
- possible "snowstorm" due to phosphates precipitating out of the water, due to high alkalinity or perhaps due to TOO high calcium (calcium hydroxide becomes seperate calcium and H2 ions, causing the calcium ions to become bound with the inorganic phosphates in the water, forming calcium-phosphate - an insoluble compound)...

Hope this helps.

 

[irie ivan]

Bacterial bloom a possibility, albeit slight. (what calcium did you add? only possible if added reef calcium, polygluconate with something like stability)
Also likely to be a "snowstorm", caused by overshooting pH, Alk or CA. The precipitation is calciumcarbonate, which will cause a significant drop in your ca and alk levels. If this has carried on through the night, you will have very low levels of alk, mg and ca by now. Only remedy is a series of waterchanges.
Why did you

 

[viper357]

Hows the tank looking Brent? Have you tested your Calcium and Alkalinity?

 

[Kanga]

How is it looking today Brent?

 

[brentnorm]

Hi guys, clarity has returned to my water so all is good.

 

[Kanga]

Glad to hear Brent

 

[jacquesb]

Brilliant Brent - yeah - these things sometimes happens to our tanks. I take it on a 7 day average - if something like this stays like that for 7 days or more, then I really start to investigate....