need some help with my salt water aquarium, having problems with cloudy water?

Question

i have a 50gal bow front aquarium that has just recently started to get cloudy water, everything was running perfect and the water was crystal clear, i added 2 small fish to my tank and about 3 days later is when it started happening, i checked my levels and they are: ammonia .50 nitrate is just under 5 and nitrite is .25, i have done a partial water change, changed my filter pads and added phosphate pads as well but its not helping, i do have a protein skimmer on the way and should be here later this week, i really cant imagine adding just these 2 fish would make the water cloud up so i dont know whats going on, any suggestions or solutions would be greatly appreciated, thanks
paul h.

here is the details to my tank as best as i can describe, i have a 2" sand bed and about 70-80lbs of LR, whisper 60 power filter and a maxi-jet 900 power head, the fish i had when everything was good was 2 False Percula Clownfish and 1 Royal Gramma Basslet, i also have a medium chocolate chip star fish and a pencil urchin, the 2 new fish that i added are 1 small to medium Orangespine Naso Tang and 1 small Humuhumu Picasso Trigger, i also have several small llyanassa snails and about 7-10 blue legged hermit crabs, at first i thought i might have over fed when trying to figure out what food my new fish liked best but it should have cleared up by now, all my livestock seam to be perfectly health and happy but the cloudy water is driving me nuts, we only have 2 local pet stores here, 1 said my phosphates must be high so i added the phosphate pads and the other said i must not have enough beneficial bacteria but that dosent sound right to me, i did 1 partial water change and it didnt help

Answer 1

Shawnee has it about right, but the ammonia rises first, followed by the nitrite, then nitrates. The ammonia is what the fish (and any leftover food) are producing. That's converted to nitrite by bacteria, and the nitrite is converted to nitrate by another bacteria. Since you have more ammonia and nitrite than the bacteria can process, they're multiplying quickly, and it's the bacterial "bloom" that you're seeing as the cloud. A phosphate pad won't make a difference in the process, but you don't want to clean out the filter pad too well - this is one of the places where the bacteria will be reproducing. When you do cleanit, don't rinse it under the tap - the chlorine will kill the bacteria. Instead get a little tank water in a separate container and rinse the pad in this.

Just keep doing partial water changes to try and keep the ammonia and nitrite below 0.5 and in 3-6 weeks you'll probably only have nitrate and clear water. Once the bacteria reaches a level where there are too many to be supported by the ammonia the fish can produce, they'll stop reproducing as quickly and the "bloom" goes away.

If you have good live rock in the tank, the bacteria in it may speed up the process, because you'll have more bacteria to start with. Also, if you temperature is in the 70s, you can raise it a little at a time to around 82-84o which will speed up the bacteria reproduction. Just be sure you have good aeration, because the warmer water temperature will allow lees dissolved oxygen in the water for your fish. I'll put a couple of links below where you can get more info on what's happening in your tank.

Good luck with the aquarium!

ADDITION: Whoa! that's a lot of fish for a tank of your size, even if they're small at this point, especially if it one that's been running for less than 6 months. And those fish are going to get big. You do realize that the tang can get to a foot and a half and the trigger to 10". They're similar enough in shape that you may have aggression problems with them as they mature.

If the tank is new, your fish are overloading the bacteria you have. Even if the tank had cycled, each time you add another fish, you're adding another ammonia source, so more bacteria are needed.

Answer 2

One fish is enough to cause a new tank to cycle.
This is such a common problem... I don't mean the ammonia spike / bacterial bloom, I mean people advising others to do water changes and cleans mid-way through a cycle.
Let nature do what it does best without interferance.
If you do a water change you upset (and starve) the infant bacterium colonies and the whole cycle will most likely restart.
If you clean the substrate you will once again disturb the infant colonies.
Phosphate pads won't help this situation at all.

Safest plan of attack:
Don't change any water, if the fish are still alive, then they have temporarily adapted to the toxic conditions. Only NH3 is toxic, not NH4.
Don't clean the substrate until the cycle has finished.
Never add ammonia removing chemicals - you will completely restart the cycle.
Reduce feeding by at least 60% - the fish wont starve.

Thats an excessive bio-load for a new cycling tank, but the fact you have live rock (properly cured I hope!) should speed up the process (If you leave it alone!).

I have cycled dozens of tanks and I guarantee that if you let nature do its work without interferance, the ammonia will vanish, shortly followed the the nitrites. Only then can you do a partial water change to reduce the subsequent nitrate levels.

I promise the clouds will disappear and when they do it happens pretty damn quickly.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

Should have WASHED the crushed coral first - what do you get when you crush up rocks? A lot of rock dust, most of it as fine as concrete. Don't worry about it too much - whether it settles or is filtered out, it is almost 100% calcium carbonate and slowly dissolves anyway. A power filter may actually hinder the settling process as it keeps the stuff suspended but the filtration media may be too coarse to clear it. Try turning it off - I assume at this stage the aquarium has no livestock and turning off pumps, etc, will do no harm. A water test at this stage is pointless as there is nothing to generate the ammonia that is what you are trying to measure. To start the cycle, you either need to add a few hardy animals or add a source of ammonia (this is called a fishless cycle).

Answer 4

I believe that is called a bacteria bloom. It occurs when adding a new load(thats what I call a fish that adds feces to the water) to your aquarium. I usually add one fish at a time, water changes are nessesary in order to keep nitrates, ammonia, nitrites down. Generally it is the nitrates that rise when adding fish, though I have seen a small rise in ammonia before. Just keep doing the water changes, you should'nt of removed the filter pads as they hold part of your bacteria bed so you were only taking away what your tank is trying to build. Me, myself, I would'nt touch the tank at all, not even water changes because the tank is trying to build a bio bed that handles the extra life you have added to the tank, everytime you take out water you also remove good bacteria, so it takes longer to cycle the tank. Yes salt water fish are expensive, but if they die hopefully you have a warranty on those fish, but if not look at the bright side your tank will have grown enough bacteria to sustain 2 new fish. Then you can replace them. You are doing the right thing though if your trying to save the fish.

Answer 5

Wow a lot of funky info here. First off your tank is not nearly ready to house the fish you have. Which is your main problem right now. I am suprised they are still alive. your biofilter is not ready for this load nor will it catch up quicker by having so many in the tank. Perfect water does not have to be crystal clear. your tank is going to a biofilter crash right now. your protein skimmer should have been up and running already to remove the excess waste in the water. it will be running full time when you do hook it up. Until then you will have to deal with water changes on a regular basis to keep the levels down.

Other problems or possiable problems with the tank:
You have 1 too many starfish to start only 1 per 100 gallons and with all the crabs they will be starving unless you are target feeding them. your Picasso trigger may make quick meals out of your stars if he is not fed enough. Your pencil urchin may go after your stars as well not to mention the live rock. You have way too many cleaners in the tank and being that your tank is new and you are running phosphate pads, algae will not grow fast enough for all of them. you may want to think about feeding all of them for a while.

The second store was correct. you do not have enough beneficial bacteria in the tank. your tank would have to be a minimum of 6 weeks up and running to safely house clowns, however your trigger is a hearty fish and will do well in just about any condition. I am more suprised your tank has not undergone ich yet. your phospates cannot be high since there is nothing in the tank to feed it.

Expect the tank to remain cloudy for the next couple of weeks. Your biofilter is working over time to readjust.

When starting a salt tank 1" of fish per 5 gallons of water added 1 time every two weeks until the tank is stocked. Crabs count as fish as well as inverts. until your biofilter catches up you will need to keep a close eye on your water testing and water changes. nitrates can go as high as 40 with no problems to the inverts it is the nitrites and ammonia you need to worry about right now.

Feel free to email me and I will try to help further.

Answer 6

Well I see a few things wrong here
first of your ammonia is high it needs to be 0 your nitrate is high your levels are all to high. and if you changed your filter pad your cycel have to restart. so your levels will go up. how long has your tank been set up with fish before you stated loading full of fish? it sounds like you have a bio over load
I dont know if your new to salt water fish but it sounds like your trying to win the race be for it starts.
You also have to many fish in the tank. that tang you have needs about 70gals of water by it self
try less fish and you should be ok and take it slow

Hi saw your update.
The trigger fish you have is one of the more nasty triggers fish there are. you may find it eating your other fish ,crabs, star fish, and live rock. the star fish may also try to eat your small fish , crabs , and parts of your live rock.
I would keep a close eye on things as some of what you have sees other things in your tank as pray .
Im not sure how long youve be into salt water but it looks like your geting bad advice on what to put in your tank.
http://www.timstropicals.com/Saltwater/Fish/Puffer/Picasso.asp
http://www.aquahobby.com/marine/e_chipstar.php
check out the links

Answer 7

Your ammonia and nitrite should have no detectable reading at all (with most aquarium test kits). Is there a possiblity something has died and you have not noticed? Phophates will not cause the water to be cloudy on thier own (though they can lead to green water outbreaks if conditions are right). I would look for something decaying in the aquarium, and try another partial water change. You can also try a product call Bio-Magnet to help with the cloudy condition (but remember you are treating a sysmptom, not the cause). You can find information on Bio-Magnet here: http://64.226.227.61/pages/products/add_buff.html

I hope this helps.

Answer 8

wow, sounds like trouble.... immeditely do a 30% (20 gal) waterchange.

Do you have a bio filter? Are the fish still living? what kind of fish? was their fish in it before?