Cloudiness and Seaweed

[bleedingthought]

When the lights came on this morning, my tank was cloudy. Ammonia and Nitrite are at zero and Nitrates at 20ppm. I dropped about 4 cups of carbon in it and came back from work and it was still cloudy. Any ideas?


Also, I found Seaweed Sheets at walmart and was wodering if they're ok to feed to my fish. The brand is YamaMotoYama and it's toasted Seaweed (Only ingredient is seaweed, but it is toasted...). Anyone?

 

[Anonymous]

toasted can be okay as long as they are not "flavoured".

 

[bleedingthought]

fish like toasted just as much?

 

[Anonymous]

The seaweed is dried. My guess is that toasting it is a way to dry it.

 

[Omni2226]

The better sushi nori is lightly toasted to enhance and bring out the natural sweetness. Retains all the vitamins and nutrition.

As far as the cloudiness it could be a bacteria bloom or a alga bloom.
Run the carbon for a day or so it should go away.

 

[bleedingthought]

Cloudiness is completely gone! (Actually, water looks clearer than before!)


Now, I'm not sure if I just hadn't noticed before but parts of my coraline covered rocks turned white. Did that have to do with the cloudiness? The calcium? Three days ago was when I put in about 25 mL of Seachem's Reef Calcium (recommended dose for 100G) and I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to do the exact opposite: help me with my coraline some... Right?

 

[trido]

If you have a fish that is a digger, sometimes they will cloud a tank. Especially if you have a real fine gravel/sand. My son gets the mag float and I'm doomed for two days. No Ill effects.
The coraline turning white is die off. Are you testing regularly for cal.?

 

[Anonymous]

It sounds like the Ca precipitated for some reason or another.

 

[bleedingthought]

Have not tested for calcium. Don't have the test kit yet...

Why would the coraline be dying off now, after having had major growth the past couple of weeks?

And what do you mean by precipitated?

 

[Anonymous]

Coralline grows/dies in cycles. It will grow great for a while and then just die off, wht?...Don't know. However, it usually comes back, as long as the water quality is maintained. Precipitation is when something no longer stays in solution. Sometimes the Ca will fall in the water column like snow or the water just gets cloudy. When the chemistry is out of whack it happens.

 

[SnowManSnow]

snails spawning?

are you skimming?

b

 

[bleedingthought]

Not skimming yet. Skimmer will be in this week (hopefully) or next week. No snails either...

 

[MartinE]

Do you have any coral in the tank? IMO you do not need to dose anything unless you are needing it and regular water changes would suffice for just fish.

 

[bleedingthought]

No corals yet. Just wanted to dose with calcium in order to help with the coraline... Bad call?

 

[Anonymous]

Not skimming yet. Skimmer will be in this week (hopefully) or next week. No snails either...

Totally skim this tank... I betcha it makes a difference.

 

[MartinE]

No corals yet. Just wanted to dose with calcium in order to help with the coraline... Bad call?

Not particularly a bad call, I just dont think you need to dose Calcium unless you have something using a lot of it like stony corals, or Clams, otherwise the Calcium in your salt water mix will probably suffice for most everything else.

 

[bleedingthought]

Ok then. I'll keep that in mind! :wink:

 

[ChrisRD]

Sounds like your coralline whitened after you started using fresh carbon. It could have been the increase in light due to the change in water clarity or possibly a rapid change in nutrient levels. Like many stony corals, coralline can bleach with a sudden increase in irradiance levels or drastic change in nutrient levels. The color should return in time given normal Ca and Alk levels.

Also, when you get to the point where you have to start adding calcium, don't just dose a calcium suppliment alone. Monitor Ca and Alk levels and use a 2-part additive like B-Ionic or kalkwasser (aka pickling lime). Either method will add Ca and Alk in balanced ratios which is what you should be trying to maintain. With a tank that has moderate Ca/Alk demand you can often get away with just adding a bit of kalk mix to the evaporation top-off water (just be sure to monitor the effect on pH).

HTH

 

[bleedingthought]

So, should I take the carbon out? :?:

 

[MartinE]

If it were me I would leave it, run it all the time and change it out with new every few months, but not everyone does that.